Combating gender-based violence in police structures in BiH

The project entitled "Combating gender-based violence in police structures in BiH" was implemented during 2020 and 2021. It is a project funded by the U.S. Embassy.

Within  this project "Guidelines for dealing with cases of sexual and gender-based harassment in the police" have been developed. The aim of the Guidelines is to improve the conduct of officers responsible for investigating and documenting cases of discrimination in the police, given the fact that research has shown that they do not have enough practice and experience to deal with these cases and there is a high dark number of cases of sexual and gender-based harassment within the police.

The guidelines were preceded by a series of trainings aimed at raising awareness of the presence of sexual and gender-based harassment in the police, familiarizing policewomen with the basic forms of this type of discrimination and protection mechanisms and encouraging them to report such cases.  Three trainings for policewomen were realized, which were attended by about 100 policewomen, members of the  "Policewomen's Network" Association from 16 police agencies. Also, two trainings were conducted for representatives of the Department of Internal Control on the topic "Investigation of gender-based discrimination and sexual harassment", which was attended by about 40 investigators responsible for investigating this type of discrimination.

As a final activity within this project, posters were made that send a message about zero tolerance towards sexual and gender-based harassment in police structures in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which were distributed to police agencies and placed in visible places. The aim is to raise awareness of zero tolerance for sexual and gender-based harassment in the police and to encourage employees to report such cases. Distribution of these posters and placing them in visible places in police bodies is one of the measures that will contribute to the suppression of gender-based violence in the police, which is the obligation of police bodies in accordance with the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination in BiH.

More information about the activities withun this project can be found in the links below:

https://udruzenjemps.ba/en/news/policewomen-discuss-discrimination-in-the-workplace-and-sexual-harassment/110 

https://udruzenjemps.ba/en/news/raising-awareness-of-sexual-harassment-within-the-ranks-of-the-police-workshop-for-policewomen/112 

https://udruzenjemps.ba/en/news/empowering-policewomen-to-report-sexual-harassment-within-the-ranks-of-the-police/128 

https://udruzenjemps.ba/en/news/improving-the-conduct-of-the-police-in-investigating-cases-of-discrimination-within-the-police/130 

https://udruzenjemps.ba/en/news/30-investigators-trained-to-investigate-cases-of-gender-based-discrimination-and-sexual-harassment-in-the-workplace/131 

https://udruzenjemps.ba/en/news/final-working-session-was-held-on-the-occasion-of-drafting-guidelines-for-dealing-with-cases-of-sexual-and-gender-based-harassment-in-the-police/137 

https://udruzenjemps.ba/en/news/guidelines-for-dealing-with-cases-of-sexual-harassment-and-gender-based-harassment-in-the-police/140 

https://udruzenjemps.ba/en/news/sending-a-message-about-zero-tolerance-towards-sexual-and-gender-based-harassment-in-the-police/141