Ljiljana Raičević

Ljiljana Raičević (born 29 June 1947; nee Petrović) is a human rights and women's rights activist in Serbia and Montenegro. she was Amnesty International's 2006 winner of the Ginetta Sagan Fund Award.

Biography

Raicevic was born in Podgorica, Montenegro. Her father was Milovan Petrović and her mother Lyubov, was a Belarusian from Minsk. They met in a German prison camp and and after the Second World War, settled in Podgorica. Raicevic attended the high school in Podgorica where her mother taught Russian language. During her high school days, she played volleyball and was a member of the folklore society "Budo Tomovic". After high school, she entered the Faculty of History and Geography in Nikšić. As a dance date, she met her future husband Andrew Loca Raičevića (d. 1994), then a young lawyer, and later deputy minister of the Montenegrin Ministry of Interior. They have three children, a daughter, Olya, and two sons, Vladimir and Nikola.

She began working at the Medical Institute in Podgorica in 1970, remaining until her retirement in 1999. Between 1985 and 1989, she was president of the Union of Medical Workers. She also served as an elected councilor in the Municipal Parliament for the Liberal Alliance of Montenegro. In 1996, she established the first women's NGO in Montenegro, a hotline for victims of domestic violence, and served as its coordinator until 1999. In that year, she founded the NGO, Safe Women's House, the first shelter for victims of domestic violence in Montenegro. She participated in the establishment of a large number of other NGO's: SOS Niksic, Montenegrin Women's Lobby, "Center for Girls Ksenija", and the Autonomous Women's Center. In 2001, she became a member of the Project Board Montenegrin program for the protection of victims of human trafficking.