The “Voice of Women” organization from Bihać and the TPO Foundation from Sarajevo organized a professional conference in the capital on the topic of “Femicide as a Separate Criminal Offense in the Criminal Code of FBiH,” under the general motto “For Better Protection of Women from Violence in FBiH.”

The participants of the conference, held within the UNIGEM project, included highly respected speakers, with topics divided into two panels. The aim was to provide the wider society with a scientific-professional response regarding the need and form of criminal legal regulation of gender-based killing of women, which is a broader social issue in the Federation.

The impetus for organizing this conference was an initiative for amendments to the Criminal Code of FBiH, specifically the revision of Article 166, Murder, with a special provision introducing femicide—killing of a woman as a severe form of murder—and the introduction of gender and gender-based violence terminology.

In the first panel, speakers such as Professor at the Faculty of Law in Zagreb, Prof. Dr. Aleksandar Maršavelski, retired judge Branka Mašić Žigate from the Center for Education of Judges and Prosecutors of BiH, and Dr. Zlatan Hrnčić from the Gender Center of FBiH, discussed the topic “Gender-based Killing of a Woman as a Separate Criminal Offense in the Criminal Code and Judicial Practice.”

In the second panel, on the topic “Gender-based Killing of a Woman – Challenges in Practice, Justification, and the Necessity of Introducing It as a Separate Criminal Offense in the Criminal Code of FBiH,” speakers included Dr. Alma Kratina, Chairwoman of the Gender Equality Commission of the FBiH Parliament, Assistant Professor Dr. Sandi Dizdarević, a professor of Criminal Psychology and Criminal Interviewing, and Sarajevo-based lawyer Dr. Amila Mujčinović. In the final part of the professional conference, a training session for journalists and students was held. Dr. Mirjana Marinković-Lepić delivered a lecture on the topic “Media – Advocates of Public Interest in the Area of Human Rights,” while Assistant Professor Dr. Medina Mujić conducted a lecture and workshop on the topic “Gender-based Violence in the Media.”