also by the UN Human rights Committee61 and the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women62. The amendments to the Criminal Code63 brought stricter punishments prescribed for the criminal act of domestic violence, but the Code is not adjusted to the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence, especially in the manner in which criminal offences against sexual freedom were defined, which was indicated to by the Protector of Citizens even in 2011 issuing to the Ministry of Justice the Initiative for the amendments of the Criminal Code64. The authorities acted upon systemic recommendations issued by the Protector of Citizens in 2018 after in 30 examined cases of femicide, domestic violence and violence in partner relations and abuse and neglect of children he confirmed numerous individual and systemic omissions, such as inadequate cooperation of authorities competent for the suppression of domestic violence, inadequate risk assessment, implementation of measures which do not correspond to the confirmed and assessed risks, lack of exchange of information, failure to recognize violence, failure to take measures and activities which the authorities were obliged to take. Children present in domestic violence are not treated as victims of violence, which is why measures prescribed for the protection of victims are not taken.65 The Administration for the Enformcement of Penal Sanctions of the Ministry of Justice conducted the supervision at the institutions for the execution of criminal sanctions and introduced them to the content of recommendations of the Protector of Citizens and implementation of these recommendations will be monitored by the Department for Inspection of the Administration during the conduct of supervision. The Administration referred the institutes to intensification of cooperation and exchange of information with area centers for social work and competent police departments and stations. The Ministry of Labor, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs issued the order to directors of centers for social work to provide and experts of the centers for social work in procedures of protection against domestic violence to adopt and apply standards of professional work to which the Protector of Citizens indicated. This Ministry, in accordance to the recommendations of the Protector of Citizens and on the basis of the analysis of the data on the number of vacant job positions, submitted the Proposal of the Conclusion to the Ministry of Finance and Commission of the Government for giving consent to new employment and additional work engagement at the centers for social protection, but the employment was never realized. The Republic Institute for Social Protection, pursuant to recommendations of the Protector of Citizens, planned in the reporting period to implement the training with regards to domestic violence, but with the focus on the protection of children against domestic violence, abuse and neglect. The Administration of the Criminalistic Police of the Ministry of Interior issued the instructive decree passed in 2019 to all police Concluding observations on the third periodical report of Serbia on the application of the International Pact on Citizen and Political Rights, available at http://www.ljudskaprava.gov.rs/sites/default/files/dokument_file/zakljucna_zapazanja_komitetaccpr_c_srb_ co_3_27019_e_srp.pdf. 62 Concluding observations of the Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination of Women with regards to the Fourth Periodical Report on the Application of the Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination of Women available at: https://www.ljudskaprava.gov.rs/sr/node/156. 63 “Official Gazette of RS“, no. 85/2005, 88/2005 – corr., 107/2005 - corr., 72/2009, 111/2009, 121/2012, 104/2013, 108/2014, 94/2016 and 35/2019. 64 https://www.pravadeteta.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=186:2012-05-20-21-4839&catid=42&Itemid=87 65 Recommendations available at: https://www.ombudsman.rs/index.php/2012-02-07-14-03-33/5985-u-vrd-nipr-pus-i-u-r-du-n-dl-znih-u-bl-s-i-z-sh-i-zr-v-u-sluc-vi-p-r-dicn-g-i-p-r-n-rs-g-n-silj. 61 - 46 -