The Women Leading Bosnia’s Fight Against Gender-Based Violence
They are everyday women you pass on the streets. They are your tax officers, your workers in hospitality, and activists fighting for human rights. They call themselves “helpers” — and for many women, they are the only lifeline they have in fighting gender-based violence. That was the case for Amra.
Growing up in a small town in central Bosnia and Herzegovina, Amra* married for love but divorced after facing violence from her husband. She is using a pseudonym to protect her identity. At first, she told More to Her Story, her husband slowly isolated her from her family and friends. She didn’t even notice because she was “blinded by her husband,” she said.
One day, when she arrived home later than usual from work, her husband slapped her. “Of course, I found a million excuses and reasons why I deserved that,” she said.
In this small country in the western Balkans, she is one of many women who has suffered violence at the hands of an intimate partner. According to UN Women, every second woman in Bosnia and Herzegovina has experienced some form of violence since age 15. The situation in the country reflects global trends, with UN Women estimating that one in three women worldwide experience gender-based violence.
After years of abuse, Amra finally reported her husband to police authorities. Then, another ordeal began: navigating the country’s complicated legal and protection systems. A devastating war in the 1990s left Bosnia and Herzegovina divided into two entities, one district, and a deeply fragmented administrative structure.
She also faced social stigma.
“When you decide to report violence, you don’t know what you are facing, from prejudices of people working in institutions to condemnation from your family,” explained Amra.
This is where one of 112 women engaged in a network called “4P” stepped in.
Established in 2022, the Center for Women’s Rights, based in the city of Zenica, has been training women across the country to serve as volunteer “helpers,” embedded in communities to support survivors of violence and others at risk. Legally recognized as “persons of trust,” they are required to complete extensive training.
“This is a globally unique approach,” said Meliha Sendić, president of the Center for Women’s Rights, and an educator who helped create the network.
One of the first lessons helpers learn is to dismantle prejudices and stereotypes. Then, they learn how to communicate with victims and institutions to assert their legal rights.
“They have different educational backgrounds, ages,” said Sendić. “Not all of them are lawyers, and we teach them that, if nothing else, they know how to direct a woman to the right address or take her to necessary institutions.”
At least 60 percent of the network's participants are former victims of violence, and as Sendić noted, they don’t want other women to experience the same kind of violence they did.
“But also they want to help someone, they want to volunteer, they want to be able to inform others,” she said.
If a woman faces violence, she can find a local helper on an online map. The helper determines the next step. Now, more government officials tell victims they can get assistance with helpers.
For example, a judge told Amra about Elmedina Šabić, a local helper.
A volunteer in the network since 2022, Šabić, also an activist in other organisations, said that she joined the 4P network because she wanted to learn how to help vulnerable women.
“The very existence of a helper gives a woman a strength," said Šabić, adding that women most often feel stronger when someone helpful is beside them, directing them, and explaining, for example, what to expect during a trial.
“It is easier if, next to them, is a person that is educated, trained and that they personally don’t know, then they can open up easier and share their experience,” Šabić said.
Helpers provide vital services, and the network’s rapid growth underscores the demand.
“They act as first responders for women who don’t know where to turn. They help calm them, earn their trust, and support them in seeking protection and justice,” Sendić said.
Survivors recognize the important role of helpers in fighting gender-based violence.
Amra said it is difficult to navigate a process and paperwork “you know nothing about.”
“For me, a helper was available 24 hours a day and guided me through everything,” Amra said. She also said that helpers are also connected with psychologists who provide free psychotherapy. “And we all need that,” she said
Anyone who contacts 4P” will get help, said Sendić, whether it’s legal aid, psychological support, advocacy, or personally-tailored planning.
“If the helper doesn’t know what to do, then they involve us.”
Today, Amra is divorced. She received psychological and legal counseling from the Center for Women’s Rights in Zenica.
That is not the case for most women globally, as only about seven percent report violence, according to the World Bank. It certainly won’t be the case for the estimated 12 women killed annually in this country of 3.5 million people, according to Fondacija Cure, a feminist organization that advocates for gender equality in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
As far back as 2019, a study by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, found that about half the women in Bosnia and Herzegovina reported experiencing some form of violence after they turned 15. Six years later, women faced about the same level of violence, said Fedra Idžaković, an expert on gender equality at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. Violence is so widespread “and normalized that it has become a daily occurrence,” she said.
“If half of the women experienced some form of violence, then we are talking about a huge number of people in a small country,” said Idžaković. “This is a horrible problem.”
But some reforms have occured, she said, in part because of several events that reframed violence against women as not only a women’s issue but also a security issue.
A woman named Nizama
The turning point came in August 2023, when Nizama Hećimović, 38, was murdered on Instagram Live by her former partner, Nermin Sulejmanović, who went on to kill two more people and then himself.
The number of reported cases of violence has grown since then, with more calls from women to the shelter help lines, said Sendić. “Yes, those were the triggers and a lot has changed. We can’t really compare situations before and after Nizama,” she said.
In the almost two years since her murder, lawmakers have introduced new legislation to protect the legal rights of victims. More women have come forward and reported alleged crimes, as advocacy campaigns dismantle the stigma of talking about domestic violence and build more awareness about mechanisms to help women.
“Violence has always been there, and it's still all the same. I think women have become empowered, encouraged, and afraid because they've seen what's going on,” said Sendić. She noted the 4P model “can offer a lot to women and to institutions.”
Šabić is emboldened to continue realizing benefits through the 4P network that started in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but can exist anywhere.
Šabić said that it’s critical that communities talk about violence against women and offer support to women with a simple message: “I am here. Do not worry. Everything will be alright.”