“Positive legal and policy measures”, but also other steps still need to be taken “to meet the requirements of the Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence” (Istanbul Convention), says the Council of Europe’s ‘Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence’ (GREVIO) in a report on Bosnia and Herzegovina published on Tuesday 8 November.
Among the measures to be adopted as a matter of urgency, GREVIO stresses the importance of integrating the notion of absence of consent in the establishment of sexual offences covered by criminal codes, the definition of pathways or referral systems for victims of sexual violence, the improvement of post-trauma follow-up and long-term psychological support.
GREVIO is also “concerned that domestic violence and other forms of violence against women are considered by judges in Bosnia and Herzegovina as offences of low social danger”.
“Worrying judicial and sentencing practices such as the predominant use of mitigating circumstances, the large use of plea-bargaining agreements and the imposition of very lenient sentences, are identified, bearing the risk of entailing a sentiment of impunity among perpetrators and victims alike”.
Link to the GREVIO report: https://aeur.eu/f/3y0 (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)