Ljubljana: full support for women victims of violence
Ljubljana, the capital and largest city of Slovenia, is the gold winner of the European Capitals of Inclusion and Diversity Award 2024 in the category of ‘special award for local authorities that enable safe towns, cities and regions for women in all their diversity’.
Over the last 15 years, Ljubljana has developed into a green and sustainable city. Both open and tolerant by design, the city runs a range of programmes, services and activities to support social equality, inclusion and broad accessibility for all citizens and visitors.
‘Ljubljana 2025’: a vision for a secure and diverse city
Together with the City Council and NGOs, Ljubljana’s Mayor Zoran Janković is a dedicated driver of the city’s diversity and inclusion initiatives. Through public tenders, the city co-finances programmes to support vulnerable groups, e.g. persons with disabilities, migrants, Roma, and seniors and young people; it also strongly supports socially disadvantaged groups.
“Our Gold Award is a good indicator that we truly live by the philosophy of embracing diversity,” said Dr. Simona Topolinjak, Head of Social Care Section, Department of Health and Social Care, Ljubljana. She added that the award highlights the value of the city’s strong partnership with NGOs and experts in preventing violence against women.
Long-term commitment to fighting VAW
Ljubljana has focused on the issue of violence against women (VAW) for 25 years. It views this as gender-based violence and a form of discrimination, seriously harming women’s rights and freedoms. Through public procurements, the city (co-)finances five safe houses, a crisis centre, four apartments for safe accommodation, two maternity homes, a 24/7 SOS help-line, counselling services and violence prevention programmes.
A key rule is that all VAW victims are accepted, regardless of their ethnic or racial origin, residence, migrant or any other status. One of the shelters is adapted to accept wheelchair-user victims.
Prevention of violence against women and children is central to Ljubljana’s action plans for gender equality and strategies for the development of social care. The city also regularly organises awareness-raising and prevention campaigns on VAW, mainly over a period of 16 days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence each year, plus radio and TV broadcasts, posters in pharmacies, health centres, cinemas and public buses, as well as the monthly magazine delivered to city households.
NGOs: vital partners for VAW action and feedback
All this VAW work in Ljubljana is complemented by roundtables on the topic with NGOs and other partners. “We are proud that some former women victims of violence, who we helped, are now aiding other victims by working in specific NGOs in our city,” added Dr. Topolinjak. She said NGOs are the most valuable translators of the needs of victims of violence.
The city holds Open Door Days, inviting citizens to share their concerns and ideas with the mayor and city authorities. It has also developed creative projects on the subject. In 2019, working with NGOs, it told the stories of 10 women victims of violence through new works of art, in the group exhibition ‘When he hit the door the second time, I covered the hole with a poster’. With the ‘I Sign’ poster exhibition, the city celebrated the implementation of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence. In 2023, together with the City of Vienna, Ljubljana hosted the FemCities international conference on sexism/gender equality, plus the roundtable event ‘Diversity and fairness are female gender’.
“Tackling VAW can be a financial challenge for municipalities, but we believe it is more a question of motivation,” remarked Dr. Topolinjak. She said Ljubljana aims to be a role model for VAW policy and quality initiatives, with support from other networks in Slovenia and internationally – and this 2024 Gold Award will go a long way to achieving that objective.
