BiH: Our Pain Is Your Shame – Women Across the Country Raised Voices Against Femicide/BiH: Naš Bol je Vaš Sram – Žene širom zemlje protestvovale protiv femicida

October 20, 2022 – On Friday, October 14, hundreds of female citizens, women and men activists for women’s human rights took to the streets of 19 cities across Bosnia and Herzegovina at 3:00 p.m. to express their dissatisfaction with inadequate institutional support for women victims of violence, mild penal policies for perpetrators of violence, and inadequate response of public institutions that are obliged to apply laws and public policies in BiH in the direction of effective prevention of the most serious forms of violence against women.

The messages from the Protest were clear:

“We, the women of Bosnia and Herzegovina, united and in solidarity say: No more! Together, we’re here to say–enough! Enough terror against women! Enough of silent observation as we perish in our homes and on the streets of our cities. The places that should be the safest are our cages and our execution grounds. We are here to say–we are not your mothers, wives, sisters, daughters. We are nobody’s private property. We are our own, noisy and determined to defend each other.

We are here to say that we are not guilty! No woman, ever, anywhere, is to blame for being hit, raped, killed. It is the fault of abusive men and the institutions that protect them. In every neighborhood, every street, every haustor, whether she is at home, at work, in class or out for a walk, right now some woman is suffering violence or is a potential new victim. Violence against women is not a private matter. We won’t just wait our turn. It wasn’t a family tragedy — it was a murder. Not an accident–but murder. Not a crime of passion, but a femicide. A woman was killed for being a woman. Because we are seen as consumable goods.

We will not be silent any longer. Together we say–these are our bodies, they don’t belong to you. These are our lives, you cannot take them away and humiliate us.
Femicide knows no borders. It does not know about age, skin color, religious, ethnic or national affiliation, place of residence. In every part of the planet, both then and now, violent men tell women–you are only good if you are dead.

And we say–none more! We will not live in fear. We will not die in silence.”

Another woman was killed in Bihać last week. According to media reports, this is the eighth case of femicide in 2022. in Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to unofficial and incomplete statistics, more than sixty women have been killed in the country since 2017.

The demands of the protest are as follows:

– Introducing the legal definition of femicide.
– Introduction of femicide as a criminal offense in all legal and by-laws.
– Urgent harmonization of criminal laws with the Istanbul Convention (Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence) and revising penal practices.
-Ensuring prevention and protection against violence against women through competent institutions and multi-sector protocols.
-Consistent application of the law in cases where there is death as a consequence of domestic violence, that the perpetrator be judged according to the provisions of the law, which will establish a more severe punishment.

Photo: BUKA Magazine

20. oktobar 2022 – U petak 14. oktobra stotine građanki, aktivistkinja i aktivista za ženska ljudska prava su u 15:00 sati izašle na ulice 19 gradova širom Bosne i Hercegovine da iskažu svoje nezadovoljstvo zbog neadekvatne institucionalne podrške ženama koje su preživjele nasilje, blage kaznene politike za počinioce nasilja i neadekvatnog reagovanja javnih institucija koje su dužne da primjenjuju zakone i javne politike u BiH u pravcu efikasnog sprečavanja najtežih oblika nasilja prema ženama.

Poruke sa protesta su bile jasne:

„Mi, žene Bosne i Hercegovine, ujedinjene i solidarne kažemo: Nijedna više! Zajedno, tu smo da kažemo–dosta! Dosta terora nad ženama! Dosta nijemog posmatranja dok ginemo u našim domovima i na ulicama naših gradova. Mjesta koja bi trebala biti najsigurnija naši su kavezi i naša stratišta. Tu smo da kažemo–mi nismo vaše majke, supruge, sestre, kćerke. Nismo ničije privatno vlasništvo. Mi smo svoje, bučne i odlučne da odbranimo jedna drugu.

Tu smo da kažemo da nismo krive! Nijedna žena, nikad, nigdje, nije kriva zato što je udarena, silovana, ubijena. Krivi su muškarci nasilnici i institucije koje ih štite. U svakoj našoj mahali, svakoj ulici, svakom haustoru, bilo da je u kući, na poslu, na nastavi ili je izašla vani prošetati, upravo sad neka žena trpi nasilje ili je potencijalna nova žrtva. Nasilje nad ženama nije privatna stvar. Nećemo samo čekati da dođemo na red. Nije se desila porodična tragedija–već ubistvo. Nije nesretan slučaj–već ubistvo. Nije zločin iz strasti, već femicid. Žena je ubijena zato što je žena. Zato što se na nas gleda kao na potrošnu robu.

Nećemo više šutjeti. Zajedno kažemo–ovo su naša tijela, ne pripadaju vama. Ovo su naši životi, vi ih ne možete oduzeti i uniziti.

Femicid ne poznaje granice. On ne zna za dob, boju kožu, vjersku, etničku ili nacionalnu pripadnost, mjesto stanovanja. Na svakom dijelu planete, kako nekad tako i sad, muškarci nasilnici ženama poručuju–dobre ste samo ako ste mrtve.

A mi kažemo–nijedna više! Nećemo živjeti u strahu. Nećemo umirati u tišini.“

Prošle sedmice je ubijena još jedna žena u Bihaću. Prema izvještavanju medija, ovo je osmi slučaj femicida u 2022.g. u BiH. Prema nezvaničnim i nepotpunim statistikama, od 2017. u Bosni i Hercegovini ubijeno je više od šezdeset žena.

Zahtjevi protesta su slijedeći:

-Uvođenje pravne definicije femicida.
-Uvođenje femicida kao krivičnog djela u sve zakonske i podzakonske akte.
-Hitno usklađivanje krivičnih zakona s Istanbulskom konvencijom (Konvencija Vijeća Evrope o sprečavanju i borbi protiv nasilja nad ženama i nasilja u porodici) i revidiranje kaznenih praksi.
-Osiguravanje prevencije i zaštite od nasilja nad ženama kroz nadležne institucije i multisektorske protokole.
-Dosljednu primjenu zakona i u slučajevima kada do smrtnog slučaja kao posljedice nasilja u porodici da se počiniocu sudi prema odredbama zakona koje će utvrditi težu kaznu.

Fotografija: BUKA Magazin