Street action within the campaign “Sexual Extortion is Corruption. Let’s Break the Silence!” was held in Bosansko Grahovo, and was organized by the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Banja Luka and the Association of Citizens (Women) Grahovo.
We introduced the residents of this small town, which is part of Canton 10, to this type of corrupt act, the goals of the campaign and the need to introduce the concept of sexual extortion into laws and anti-corruption strategies. We talked about the importance of recognizing sexual extortion as a combination of sexual harassment and corruption and the importance of reporting, and the protection and support that all victims should have. Sexual extortion (sextortion) is a gender-specific form of corruption, which is still not formally and legally recognized in the laws of BiH.
We heard from the citizens of Bosansko Grahovo that it is necessary to hold as many such educations as possible in smaller communities throughout BiH, which are already facing numerous problems.
“It’s time to talk about it, because sexual extortion is completely unacceptable, and such topics are especially taboo in smaller communities and are kept silent, which does not mean that there are no such issues. Who should people turn to in smaller towns, when they do not have the support they should have even in bigger cities? Women in smaller communities usually face numerous problems, from unemployment, domestic violence and so on…” said one citizen from Bosansko Grahovo.
With Danka Zelić, president of the Association of Citizens (Women) Grahovo, we talked about the current projects they are implementing, the support they provide to the women of this region, about working on better living conditions, and especially about the important and urgent need to establish a Center for Social Work in Bosansko Grahovo.
In addition to Bosansko Grahovo, street actions within this campaign have already been held in Sarajevo, Bijeljina, Banja Luka, Zenica, Modriča and Tuzla.
This activity is implemented within the project “Citizens in the Fight against Silent Corruption” supported by CCI and USAID.
