The CURE Foundation organized a street action yesterday on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. At 12 p.m., in front of the Sarajevo City Center, they presented the Red Shoes, which symbolizedwomen victims of femicide (murder of women) and thus sent a strong message.
From 2019 to 2021, at least 39 women were killed by men. The CURE Foundation obtained the statistics based on the media reports.
“It is not known how many cases of murders of women have not been recorded in media reports since Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) still does not have unified statistics on cases of femicide. With the street action Red Shoes which symbolize women victims of femicide (murder of women), we would like to draw attention to the problem of violence against women that happens every second on the planet, which unfortunately often ends in the murder of women. Victims of femicide have a similar story, which is that they were abused and exposed to various forms of violence until their deaths, that people around them knew she was surviving violence, but they could not have guessed that the perpetrator could be the killer, ” they told from the foundation.
A total of 40 red shoes which were placed on the square as part of the street action “Red shoes for women victims of femicide” represent the number of women killed in BiH in the last six years.
“They also represent the shame of our state. They represent defeat because our institutions do not act strategically against violence against women, especially in emergency situations,” they added.
“Unfortunately, we live in an environment that tolerates violence. The media often make a sensation out of a femicide case because they usually justify murder acts in media reports by mentioning an explanation for that murder (for example: ‘he was jealous’, ‘she left him’, etc.) Institutions ensure that the penalties for perpetrators of murder are small, for perpetrators of violent acts even less or non-existing, and the mitigating circumstance for the judiciary is that the violent individual is a ‘family man’. The public will in most cases emphasize that the woman herself is to blame for the situation in which she found herself, “ they noted.
They pointed out that there must not and should be no justification for violence, ie that the concluding message is Zero Tolerance for all forms of violence, sexual harassment, and femicide: “Violence affects everyone! A woman’s body does not belong to men! A woman is not guilty of violence! A woman is not responsible for male violence! ”
E.Dz.
Source: Klix.ba
