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Description
The Centre for Women War Victims ROSA aims to combating discrimination and violence against women by providing assistance and support to women survivors of sexual and other forms of violence in war and peace, advocating for changes in public policies and legal framework and raising public awareness in protection of women''s human rights and achieving full equality.
Strategic goals:
1. Exercise rights and empowerment of women survivors of violence in war and peace, trafficking in women and prostitution, sexual violence, harmful practices, war rape and other forms of war violence
2. Improving public policies and legal frame for prevention and protection of women from discrimination and violence
3. Raising public awareness of causes and consequences of violence against women as the most serious obstacles for achieving gender equality
4. Strengthening capacity of CSOs and institutions to respond effectively to problem of violence against women
Programs:
1. Help and support for women survivors of violence (SOS line for victims of human trafficking, Psycho-social and legal assistance, Information on possibilities of help)
2. Women''s peace policies/gender dimension of transitional justice; Participation in networks in post-conflict societies in order to establish rule of law and address human rights violations in past.
3. Advocating for advancement of women''s rights and position of women in society
4. Empowering feminist movement and civil society
We respond to problem of violence against women as a consequence of social construction of unequal distribution of power between men and women as the most serious obstacle for achieving full equality. We organize individualized professional services that are not available in the social welfare system and advocate for improving of system.
Target groups -women: survivors of war rape and other forms of war violence; victims of trafficking and prostitution; refugees; victims of sexual violence, CSOs; institutions; public.
Summary of project results
In a society that tolerates gender-based violence, its structural nature is often not recognized, nor is the disproportionate impact it has on women. A gender-sensitive approach is often seen as biased, and there are insufficient mechanisms to combat violence, protect victims, and provide compensation. As a result, many victims do not receive the necessary help, and many do not report the violence due to distrust in the system.
Victims of human trafficking for sexual exploitation are often viewed by the system as women who "voluntarily" turned to prostitution, which diminishes their victimhood. There is also a significant issue with victim-blaming and skepticism about their intentions, denying their experiences. It is not recognized that they are victims of gender-based and sexual violence. Early identification of vulnerability and early legal intervention are crucial.
Experiences show that many women who survived wartime rape in the 1990s have never spoken about it, and many do not know about the law under which they can claim their rights. Their needs include assistance in preparing documentation for submitting requests for status, psychological, legal, and advisory help. Refugees coming to Croatia since 2015 face challenges in realizing their rights and social integration, especially women who are isolated, uninformed, and often victims of various forms of violence and traditional practices. Major obstacles to realizing their rights include administrative barriers, language barriers, and a lack of understanding of the system.
All victims of sexual and gender-based violence require holistic and long-term support and assistance. An approach that starts from the needs of the victim/survivor is essential.
The primary target group includes women who have survived wartime rape and other forms of wartime violence, women victims of trafficking and prostitution, victims of sexual violence, refugee women, and their family members. They need advisory, psychological, psychiatric, and legal assistance in the process of seeking protection and realizing their rights. Refugee women also have additional needs for translation and cultural mediation.
The secondary target group includes civil society organizations, institutions that require education, information, networking, and cooperation on cases. We inform the public about the causes, prevalence, and consequences of various forms of gender-based violence, as well as the rights of victims and the possibilities for realizing those rights.
The direct support activities, sectoral and intersectoral cooperation, and capacity building were carried out as planned, while advocacy activities were adjusted to the circumstances. In direct work with women who survived various forms of gender-based and wartime violence, 144 women were empowered and supported, contributing to improved social inclusion and realization of their rights. Efforts focused on increasing awareness and empowering women to seek their rights. Institutional outreach emphasized the needs of women victims of gender-based violence, particularly those who survived wartime sexual violence and human trafficking.
Advocacy influence at the national level was achieved through law improvement proposals, organizing two public events: a consultation on prostitution regulation and a roundtable on wartime sexual violence. These events, supported by various institutions and the British Embassy, aimed to present our law amendments and highlight issues faced by victims. We also promoted the Equality Model in prostitution regulation, advocating for legal changes, including the decriminalization of women in prostitution and the punishment of clients.
At the international level, we contributed to the adoption of key directives and resolutions, including a European Parliament resolution on prostitution regulation and a UN report supporting the Equality Model. We also organized study visits for Ukrainian experts to share experiences on sexual violence in war and the systems of victim support developed in Croatia.
Our advocacy work strengthened alliances and sectoral cooperation, leading to increased visibility of women''s human rights issues in the public and among decision-makers. This included participation in drafting national policies, influencing changes to criminal law, and advocating for international human rights standards, particularly regarding sexual violence in conflict and human trafficking.
We also raised awareness through campaigns on prostitution as violence against women and the rights of survivors, helping to foster a broader understanding of these issues within society and policy-making bodies.
