prijava
SARAJEVO, December 10 (FENA) - According to some studies, as many as 47 percent of women in Bosnia and Herzegovina have experienced some form of violence over the course of their lives, which testifies to the seriousness of the problem and the need for systemic action in the direction of suppression and adequate sanctioning of gender based violence, or violence against women as a common form of human rights violation, it was highlighted today at a special event in Sarajevo on the occasion of the official closing of the campaign "Stop Violence Against Women and Girls Together", an event that coincides with marking the International Human Rights Day on December 10.
It is a campaign implanted within the framework of the global campaign "Sixteen Days of Activism in the Fight against Gender-Based Violence" organized by the UN Women in BiH.
The UN Women in BiH Representative David Saunders warned that violence against women is a global problem today, recalling the Istanbul Convention (Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence), as one of the key instruments for the protection of human rights, has been ratified by a large number of countries, including BiH.
He specified in a statement to the media that this convention represents a kind of milestone because it defines the obligations of member states to engage in the prevention of gender-based violence and the protection of victims from this form of violence and the prosecution of the perpetrators.
The importance of effective action on this plan and cooperation with the civil sector was pointed out by Assistant Mayor of Sarajevo for Local Self-Government Dragan Solaković, bringing this into a wider context - the BiH's accession to EU membership.
“The City of Sarajevo has supported this and will support all such campaigns and will require systematic solutions from the competent institutions of the government,” Solaković pointed out, stating that there are good laws and international conventions that BiH has adopted, and that it is necessary to go into the implementation of the systemic solutions.
Deputy Director of the EU Delegation to BiH, Khaldoun Sinno, and the Head of Development Cooperation at the Embassy of the Kingdom of Sweden in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Marie Bergstrom, highlighted the importance of activism and engagement in fostering the values of nonviolent society, gender equality, and various aspects of prevention and action to eliminate gender-based violence, and respect for human rights as key European principles.
They underlined their readiness to further support the implementation of empowerment of women through projects and the achievement of gender equality in Bosnia and Herzegovina, including their representation in the public sphere - political and economic life, as well as the decision-making processes.
In the focus of the campaign's final event – Stop violence against women and girls together, among others, was also the presentation of IT solutions for high school students in the prevention of violence, in the form of TraceBrace bracelets, which the user can use to send an SOS message in case of danger.
It is a message that can be forwarded to a predefined contact, as well as to the website ‘NisiSama’, the first peer portal created to support young girls and their empowerment, which was discussed by BiH high school students directly involved in these projects.
As part of the campaign, citizens throughout BiH were able to learn about the various forms of violence, the ways of preventing and protecting those in harm’s way, all during their free trips in the orange UN Women bus, with representatives of the police, health institutions, social services and NGOs in order to learn about those who survived violence, and about forms of prevention, including information on gender stereotypes, the correct perception of male-female relationships, and the role of educational institutions in that regard.
The orange bus of UN Women drove today in Sarajevo on the last day of the campaign, and before Sarajevo, the bus visited by Livno, Bihać, Banja Luka, Bijeljina, Brčko, East Sarajevo and Mostar.
During the 16-day campaign, the bus drove 2,907 kilometers during which its activists conducted a total of 112 hours in direct conversation with citizens, informing them of key details related to gender-based violence, including the way of responding to this form of socially unacceptable behavior and explaining them on whom to contact for help, and how citizens can prevent this form of behavior.
(FENA) S. R.
