Mission MAG - European Union Police Mission in Bosnia and ...

Domestic violence is often not reported
"He would slap me, kick me, pull my hair, insult me verbally
and threaten me. I was so humiliated. He even beat me up
when I was pregnant," says a victim of domestic violence.
Domestic violence is on the increase in BiH. While in the
Federation, domestic violence has gone up by 2.5% since
last year, the Republika Srpska registers an unprecedented
15 % increase.
In the countries of ex-Yugoslavia, women generally do not
talk about domestic violence. They even tend to believe that
being occasionally hit or even beaten up is a component of
marriage, claims Radio Free Europe.
To mark the International Day for the Elimination of
Violence against Women (25 November), we asked several
experts about the possible causes of this dramatic increase.
"There are various causes," says Azra Hasanbegovic, Executive
Director of Women in BiH, one of the major actors in the
fight against domestic violence. The NGO set up an SOS line
for the victims of domestic violence and runs one of the six
Safe Houses in the country.
Hasanbegovic is convinced that domestic violence happens
Crash course on EU institutions
for Political Department
All members of EUPM's Political
Department gathered in Sarajevo on 30
November for a one-day crash course in
EU affairs.
"Since I took over as Chief Political
Adviser in January this year, part of my
focus has been to improve the on-going
professional training for national and
international political officers," says
Boyd McKechnie. "The European Union
one-day course, among others, was a
reflection of that. I believed it was important
for all of us to place our work, which
is from a field mission perspective, into
the bigger picture of European Union
efforts to spread democracy and political
stability all over the world."
Tobias Flessenkemper, the Chief of our
EU Coordination Office, started off with
a lively and interactive presentation about
the history of the EU and the European
Security and Defense Policy in BiH.
every day, but that most of the cases are probably not reported.
"The unemployment rate is very high in BiH," she goes on.
"People have to cope with a low standard of living. The traditional
patriarchic family falls apart, bringing about alcoholism
and other problems."
Police intervention is now allowed,
but many cases are not reported
Maria Cristina Stepanescu, EUPM's Chief of the Programme
Development and Coordination Department (PDCD), is familiar
with the problem of domestic violence in BiH. Her department
has contributed to the development of programmes dealing
with human trafficking and community policing, and she
personally insisted that these programmes also address domestic
violence.
"The law in BiH has been amended to allow police intervention
in cases of domestic violence," she says. "Police forces in
BiH have started to train their officers on how to treat victims."
He then gave the floor to three guest
speakers, namely Rasa Ostrauskaite,
from the EUSR, Paraskevi Nazou, from
the European Commission Delegation
and Alicia Forsyth, from EUFOR.
"The intense session was extremely
informative," Boyd concluded. "Hopefully,
in the future, when we hear about the
SAA negotiations or the Security and
Defence Policy we will be able to put our
every-day duties in a wider perspective."
In the same framework, the political
department organised a one-day visit and
briefing session at the BiH State Court in
March this year. Boyd also has plans to
organise another seminar in 2007 about
the Euro-Atlantic institutions and the
Partnership for Peace.
By Ann Vaessen
10
European Union Police Mission
www.eupm.org