At the meeting, the previous activities on the establishment of crisis centers were discussed, and recommendations for the opening of crisis centers were presented, an integral part of which is the draft protocol on the organization and functioning of crisis centers (procedure for the reception and treatment of victims of sexual violence)
On Tuesday, April 26, a consultative meeting was held in Sarajevo on the possibilities of establishing reference/crisis centers for victims of rape and sexual violence in Bosnia and Herzegovina in cooperation with the Agency for Gender Equality of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The meeting was attended by representatives of hospitals from Sarajevo - OBS "Prim. Ph.D. Abdullah Nakaš, Mostar - University Clinical Hospital Mostar and Tuzla - University Clinical Center Tuzla, as well as non-governmental organizations "Viva žene" and "Local Democracy Foundation". At the meeting, the previous activities on the establishment of crisis centers were discussed, and recommendations for opening crisis centers were presented, an integral part of which is the draft protocol on the organization and functioning of crisis centers (procedure for the reception and treatment of victims of sexual violence).
During the meeting, other issues related to compliance with legal regulations, treating the victim without a court order, taking samples and preserving evidence, and the necessity of establishing cooperation between reference/crisis centers with law enforcement authorities and the judiciary were discussed.
The opening and establishment of crisis/reference centers for victims of rape and sexual violence is one of the goals of the project "Comprehensive strategy adapted to the situation with COVID-19 for Sarajevo without gender-based violence", which is implemented in BiH by the Foundation of Local Democracy from Sarajevo with the support of the Agency of the Government of Catalonia and the non-governmental organization "Medicus Mundi Mediterrania" from Barcelona.
