The HELP course on Violence against women and domestic violence was launched in Sarajevo and Banja Luka for a selected group of 60 lawyers from the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska.

The launching event in Sarajevo was opened by Ambassador Drahoslav Štefánek, Head of the Council of Europe Office in Sarajevo, and Nikica Gržić, President of the Bar Association of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. On the following day, the launching event in Banja Luka was opened by Irena Puzić-Obradović, Executive Board of the Bar Association of Republika Srpska. While emphasizing the need to prevent and combat violence against women and domestic violence, all speakers welcomed all initiatives in this field.

Following an introduction to the Council of Europe Programme for Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals (HELP), participants could benefit from a presentation on the European standards in the field of violence against women and domestic violence by Elisabeth Duran, Council of Europe consultant and member of the HELP Working Group on Access to Justice for Women. The national tutors, Džana Radončić and Duška Andrić-Ružičić, addressed the challenges in dealing with cases concerning violence against women and domestic violence at the domestic level.

The course is implemented in the framework of the project “Raising Bosnia and Herzegovina institutional capacity to prevent and combat violence against women and domestic violence” funded by the Federal Republic of Germany, in cooperation with the HELP in the Western Balkans project – funded by the Human Rights Trust Fund.

The HELP course on Violence against women and domestic violence is composed of the following substantive modules: 

1. Understanding violence against women and domestic violence 
2. International and European Legal Framework 
3. Overcoming barriers / access to Justice 
4. Criminal Justice Response I – Investigation and pre-trial 
5. Criminal Justice Response II – Trial and sentencing 
6. Civil Justice Response 
7. Alternative Dispute Resolution 

The HELP course on Violence against women and domestic violence is currently available in the HELP online platform in Armenian, Bosnian, English, Georgian, Montenegrin, Russian, Slovenian and Ukrainian.

 HELP e-learning platform