The European Commission recently proposed that EU accession negotiations be opened with Bosnia-Herzegovina.
In August 2023, in Gradacac, a small town in Bosnia-Herzegovina (B-H), Nermin Sulejmanović brutally murdered his ex-wife, Nizama Hecimovic, during a live stream, with their child in the room. On the morning of August 11th, the bodybuilder started the live stream with the chilling words that viewers were about to witness a murder. Having killed his wife, Sulejmanović went on to kill two other people before committing suicide.
Over 10,000 people watched the live stream, some even encouraging the violence. The victim had reported the perpetrator to the official institutions, which decided to ignore his previous violence. Indeed, in the live video Sulejmanović cited the fact that she had reported him as a reason for the killing.
In B-H, one in two women has experienced violence since turning 15. Violence against women, particularly in the home, remains a pervasive social issue. Despite the advocacy efforts of non-governmental organisations to enhance legal protection for women against violence in public and private domains, it continues to enjoy alarmingly wide social acceptance.
Nor is this phenomenon confined to B-H. There are similar occurrences, of alarming frequency, in other western-Balkan countries: Croatia ranks as the third-highest country in the European Union for femicides. Simply being a woman in the western Balkans is perilous.
Suffering in silence
In B-H, any woman can become a victim of violence, but women from rural areas and with less education are most at risk. Many who are victims suffer in silence, lacking support from institutions and often from their families. It is common for a woman’s family to distance themselves after she gets married, when she becomes ‘someone else’s problem’. In some areas, selective abortion of female foetuses is quite common too.
Intimate-partner violence is not just physical but emotional, financial and sexual. The story of violence against women in the region has a broader cultural and historical context. ‘Tradition’ in the western Balkans ‘dictates’ that a woman is subservient to her husband and financially dependent on him.
Meanwhile, the man, as head of the household, is expected to assert his dominance, even if that means resorting to violence against his wife and children. Recently, a video circulated online featuring the Bosnian Muslim scholar Elvedin Pezić offering advice on how to hit a woman (the face should not be the target and no bruise should be left).
This derogatory view of women, as tied to the home and children, distances western-Balkan countries from European values. Their political and religious elites must be rendered aware that the ‘traditional’ values they advocate often do not align with the universal norms espoused by the European Union and the Council of Europe. Cultural and religious identity matters, but it cannot stand in the way of progress, human rights, equality and the rule of law.
Insufficient shelter
In B-H, intimate-partner violence is regulated by criminal laws, family laws and anti-discrimination laws in the Muslim-Croat federation and Republika Srpska, the two entities stemming from the Dayton agreement of 1995. In both, the laws on protection from violence in the home have been amended several times.
B-H currently has eight refuges—five in the federation, three in Republika Srpska—with a total of 200 spaces. According to the latest information, all the refuges are full. In addition to insufficient shelter for victims of violence, B-H at state level lacks a unified data registry and a unified record of violence in the home.
It is crucial to work on preventing violence against women and children in B-H and to foster healthier family relationships. From a young age, girls and boys should be taught to recognise violence and report it, and to educate themselves about the consequences of all forms of violence. It is also essential to educate older individuals about the repercussions of rejecting their daughters after marriage because, in cases of violence, family can be the only sanctuary. Female children must not be viewed as a problem to be passed on to someone else.
Deeply flawed
It is however difficult for NGOs in B-H to advocate effectively for such problem-solving approaches to violence against women, in a political landscape so dominated by the ethnic tribunes that other actors are sidelined. Amid the wider collapse of former Yugoslavia, in 1995 the war in B-H was stopped by the signing of the Dayton agreement, which bequeathed a deeply flawed governance system, including the entities partitioned on ethnic lines. It is undeniable that this is a divided society, but it is humiliating that everything from politics and laws to human rights—even gender equality—should be perceived as revolving around ethnic and religious identity.
Two hundred spaces for women and children who are victims of violence in B-H is simply not enough. We must work on fundraising to increase the number of safe houses and facilities. Yet hiding victims away is not a permanent solution. In dealing with violence, there is no substitute for the rule of law, for punishing perpetrators—and building a society where women are economically independent, free and without fear.
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.