The young must be clear on what behaviour is acceptable and what they should say no to, Selecl said.
"There are stereotypes that teenage partnership relations do not involve violence and that it only happens in families or adult relationships. In fact, violence often marks also the period of dating only that the young do not recognise it as such."
The office defines dating as the period of "making arrangements for dates or socialising, the socialising itself and the time when two people are a couple but do not live in the same household".
In order to raise awareness among the young, the office issued a pamphlet which includes information on where to find help. As part of the campaign, the office also conducted a survey on dating violence among students.
"It is not our intention to spread fear among the young that dating in general is dangerous, as seeing someone is a normal part of growing up. However, it is important to know that violence can occur in such relationships as well," Selecl pointed out.
Since this is a taboo, the young tend not to report violence and only rarely look for help, Sara Slana summed up the results of the survey, which included 208 students from three Ljubljana-based faculties.
Data show boys to be more tolerant to violence than girls and that if so, violence usually occurs in the first six months of dating.
Some 10.2% of the girls and 5.9% of the boys responded that they had dated a violent person. The most frequent cause for violence was jealousy.
The most striking finding of the survey is a relatively high percentage of boys agreeing with the statement "If a girl hit me and said she was sorry, I'd forgive her" and girls agreeing with the statement "Girls exercise more psychical violence over boys than the other way around," Slana said.
The Office for Equal Opportunities pointed out at the occasion that the issue should get more attention in schools, while teachers and professors should also be educated on the subject.
25 November is International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, which marks the launch of a world-wide campaigns against violence against women which will run until Human Rights Day, observed on 10 December.
