Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Banja Luka and Women to Women Sarajevo organised The Conference on “Peace activism in Post War Period in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in Banja Luka from 15-17.05.2008. The conference gathered around 30 civil society activists, journalists and students, who shared their experience in peace activism in BiH, challenges they faced and forms of activism they used. Introductory presentations were given by Franciscan priest Ivo Marković and Memnuna Zvizdić, director of Women to Women Sarajevo.
The conference was organised in framework of The Project “Peace activism – Crossroads”, funded by the European Union

Sarajevo, 25.03.2008.
Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Banja Luka presented the Study “Gender Equality Law and Court Practice” to students of the 3rd year of The Faculty of Law in Sarajevo. Public prosecutor Mrs. Hajrija Hadžiomerović Muftić and activist of HCA Banja Luka Dragana Dardić presented the study, informing the students on main findings, conclusions and case studies. Presentation was supported by Canadian International Development Agency.

Banja Luka, 23.03.2008 – Media in Bosnia and Herzegovina should develop professional standards for reporting on gender based violence, while special attention should be paid to protection of victims’ identity, use of statements of witnesses of violence and prevention of use of unreliable information which may further harm the victims. It is also necessary to avoid sensationalism in reporting, titles and photographs and affirm use of gender sensitive language to prevent hiding the nature of gender based violence in such reports. These were the recommendations of a two day workshop „Reporting on violence against women and gender based violence in Bosnia and Herzegovina", organised by United Women in Banja Luka and led by trainers of Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Banja Luka. 28 journalists, editors and NGO activists from Bosnia and Herzegovina participated in the workshop. Part of recommendations related to cooperation of NGOs and media, insisting on establishing of publicly accessible data base on media and NGOs combating gender based violence, on cooperation in education and sensitisation of the media, sharing of information and creating a „story“, identification of interviewees etc.

U saradnji sa Centrom za edukaciju sudija i tužilaca Federacije BiH u Gračanici je od 21. do 22. februara održan seminar na kojem je glavna tema bio Zakon o ravnopravnosti polova u BiH iz ugla Studije „Ravnopravnost polova i sudska praksa u BiH“.
Na seminaru su o studiji i prednostima i nedostacima Zakona govorile edukatorice Centra i jedne od autorica Studije Hajrija Hadžiomerovic Muftić i Vildana Helić i Dragana Dardić, te predstavnik Gender centra Federacije Azir Mrđanović.
Učesnici su bili predstavnici sudova sa područja Tuzlanskog kantona i predstavnci centara za socijalni rad. Seminar je održan uz finansijsku podršku CIDA.

U saradnji sa Panevropskim univerzitetom Apeiron organizovana je, 18. januara ove godine, još jedna prezentacija studije “Ravnopravnost polova i sudska praksa u BiH” pod pokroviteljstvom kanadske CIDA-e, ovaj put za studente Fakulteta pravnih nauka Studenti su pokazali veliki interes za pitanja ravnopravnosti polova, naročito za mogućnost pokretanja sudskih sporova zbog povreda prava na osnovu polne diskriminacije. Studenti su imali priliku da kroz analizu slučaja TV voditelja Dragana Marinkovića Mace protiv kojeg se trenutno vodi sudski spor zbog seksualnog uznemiravanja i analizu člana 15 Zakona o ravnopravnosti polova BiH diskutuju o opravdanosti postojanja zakona i njegovoj sudskoj primjeni.

Helsinški parlament građana Banjaluka je 13. decembra organizovao završnu ceremoniju dodjele diploma mladim predstavnicima političkih partija koji su prošli edukativni program “Akademija za političke lidere/ke” u trajanju od jedne godine.
Nakon prezentacije programa i dodjele diploma u Piano baru Hotela Bosna upriličen je koktel. Osim akademaca na dodjeli diploma su prisustvovali i gosti predavači, predsatvnici vladinih institucija za mlade, političkih partija, međunarodnih organizacija koje se bave mladima, mediji i dr.
Akademija će se nastaviti i naredne godine, kada će uključiti novu generaciju akademaca i nastaviti sa radom sa ovogodišnjim akademcima.

