With the theme “Violence Against Women – Femicide”, the GLAS ŽENE team from the First Secondary School in Cazin applied and made it to the top five at the 9 th eUPSHIFT workshop for young people aged 13 to 19. Their ideas were awarded grants of 3,000 KM each. Nadia, Sumeja, Adna, Merima, and Naida decided to speak out about a prevalent issue that is rarely discussed publicly and raise awareness about the problems of domestic violence and femicide.
“We heard about UPSHIFT through our teacher and psychologist Alma, who recommended that we apply. We’ve been thinking about something similar for a long time, but we didn’t have the time nor the resources to implement it, so UpShift came at just the right time,” said Nadia.
With the support of their vocational theory teacher Almedin Žunić, who was a great support during the project, the girls had many discussions about domestic violence and femicide.
“In practical classes, they have the opportunity to express all their problems, and I try not to be just a strict teacher but also a friend who listens to them. We talked a lot about violence, and I shared an experience of domestic violence by students of my wife, who worked at this school. I think that story motivated them to actively engage and try to solve the problem. They first focused on this topic, and later decided to address femicide, prompted by a shocking case in Gradačac that was shared on social media” said professor Almedin.
Regarding the femicide case in Gradačac, the girls expressed concern not only about the crime being broadcast on social media but also about the continued sharing of the video via private messages. They are particularly worried about the increasing “normalization of violence” in the media and public.
“We want to educate the public that violence is not normal and reduce the normalization of violence. We believe the problem is growing daily and that people almost consider it normal for someone to beat their child or hit their wife, as if they are their property. But this is not how it should be, and we must change it together” the girls from Cazin assert.
Their goal is to mobilize the public, decision-makers, and the media to take active steps.
“As volunteers, five of us, we can’t contribute that much alone, but if we inspire others to act and receive support, we can achieve more. We want everyone to start thinking about this issue and then get involved, support us, and help reduce violence together with us. We want our peers to understand that they need to change their attitudes towards women, recognize violence, both against women and in
general.”
As a result of their work at the UPSHIFT workshop and dedication to this socially significant topic, they produced the film “A Woman becomes a Victim Only When She is Dead”. You can watch the entire film at the following link:
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/zPDEAzCsPDZRGYtB/?mibextid=qi2Omg
In their film, they convey the direct impressions of victims of violence. In addition to the victims, representatives from the Center for Social Work, Amra Hadžić and Alma Habilović, and the police, Adnan Beganović, share their experiences working with such cases.
The girls from the GLAS ŽENE team held a film screening at the Center for Culture and Tourism in Cazin.
The UPSHIFT program originated from UNICEF’s Office of Innovation and is conducted in 38 countries worldwide. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, UPSHIFT is implemented by the Humanitarian Organization Genesis Project in collaboration with the UNICEF Office in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with financial support from DP World.