Executive, legislative, and judicial authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina met in a series of roundtable discussions from 17-19 September 2024 to reflect on the findings of a gap analysis concerning sexual and digital violence against women in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The discussions, moderated by prof. Dženana Radončić, one of the authors of the analysis, aimed to raise awareness on the necessary steps for harmonising local legislation, policy and practice with the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, known as the Istanbul Convention.

Participants discussed the need for amending criminal laws to include the absence of freely given consent as a core component of sexual violence definitions. Additionally, they noted the growing importance of addressing the digital dimension of violence against women, particularly online stalking, online psychological violence and online sexual harassment to fully comply with the GREVIO General Recommendation no. 1 on the digital dimension of violence against women.

Prof. Dženana Radončić highlighted that „there is a general misunderstanding of all the different forms of digital dimension of violence against women which is trivializing its consequences. Existing laws in Bosnia and Herzegovina only indirectly deal with some forms of violence against women facilitated by digital technology - no government level has specific regulations criminalizing the digital aspect of violence against women. Recent amendments, to introduce criminal offenses such as female genital mutilation, forced marriage, forced sterilization, stalking and sexual harassment, still do not address violence committed in the digital sphere“.

The gap analysis and the roundtables were prepared in the framework of the project "Combating digital and sexual violence against women in Bosnia and Herzegovina".