Addressing and combating technology-facilitated violence against women and girls remains a key challenge for Bosnia and Herzegovina and its justice systems.

On 15 and 16 September, a two-day conference brought together lawmakers, gender equality institutions, legal professionals, international partners, civil society, academia, and experts from across Europe to share promising practices on how to embed strong safeguards into laws and practices against technology-facilitated violence against women.

Through interactive discussions, participants outlined concrete steps needed to draft, advocate for, and implement laws on technology-facilitated violence against women. The discussions were guided by the recommendations of the GREVIO General Recommendation No. 1 on the digital dimension of violence against women.

The conference concluded that a multi-sectoral response is needed to address technology-facilitated violence, effective data collection and institutional monitoring, and aligning domestic frameworks with international standards, including the development of legal tools for collecting and using digital evidence. Awareness-raising campaigns carried out by the authorities and continuous professional training were added as essential to ensure enhanced competencies to combat technology-facilitated violence against women and girls sustainably.

Violence against women must be recognised as both a serious social problem and a legal issue, requiring timely responses and robust victim protection irrespective of the form this violence takes.

The conference was organised as part of the project “Combating digital and sexual violence against women in Bosnia and Herzegovina II” implemented by the Council of Europe under the Action plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina 2022-2025 and funded through voluntary contributions.