Banja Luka, 05.12.2007 - Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Banja Luka and United Women Banja Luka organised a public discussion with topic „Psychological characteristics of victims of domestic violence“.
Upon an introductory given by clinical psychologist Mrs. Dijana Đurić on psychological mechanisms victim of domestic violence develops, such as denial of
a problem, self accusation for the situation and hesitation in reporting the violence, as well as upon conclusion of participants in discussion that the Law on Protection from Domestic Violence is not fully implemented and that actions of institutions in charge are not harmonised enough, the following conclusions and recommendations were defined:
1. The shelters for women victims of domestic violence are efficient mechanisms of protection in a moment of severe violence, but also a space for her rehabilitation and transformation from status of a victim to an active defender of rights. The Council of Europe recommends there should be 1 bed in a shelter on every 7500-10000 citizens. Considering the poverty and financial capacities of Republika Srpska, due to which we cannot expect this recommendation to be implemented, we appeal to the institutions of RS to ensure:
- That changes and amendments to the Law on Protection from Domestic Violence precisely define obligation of full funding of safe houses in a way that 70% of costs are funded from the entity budget and 30% from municipal budgets. The funding must be adapted to the needs and sufficient for full operation of safe houses,
- That there are at least five safe houses opened in RS in accordance to the regional organisation of prosecutorial offices, meaning: Trebinje, Istočno Sarajevo, Bijeljina, Modriča (Doboj region) and Banja Luka.
2. Victims of domestic violence should be recognised by the Law on Social Welfare as social categories of population, while safe houses need to be recognised as social care institutions, which will ensure further support and assistance to victims.
3. As an example of good practice participants identified the interventions of „mobile team“ in Banja Luka region, consisted of police, Social Care Centre and NGO United Women representatives. Upon call of a victim or report from the police, the team goes directly to the household where violence occurred, intervenes and offers a victim a possibility to move to the safe house.
The public discussion was funded by Swedish Foundation Kvinna Till Kvinna.

Sarajevo, 27.11.2007 - The Agency for Gender Equality of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in cooperation with Gender Centre of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Gender Centre of Republika Srpska, with technical support of Independent Bureau for Humanitarian Issues (IBHI) and with financial support of Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) and Department for International Development (DFID), on 27th of November 2007 organised The Conference: “Setting priorities and activities for Implementation of Gender Action Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina“. The project ideas for implementation of the Gender Action Plan were presented to more than 90 participants from governmental and nongovernmental sector, media and international organisations. They were developed by the representatives of the mentioned groups who participated in a workshop organised in the period before the Conference. At the beginning of 2008 a Fund for implementation of Gender Action Plan will be established and its main supporters will be SIDA and DFID, while financial participation of BiH government and other donors is expected as well.

Banja Luka, 17.11.2007 - Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Banja Luka and IKV Pax Christi from the Netherlands organised a seminar "Gender sensitive policies in the Western Balkans" in Banja Luka from November 15th to 17th 2007. Representatives of the NGOs and institutions from the region of Western Balkans were introduced to basic principles to planning and implementation of gender sensitive policies, including gender sensitive budges, as well as to good practices in the Netherlands, from which our partner organisation came. It was concluded that all countries in the region of former Yugoslavia adopted the laws, policies and set up the institutional mechanisms which need to ensure implementation of principles of gender equality in all segments of socia life and that they are signatories of international documents which are obligatory to them, but that practice of implementation of these principles is still at the beginning and the experience is very limited.

The Study of Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Banja Luka "Gender Equality and Court Practice in BiH" will be presented in Teslić on November 9th and 10th in the seminar for judges and prosecutors organised by the Judicial and Prosecutorial Training Centre of Republika Srpska. The Study is a result of severl months of research focused on the Gender Equality Law of BiH from the aspect of court protection regulated by this Law. Producing and printing of the Study was financed by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).