GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE AND OUR ROLE

Gender-based violence is an obstacle to the social and economic development of society. It is important to provide service to victims but it is more important to address fundamental causes of the violence to create a more peaceful and stable society where women, men, and children are free to enjoy their rights and their rights are respected. IOM and Transition and Recovery Division have developed tools to address fundamental causes of gender-based violence. These tools rest on the acknowledgment that gender inequality and unequal power relations are the roots of gender-based violence.

Nathalie Gendre

Within the project “Moving toward sustainable approaches to prevent violent extremism in the Western Balkans”, financially supported by the Government of the United Kingdom, IOM works towards improving active and critical thinking in youth and the adults in their lives and building stronger communities. Recognizing the importance placed on gender by violent extremist groups applying different strategies for men, women, boys, and girls in their activities, propaganda, and recruitment efforts, IOM developed an activity that assesses and explores the role of gender identities in the context of violent extremism in the Western Balkans. The primary focus is concentrated on toxic masculinity – a construct that transcends religious beliefs and cultures, present across all violent extremist groups, including religious, far-right nationalist, white supremacist, and neo-Nazi violent extremist groups and organizations – breaking the linkage between masculinity and violence, and the idea that power, dominance, and violence are key traits of being a man.

Toxic Masculinity refers to a certain cultural/social norm that is associated with harm to society and men themselves. Also, self-reliance and emotional repression are correlated with increased psychological problems in men such as depression, increased stress, substance abuse, and in the end, it can lead to violent extremist behavior. Having in mind all said, IOM developed a 6-sessions workshop that talks about the socialization of boys in patriarchal societies which often normalizes violence, such as in the saying “boys will be boys” with regard to bullying and aggression. This methodology covers the topics such as toxic masculinity, gender-based violence, misogyny, emotions, media influence, objectification, discrimination, and speaks about the burden that men carry due to the pressure that society imposes on them. First of these workshops with youth in four local communities are organized in the period of marking the 16 Days of activism against gender-based violence framework.

Connected to the issue of toxic masculinity, and within other project’s activities, IOM organized and supported several events to mark 16 DoA campaign: Orange Walk in Foča, a panel discussion in Bugojno, Orange match – a football match with mixed teams in Prijedor, and the panel discussion “Toxic Masculinity: Past, Present, Future”, in Sarajevo.

29 November

Orange Walk in Foča was organized by participants of the SMART’Y workshop, who chose to walk together and send the support message to the victims of violence and to condemn the violence.

A 15 years old Matija, just after finishing the Orange Walk, said: „I am happy that we dedicated our time to this topic. But this is not enough. Both physical and verbal violence must be stopped.”

5 December

Youth in Bugojno organized a panel discussion where the panelists were: Ajla Kavlak, MSc in Social Work, Fra Ivica Pavlović, priest of St. Ante Padovanski parish in Bugojno, and hafiz Semir Imamović, professor of Islamic religious studies, who spoke about the causes of gender-based violence and the role of the society in reducing or eradicating it. They concluded that every part of society – every individual and every institution – has a role in preventing and eradicating gender-based violence.

9 December        

Aiming to promote gender equality and support equal power relations among men and women, youth in Prijedor decided to organize an Orange Match – a football match with mixed male and female participants. After the game, with half of a breath, they said that they were proud of being able to show what a great football they can all play, together.

10 December

Organized on Human Rights Day, the panel discussion Toxic Masculinity: Past, Present, Future brought several very important conclusions. The panelists were: Peter Van der Auweraert, Chief of Mission IOM BiH, Nathalie Gendre, DDRR and PVE Advisor, Transition and Recovery Division, IOM (online), Sead Turčalo, Dean of Faculty of political science, Aida Ganović, psychologist ‎HRD for PD · ‎SOS CV BiH, Senka Petković, Center for social welfare Brcko District, BiH, Borislav Đulabić, Health center of Brcko District, BiH. HE Matthew Field, British Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina and Mr. Peter Van der Auweraert gave introductory speeches for this event.

In his introductory speech, HE Matthew Field stated that we should not only send the message „protect your daughters“ but „educate your sons“ should be a message as well. We should teach our sons not to be afraid of strong women, help them understand and manage their emotions, and teach them that there are many different ways to be a man. This education is a task for all of us, but a special responsibility is on men – fathers, brothers, male leaders – to be better role models.

Below are a few conclusions that emerged from this discussion:

Mr. Peter Van der Auweraert listed the examples of norms and standards set by the society on how a man should act and what he should look like, and spoke of violent acts as a personal choice of persons conducting the violence. Later in the discussion, he spoke about the importance of the projects IOM and other organizations are implementing. All the efforts invested in the prevention and eradication of violence might seem like a drop in the ocean, but every drop counts.

Mr. Sead Turčalo said it is very important to invest effort in developing strong individuals, and that is the role of education. He emphasized that persons tend to accept every role imposed on them just to be accepted in society. This is why we should nourish individuality and creativity: „When they nullify your creativity, they destroy your individuality.“

Ms. Aida Ganović spoke about the importance of mental health, especially since it is a taboo in B&H society, and about the glorification of bullies as a way of supporting the violence. „We do not allow young people to be creative and to think critically, but at the same time we expect them to do so.“

Ms. Senka Petković spoke about the role of the institutions, especially the Centers for Social Welfare. She highlighted the importance of the trust that those institutions and social workers must build in victims of the violence, as well as maintaining that trust. The cooperation between the relevant institutions is also of great importance.

Mr. Borislav Đulabić covered the engagement of health institutions in the cases of violence. He spoke about the rarity of reporting cases of violence. As he said, previous violent cases showed that victims often do not report the violence because of the shame and condemnation they may encounter if reporting the violent spouses or other family members.

Ms. Nathalie Gendre emphasized that women must be systematically included in integration and rehabilitation programs. She spoke about the tendency to perceive women only as victims of armed violence, especially in violent extremist organizations. Therefore, women are often excluded from rehabilitation and reintegration programs. Not only this is discriminatory, women won't benefit from access to these programs, but it can also be a risk for society because we might miss women with radicalized profiles and send them back to their communities.

The panel agreed that violence is not accepted in any form, that all aspects of the society, both formal and informal, should participate in the prevention and eradication of the violence.

And for further conclusion let us quote one of the participants: “Indeed, we must not neglect any medium, neither traditional nor modern. Each should be used to talk about this topic. We need to take advantage of these 16 Days of Activism but also all 365 or 366 days of the year, to speak about violence. We need to use people in the community who will recognize these problems and talk about them on a daily basis.”