OSCE organizes training course for the first database on domestic violence in Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
The OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, in co-operation with the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) Gender Centre and the Network of Women Police Officers, concluded on 1 September 2015 the second out of ten training courses on implementation of the Law on Protection from Domestic Violence and the use of the domestic violence database.
The domestic violence database represents the first integrated information source on all domestic violence cases in the FBiH that have been reported to police, social workers, safe house representatives and the domestic violence hotline.
With the support of the OSCE Mission to BiH, the FBiH Gender Centre, as a co-ordinator of development and monitoring of implementation of the Strategy for prevention and combat against domestic violence 2013-2017, is co-ordinating the whole process of establishment of this database.
“The database will assist its users, especially because the process of recording and entering information from victims and/or perpetrators will be conducted only once, instead of the previous four times, which placed additional burden on the victim. It will reduce bureaucracy while the database will ensure better reporting and more detailed monitoring of domestic violence issues,” emphasized Zlatan Hrncic, FBiH Gender Centre Expert Adviser.
Taib Spahic the FBiH Police Academy director, said: “We supported this project because the domestic violence is a security phenomenon that requires special attention. The significant importance of these training courses lays in the inter-sectorial approach and the possibility to educate not only police officers, but also the staff of the social welfare centres, to exchange experiences among peers and to ensure continuity.”
The series of training course will include over 400 police officers, social workers and representatives of civil society from the Federation. Two of such training courses already took place in Una-Sana Canton and Canton 10.
Following the conclusion of the trainings in November 2015 the domestic violence database, one of the first developed in the region, will be introduced to all safe houses, social welfare centres and police stations in FBiH.