Police officers apply gender-responsive policing of violence against women and girls through OSCE course in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Between 12 and 15 December 2022, the OSCE’s Transnational Threats Department facilitated a training course on gender-responsive policing of violence against women and girls for 295 police cadets at the Sarajevo Police Academy (33 women and 262 men).

A team of trainers bringing together a police officer, a prosecutor, a psychologist and an expert from the NGO Vive Žene delivered the course. They focused on topics such as the definitions of gender, sex and sexual orientation; why a victim-centred approach is crucial; reporting and the role of the police in detecting and preventing the violence; implementing protective measures and conducting risk assessment; the neurobiology of trauma; and the psychology of victims and perpetrators.

“All forms of gender-based violence need to be registered and investigated – per the Criminal Code of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. To ensure appropriate responses, all police officers need to be trained, to understand what a survivor of gender-based violence experiences, and thus provide an appropriate response, such as support and protection, while holding the perpetrators accountable,” said OSCE project manager Bjorn Tore Saltvik.

As part of a wider approach to addressing the problem, the Centre for Youth Education (CEM) performed the play Hidden Shadows during the course. This drama is based on true stories, testimonies of victims and perpetrators of gender-based violence, as well as institutions that deal with these types of cases. It depicts several aspects of the violence, such as alcohol consumption, the reaction of the family, of the society and of the institutions.

The training course was organized as part of the “Enhancing Criminal Justice Capacities for Combating Gender-based Violence in South-Eastern Europe” project, in co-ordination with the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina. It follows a workshop on training curriculum on gender-based violence for law enforcement organized in Sarajevo on 15 November, in partnership with the OSCE Gender Issues Programme.