One mother and one struggle that knows no bounds – this is how we could describe Amela Becirspahic, who has been standing for several days in front of the city square in Bihac.
The reason is that she reported her husband, from whom she is currently divorcing, for abuse, while, according to her claims, the social worker enabled him to take the child without carrying out the legally prescribed procedures and despite earlier findings of the competent authorities.
She stated that the social worker is related to her ex-husband and made cardinal mistakes.
When it comes to the divorce, the first-instance court proceedings have been completed in which, according to the opinion of the Center for Social Work Bihac and the expert, the child was earlier fully assigned to the mother, while the father’s visitation was limited because he is “harmful to the development and future of the child.” Formally-legally, the divorce proceedings are not yet final because her husband has filed an appeal and the second-instance decision is awaited.
“When the verdict was supposed to become final in the seventh month, he filed an appeal on the last day, so the process is being dragged out as much as possible because he promised me that he would, with all possible forces in this world, destroy me until he kills me,” she added.
A series of failures
Nejra Rakovic, coordinator of the organization “Glas zene” (Voice of Women) from Bihac, said that when applying the Law on Protection from Domestic Violence, the abuser (the husband) should have been removed.
“However, that did not happen, which is why Amela had to call the police to have him removed. During that time, the child should not have been present, that is, at the time of the removal of one parent from the household. So, because of such failures, the child came into a situation to be involved in the case itself, which is not allowed at all because of the best interest of the child,” she stated.
She said that complications then arose in the actions of the on-duty social worker, who, because of the conflict of interest, should have requested a report from her superior, i.e., from the director, and should have followed the position and opinion of the institution that was already involved in the divorce proceedings.
“The institutions failed, they did not implement the law in the way they should have, and put the victim herself in a situation to be separated from her child and to have to fight for the application of rights, to fight for her dignity in a way that the institutions did not provide for her. According to the Law on Protection from Domestic Violence, the victim must have dignity ensured in all proceedings. That also was not ensured. On the other hand, a person of trust was not provided on the day when she wanted to speak with the director,” she stated.
Rakovic also said that Becirspahic had a panic attack and should have been given urgent medical help.
“All those failures led to the violation of the physical and psychological integrity of the victim, to serious retraumatization, and to victimization. The question is how much time Amela will need to recover psychologically from these 14 days,” she added.
Center for Social Work: Pressures are unacceptable
The Center for Social Work Bihac made a statement two days ago, saying that they had worked and are working in accordance with professional rules and that they will continue to “work professionally and responsibly.”
“The pressures to which professional workers have been exposed, especially in the last couple of weeks, the (mis)use of organizations and portals on social networks are absolutely unacceptable and hinder the work of the institution itself. Centers for social work do not operate outside the system, but our work is subject to numerous and multi-level controls. However, we are witnessing that lately, some organizations have been carrying out supervision, which reports non-objectively and misleads the public. We consider that biased and insufficiently objective information through public discourse negatively affects the minor child, which we must not allow,” they emphasized in the statement.
They say that on August 15th, the victim of violence, A.B., approached, accompanied by her father as a person of trust, who was enabled to talk with the director, but they refused for reasons known to them.
“We respect the right of the public to be informed, but we emphasize the importance of responsible reporting, especially when minors are concerned. Publishing unverified information or interpretations without insight into all the facts can lead to the violation of children’s rights to privacy and protection, and influence the course of professional proceedings. We call on all actors in the public and media space to show restraint and respect the principles of protecting children’s rights, and we express readiness for cooperation with the aim of objective and responsible informing of the public, while preserving the integrity of professional proceedings and protecting the interests of minors,” the statement said, Klix.ba writes.
