The need for more gender-balanced political representation and the urgent need to end violence against women were key topics at the two-day regional expert conference titled Transforming Politics: Male Politicians as Critical Actors for Gender Equality and Eliminating Violence against Women. The conference, held on 5-6 June in Sarajevo, brought together over 70 participants, including parliament members, party leaders, government agency representatives, and civil society members from South-East Europe. It was jointly organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
A special session was dedicated to addressing violence against women, with a special emphasis on the link between such violence and the misuse of small arms and light weapons.
"We must take comprehensive action across all institutions and also focus on areas that may not be immediately associated with violence against women, such as the misuse of small arms and light weapons," said Thomas Busch, Deputy Head of the OSCE Mission to BiH. "Ending violence against women improves the safety and security of not only women but society as a whole. This is a serious responsibility, and we must recognize that unless all women are safe, we cannot hope for a prosperous society."
The conference also addressed the political participation of women in public life. Despite some progress, the OSCE region is still far from achieving gender-balanced representation. Men continue to dominate major legislative and executive positions, particularly as party leaders, parliamentary speakers, heads of government, heads of state, and mayors.
"For the sake of our societies and ourselves, let us think big. We need male and female politicians to work together not just to increase the number of women in politics, but also to promote good governance for greater gender equality in all our political institutions," said Yulia Netesova, Chief of the Democratic Governance and Gender Unit at ODIHR.
Duška Jurišić, Deputy Minister for Human Rights and Refugees of BiH, emphasized that the majority of previous strategies have empowered women, but also shifted the responsibility onto them for their own position in politics and addressing gender-based violence issues. "It is very positive that among the present male participants, BiH politicians of various political affiliations, there is an awareness of responsibility, as well as the need and interest in gender equality and in preventing violence against women," she stated. Deputy Minister Jurišić emphasized that the road ahead is long, considering that eight femicides have been recorded in BiH in the last nine months. "It is difficult to speak about progress, but it is good that there is consensus in condemnation, as well as the stance that much more needs to be done in the field of prevention," she said.
The conference is part of the broader efforts of the OSCE to promote equal representation of men and women in political, public, security sector and family life, as well as to prevent and address violence against women in all its forms. This initiative is also a component of a larger SALW Project implemented by the OSCE Mission to BiH, which assists authorities in tackling security and safety concerns related to the illegal possession, misuse, and trafficking of small arms and light weapons and their ammunition. The project is financially supported by Austria, the Czech Republic, the European Union, Germany, France, Liechtenstein, Norway, Slovakia, Türkiye, and the United States.
