The adopted Codex on September 12th this year, consists of the set of basic principles and values, which have the aim to establish the standards of behaviour and action of members of the Women’s Network of B&H, as in to define the relations of Network members between one another and their relations towards third parties, during the realization of the activities within the Network.

– Establishment of Women’s Network of B&H

Although it was not officially called Women’s Network of B&H, the women’s network still existed and grew for seventeen years in B&H as an alternative and identity model of action toward state policies, transforming the power from sex to gender and from private to public. Finally, it was presented to public on the regional conference, which was one of the activities of the PitchWise Festival, organized by CURE Foundation. The conference was visited by more than 30 representatives of women NGOs coming from: Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro, Kosovo and Macedonia.

„This regional support is of great importance for women in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and I hope this platform will succeed to gather women in this country and help them work together for the achievement of their mutual aims and better life quality for all. The French Embassy in Sarajevo will of course, continue to support these kind of activities, since France also had its hard time in the past regarding women human rights, but we managed to change that and today, they are highly respected in our country“, said Maryse Berniau, ambassador of France in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Network gathers activists and feminists who constantly fight against culture and perception of the gender in B&H society, and protect peace, security and human rights, contribute in such a way to secularism in the country. Women’s Network of B&H consists of non-governmental organizations, women’s groups, individuals who represent in their actions feministic principles such as: peace, solidarity, trust, unity and respect of individual.

– Experiences of neighbour countries

Before adopting the platform, women from the region shared the experiences from their networks. Bojana Genov, from Croatian Women’s Network expressed her pleasure for being in Sarajevo on the day when women NGO sector in B&H is forming its Women’s Network and shared the experiences of Croatian Women’s Network, noting the challenges, ups and downs that are very natural in the life of one network: „Our network was formed by B.a.B.e. in year 1995 and it consisted then of 16 women human rights organizations, after few years that number grew to 50. However, in the life of one network, not everything is always pretty. The Network is a place of incredible dynamics, mutual conflicts, fiery discussion etc. but it is also a place of great political strength and potential. Today, our Network is very respected in Croatian society and perceived as important political factor, although we, ourselves, had a lot of internal conflicts and opposite opinions. But those are the challenges every member organization has to face“.

Stasa Zajovic, the network „Women in Black“ in the Republic of Serbia, stated that creating discourse communities is something she finds most valuable here. „Discourse communities give you the opportunity to exchange energy, strength, pain, anger… the only capital left to accumulate for women in the Balkans. It is very important to fight, even amongst each other, constantly. As it is important to be aware and know, that in order to function as a Network, we don’t have to agree on many things, but we have to love and respect each other for who we truly are and what we truly represent. That is a feministic responsibility“, stresses Stasa.

Rahaela Gjorgieva, Committee of NGOs „Vavilon“ from Macedonia, gave a chronological review of the Vavilon network, sharing the good and bad times and practices of the Macedonian network. Experiences and lessons learned, also shared representatives of Women’s Network from Kosovo and Anima from Montenegro.

– Future of Women’s Network of B&H

Women’s Network of B&H functions in a way that promotes application of good feministic practices. The Network reacts and acts on human rights violations, especially women human rights violations. It communicates with its members via e-mailing list, where organizations exchange the information on their work, send calls for joint actions, and offer suggestions for joint press releases.

As stated in the Platform, Women’s Network of B&H will be developing in a direction which is to be established yet, after a trial period of one year.  After one year, Women’s Network of B&H will organize a meeting of the working group consisted of active network members, and determine then whether there is a need to establish formal body which will be called Women’s Network of B&H. One year is sufficient period to build an online platform which will offer basic information on the work of the women groups in B&H, it is also sufficient period for the organizations to learn to publish their information on regular basis online in order to promote thier work and activities in the field of women’s rights.

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