Revenge pornography is rife in the western Balkans. Ahead of EU accession, abuse laws need radical reform.
When the accession of countries of the western Balkans to the European Union comes up, such as my native Bosnia-Herzegovina, the talk is of complicated and tough political relationships, corruption and generally poor governance. Less talked about, though very important and connected, is how these countries treat women.
Rates of femicide and intimate-partner violence are profoundly concerning and have not been properly addressed by any western-Balkan government, despite many years of advocacy by civil-society organisations. Women across the region—especially those from marginalised minorities or rural areas—face obstacles in gaining access to services addressing gender-based violence. In Kosovo, access to justice remains particularly problematic for its survivors, in the absence of effective functioning institutions.
The wars in the former Yugoslavia led to significant ‘repatriarchalisation’ in the successor countries. As well as political and economic instability, they bequeathed deep social and psychological scars, which particularly affect women. A return to ‘traditional values’ is often presented as the only way to restore stability.
One particularly harmful manifestation of this is the glorification of war criminals and perpetrators of violence as embodiments of ‘real men’. A real man is perceived as tough, emotionless, often prone to violence, mirroring these wartime idols. Such men often view women solely as childbearing machines and seek ways to humiliate them to demonstrate their dominance. This is evident in a new trend of Balkan Telegram groups with highly degrading names.
Thriving marketplace
In these burgeoning groups users share explicit content about women, without their knowledge, to make money. In groups with tens of thousands of members, people seek revenge pornography and child pornography; they send pictures of women and then ask for their names or other information. Some groups even contain images with incestuous connotations and rape videos.
Those who own or manage the groups typically collect explicit images of women, often minors, selling them in the thriving marketplace for non-consensual pornography. Some users swap women’s pictures they already have. Members are allowed to remain completely anonymous.
Three young women, members of the Serbian non-governmental organisation OsnaŽena, uncovered these schemes by infiltrating the online groups over several months and monitoring their activities. One of the activists, Staša Ivanković, had already participated in a takedown of some similar groups a few years earlier. The administrator of one of the largest such groups, with over 36,000 members, was acquitted of charges relating to the spread of revenge porn and child-abuse images last year.
This very dangerous trend has been made possible by inadequate responses from legislative institutions and the judicial system and the dismissal of lawsuits against individuals involved in sharing revenge pornography. Although the largest Telegram groups were shut down following Ivanković’s initiative in 2021, state agencies have shown little interest and failed to implement policies to sanction perpetrators and encourage victims to report these crimes. Inaction has fuelled the creation of new groups and the continued sharing of similar content, and has even allowed perpetrators to profit financially from the distribution of pornographic material.
Catalogues and price lists
Revenge pornography is the most common type of content traded in these groups. Men take images of women sent to them in confidence and distribute them to other members for a fee. Many women never find out that they have been victims, so it is difficult to prosecute the perpetrators.
Groups often contain catalogues and price lists for specific photos. Within just a few days, the members of the OsnaŽene group managed to reach people who shared child pornography. A large amount of incestuous content has also been discovered in the groups. Men with incestuous tendencies take pictures of their mothers, sisters and other female family members and then supply them to others in the groups for ‘rating’.
In this case, women are not safe even in their own homes and have no reason to suspect that they are in such groups. The groups also spread ‘ordinary’ pictures of girls on the street, often accompanied by requests for biographical information about the subjects.
These groups can be extremely dangerous for the women whose photos appear in them. One girl received more than 300 messages from men between the ages of 15 and 55 in one day after she popped up in a Telegram group. This even though no photo of her face appeared in the group—only a video in which she was not recognisable, along with her contact details. The victim tried to report the case but was ridiculed by the police.
Not a criminal offence
Unfortunately, in most western-Balkans countries, it is very difficult to deal with such cases. In Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, revenge pornography is not designated by law as a criminal offence, although it can be subsumed under other offences. In Serbia, this refers to the criminal offence of unauthorised publication and display of other people’s files, portraits and recordings, as well as unauthorised photography.
Crucially, such cases are not prosecuted ex officio, but only on the private claim of the injured party. Even if a woman is aware of the offence, fear of victimisation and stigmatisation can make her unwilling to share her ordeal. And even a successful action will only bring a fine or short sentence.
The situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina is similar. The only country in the region which recognises revenge pornography as itself a criminal offence is Croatia, thanks to a law passed in 2022. Even then, enforcement is another question. Child pornography is banned across the region but although images of minors are often found in these groups the authorities rarely react.
It is almost impossible to overestimate the impact of this abuse on the victim’s psyche, as well as her private life. It can cause job loss and fear of further dissemination of these photos, including fear of friends and family finding out. One of the worst things victims face is the judgement of their social milieu. That is one of the reasons why most do not feel motivated to report to the authorities.
Accession benchmarks
Considering that (except for Croatia and Slovenia) the other western-Balkan countries are in the process of joining the EU, addressing these emblematic as well as intrinsically important concerns is all the more important. The union will not and should not accept countries where there is no rule of law and where human rights are abrogated.
Indeed, the EU should prioritise strengthening and implementing laws that protect human rights. Conditions linked to accession should include specific benchmarks related to combating gender-based violence and discrimination and promoting women’s participation in public life.
Domestically, we must meanwhile educate people better and raise awareness of how wrong and damaging such pathological practices are. But the authorities must also fulfil their roles—to protect their citizens and punish the perpetrators.
Tea Kljajić is an activist and author from Bosnia-Herzegovina. She is a frequent policy commentator, a writing fellow with Young Voices Europe and a volunteer with Students for Liberty.