Almost 2,500 cases of domestic violence were recorded in Bosnia and Herzegovina last year. The victims are usually women, and the perpetrators are their spouses. As a result, children also suffer from violence in such an environment. Why does such a trend continue and how can it be stopped?
SOS phones red hot, safe houses occasionally insufficient to receive all the victims who have to take refuge from the abusers. Last year, almost 500 people, women and children were taken care of in safe houses throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina.
DRAGANA MILJKOVIĆ, social worker at the Safe House in Banja Luka
“In the period from August to the beginning of April, we had full accommodation capacities, i.e. we were practically closed for receiving victims of violence because we had no room for accommodation in one period”.
ANAMARIJA DIVKOVIĆ, social worker at the Safe House in Tuzla
“Last year, we had tragic crimes that happened. We had an increased number of femicides, and because of that, women felt more threatened and sought crisis accommodation, but the institutions also recognized the need to react urgently and to immediately distance people physically and mentally from violent persons”.
Official data show that violence is not on a downward but upward trajectory. 2,450 situations of violent behavior in the family were reported in Bosnia and Herzegovina last year.
GORICA IVIĆ, executive director of the Foundation “United Women” Banja Luka
“We have 60 percent of returnees for domestic violence, so it is obvious that the penal policy is not good enough and that the sanctions are not doing their job in the way they should work, i.e. to deter those who commit violence from repeating it. According to the last report, 70 percent of the cases were suspended When this violence spills over into our homes, it naturally has consequences for our children as well. These are some generations that are starting marriages or getting into relationships, and they don’t know how to deal with their emotions very easily. into those new relationships and relationships of violence that they are used to in their families”.
Recent cases of femicide have likely affected victims’ awareness and determination to report violence. The causes can be sought from the consequences of the war to the current socio-political situation, poor material conditions, but also education.
ANAMARIJA DIVKOVIĆ, social worker at the Safe House in Tuzla
“Start from raising children. I advocate the thesis to start from the beginning. Not to deal with the consequences, statistically the number of violence has increased, but someone failed to raise that little boy who has now become a man or a girl because we have both male and female male violence, and I think that is one of the key tasks, and on the other hand, when violence happens, to start harsh punishment”.
In order to change circumstances, it is necessary to tighten the penal policy and non-violent education.
Unfortunately, violence is always talked about only when it happens, and when it happens in the family, it very quickly spills over into society. This has been shown in recent cases in Gradačac, Lukavac and Tuzla, BHRT writes.
