Training strengthens criminal justice responses to violence against women and girls in Bosnia and Herzegovina

From 24 to 28 April 2023, gender-responsive policing of violence against women and girls (VAWG) was the focus of a national specialized training course organized by the OSCE’s Transnational Threats Department (TNTD) in co-ordination with the OSCE Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina in  Sarajevo.

A total of 30 police officers and prosecutors (13 women and 17 men) from the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republika Srpska and Brcko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina learned how to effectively respond to cases of VAWG, while maintaining a victim-/survivor-centred approach. The five-day course covered topics such as causes and cycles of violence, violence prevention, harmful biases, attitudes and stereotypes, risk assessment, victim/survivor protection protocols, referral mechanisms, and inter-agency co-operation.

The training course was delivered by national experts, who benefited from the Regional Train-the-Trainers Course on Gender-responsive Policing of VAWG, organized by TNTD in Warsaw, Poland, in July 2022.

Martha Stickings, Deputy Head of TNTD’s Strategic Police Matters Unit, highlighted that “violence against women and girls is a scourge on our societies, with profound consequences on both individuals and the wider community. This training is an important milestone in embedding a victim-centred approach to investigating and prosecuting GBV offences in Bosnia and Herzegovina”.

Bjorn Tore Saltvik, manager of the project, underlined that “law enforcement institutions play a critical role in preventing and addressing violence against women and girls. It is therefore essential that they are fully aware of the barriers that women and girls face when reporting their experiences of gender-based violence to the police, so that they can support women to come forward and enable the successful investigation and prosecution of these crimes”.

As part of their continued support of criminal justice practitioners from South-Eastern Europe in their fight against VAWG, TNTD will deliver similar training courses to law enforcement practitioners in Albania, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia throughout 2023. These activities will contribute to the full implementation of the Council of Europe’s Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention) in the countries covered by this project.

This training course was conducted as part of the project Enhancing Criminal Justice Capacities for Combating Gender-based Violence in South-Eastern Europe.