Training of police cadets and young inspectors strengthens criminal justice responses to violence against women and girls in Bosnia and Herzegovina

From 13 to 16 May 2024 the OSCE Transnational Threats Department (TNTD), the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Police Academy organized four one-day introductory training courses on gender-responsive policing of violence against women and girls for police cadets and young police inspectors in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH).

The training sessions were delivered by national police officers, prosecutors and other local experts and complemented by OSCE staff. Some 320 police cadets and young police inspectors were trained on how to respond to cases of violence against women and girls while maintaining a victim-centred approach.

“We are grateful to the OSCE for their persistent support to BiH and our police officers in the important fight against gender-based violence, with the victims in the centre,” said Ramo Isak, Minister of Internal Affairs of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, at the opening of the training courses.

“These basic training courses will provide valuable insight and knowledge to enable police cadets and police inspectors to respond to cases of GBV in a way that acknowledges and is sensitive to the victim’s experiences and needs during the criminal justice process,” said Ambassador Brian Aggeler, Head of the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“In order to provide the necessary protection and support to victims of GBV, police officers need to understand the severity of the trauma victims have to cope with, sometimes for years. That is why police officers need to combine hearts and minds when they deal with such cases,” underlined Bjorn Tore Saltvik, project manager and Adviser on Police Reform in TNTD's Strategic Police Matters Unit.

The OSCE will continue to support the national training institutions for police officers, prosecutors and judges in South-Eastern Europe in order to fight violence against women and girls by delivering similar training courses to young professionals in Albania, BiH, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia.

These activities contribute to the implementation of the Council of Europe Istanbul Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence. They were organized as part of the OSCE extrabudgetary project “Enhancing Criminal Justice Capacities for Combating Gender-based Violence in South-Eastern Europe”, funded by Austria, Finland, France, Germany, Italy and Norway.