OSCE project team on well-being and security of women concludes visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina

SARAJEVO, 10 February 2017 – The OSCE project team tasked with conducting a multi-country survey on the well-being and security of women in the OSCE region concluded a four-day visit to the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) today.

“The survey will provide evidence and data to the authorities so they are able to improve policy, provide better assistance and increase the security of women in BiH,” said Serani Siegel, Project Manager in the Gender Section of the Office of the OSCE Secretary General.

Siegel met with a number international and civil society organizations active in the field as well as with state and entity-level government representatives, including Sasa Leskovac of the BiH Gender Equality Agency, who said: “One important priority is to advance the collection and analysis of gender-based violence data across BiH and harmonize policies so that every potential victim of violence, regardless of location, has equal access to protection.”

Under the project, funded by the European Union, interviews will be conducted with about 16,000 women from Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, BiH, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Georgia, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia and Ukraine. The first result of the survey, which follows the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights methodology on violence against women, is expected by the end of 2018.