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SARAJEVO, November 5 (FENA) - BiH Minister of Human Rights and Refugees Semiha Borovac met with UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka in Sarajevo today.
During the meeting, Minister Borovac stressed that she appreciates the support of UN bodies working on a promotion and protection of human rights.
"It is a well-known fact that promotion and protection of human rights require significant financial resources, which Bosnia and Herzegovina is unable to secure on its own. Therefore, projects and support of UN bodies, including UN Women, which we have continuously had for many years and which we justify with our efforts and work, are of utmost importance to us," stated Minister Borovac.
She recalled that in 2013, the BiH Presidency decided to ratify the Council of Europe’s Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (known as the Istanbul Convention), making BiH the first country in the region and the sixth Council of Europe member to ratify the Istanbul Convention. Moreover, the third Gender Action Plan of BiH and the third Action Plan for the implementation of the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 "Women, Peace and Security" were adopted in the previous period.
All this shows that Bosnia and Herzegovina has expressed its commitment to improving the position of women in society, even though we are still facing many challenges. We still do not have ability to aggregate statistics at the BiH level due to the uneven methodology for collecting data on entity violence. One of the serious problems is the fact that the existing capacities of safe houses in BiH are seven times lower than the standard prescribed by the Istanbul Convention, as well as financing of temporary assistance for victims of violence is not fully realized. In the domain of protection, the obligation under the Istanbul Convention on the information of women on available forms of support and assistance and on the introduction of specialized protection systems, such as the establishment of crisis centers for victims of sexual violence, have not been implemented yet.
"We have a lot of work ahead of us to empower women and achieve gender equality. Because as long as discrimination, inequality and violence against women exist, while women and girls are undervalued and considered less valuable in family and society, while women are victims of violence inside and outside their homes, there will be no real progress," concluded Minister Borovac.
UN Under-Secretary-General Mlambo-Ngucka said that BiH has made significant steps in developing institutional capacity to promote gender equality in the country, including establishment of gender-focused institutions at the state and entity levels.
"Efforts of the BiH Gender Equality Agency in supporting women and girls are commendable and I hope that my visit will help improve our cooperation, as well as continue to support gender equality and implementation of services that are accessible to all, no matter where they live," said Mlambo - Ngcuka, the Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees of Bosnia and Herzegovina announced.
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