The project focuses on a series of initiatives aimed at promoting justice, protecting women''s rights, and addressing historical injustices in Croatia and beyond. Key efforts include campaigns for accountability for war crimes, such as those in Ahmići and during Operation Storm, as well as opposing the glorification of war criminals. The project also advocates for stronger laws and support systems for survivors of wartime sexual violence. Additionally, it addresses ongoing challenges for women''s rights in Croatia, organizing protests against violence, gender discrimination, and advocating for policy changes to protect women from violence. Internationally, the project has contributed to efforts for women’s human rights, including work with Ukrainian organizations and global campaigns against gender-based violence.
During this reporting period, our scope of work with asylum-seeking women and foreign workers has increased. Over the past year, more women seeking asylum and foreign workers who are victims of violence have approached us for assistance in realizing their rights. We adapted our work to these new circumstances, connecting with various organizations across Europe that work with migrants, refugees, asylum seekers, and asylum applicants, exchanging experiences with them. We also learn from the women who reach out for help and cultural mediators.
We encountered practical challenges, such as translation, as many of the women speak little English, and there are no official translators for their languages in Croatia. This hinders regular judicial processes, causing delays. The language barrier also affects our communication with them and their involvement in psychological and legal counseling programs. For some languages, we managed to secure translators, while for others, we use translation apps and try to establish clearer communication.
In working with asylum seekers who have survived forms of gender-based violence (such as forced marriages, genital mutilation threats, and more), we observed that institutions do not recognize these forms of violence as grounds for granting international protection. Women are not believed when they speak of violence, and they are criticized for not mentioning it during their first interview. This highlights the lack of education and sensitivity among institutional representatives regarding gender-based violence, trauma, and cultural differences. We raise awareness of these issues with the institutions we collaborate with on human trafficking prevention and report them to international bodies, advocating for better approaches to resolving the problem.
Our external collaborator, Dr. Anita Lauri Korajlija, has been participating in the Judicial Academy program this year, where she educates criminal judges, deputy judges, and advisers at district and county courts about understanding sexual violence and its consequences. The Judicial Academy has published a public call for interest in developing educational materials or conducting workshops/webinars for professional development activities, which can be accessed on their website. The Judicial Academy''s commission has accepted our application. Additionally, we provided 200 copies of our publication "Legal and Media Perspectives on Human Trafficking and Prostitution," which will be used in their training sessions.
During this period, we participated in a series of organizational growth and development trainings. Thanks to financial support, which allowed us to expand our team, these educational and mentoring programs were crucial to our organizational development. Experts guided us through processes for further developing our organization, and by adopting the OK2015 Quality Management System, we strengthened our capacities that we now apply in our work. This is especially important as we integrated two new employees into these trainings.
Within two ESF projects aimed at enhancing organizational capacities in social inclusion of marginalized groups, advocacy work, raising public awareness, combating violence against women online, promoting volunteering, and effectively responding as employers in crisis situations, we organized 10 educational sessions for four women’s organizations. Of the 10 sessions, 8 were structured so that one organization prepared and delivered training on its area of expertise, while for 2 sessions, external experts contributed to increasing the capacities of partner organizations. ROSA Center organized and delivered 6 of these training sessions. This enabled our members to gain additional skills for conducting workshops and presentations, and educational materials and presentations were created.
New employees also participated in training relevant to our field of work. This included sessions on preventing and combating gender-based violence, a study trip on trafficking organized by the Women’s Association of Vukovar, a Young Feminist Summer Camp organized by the European Women’s Lobby, and various other trainings and panel discussions on topics such as monitoring the implementation of the Istanbul Convention and advocacy for human rights at the EU level. These trainings enabled us to organize educational sessions for other organizations and host two study visits for representatives of institutions and civil society organizations from Ukraine to institutions and organizations in Croatia. Furthermore, through capacity-building trainings on monitoring, we were able to prepare monitoring reports for the Council of Europe''s GRETA body on human trafficking and for the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, particularly on prostitution. We are also preparing a report for the UN.
The biggest change during this period of support has been the hiring of two new staff members, which significantly increased our organizational capacity and positively impacted our work. Both individuals were hired at the beginning of 2023. This increase in staff allowed us to improve various aspects of our work, including organizational growth and development, work with clients, advocacy efforts, and networking. The financial support from the grant enabled us to participate in numerous significant training sessions focused on organizational growth, documenting and monitoring the results and impacts of our work, and implementing a quality management system (OK2015).
The past period has brought significant changes for our clients, as we were able to reach a much larger number of women in need of information about their rights and available support services. We also increased the number of case managers who could dedicate more time to assisting clients, providing information, liaising with institutions, and offering practical help. Due to the changing circumstances in our country over the past few years, including a growing number of refugees, asylum seekers, and foreign workers, we have seen an increase in women from these groups seeking our help due to violence they face. These women often encounter specific and complex challenges when trying to assert their rights, and the system lacks developed procedures for their protection. This requires significant involvement from our organization to help them achieve their rights, which often takes a long time. Another obstacle is that many of these women do not speak Croatian, and sometimes not even English. Thanks to the increased capacity of our organization, we are now able to provide support and assistance to a greater number of women.
Our primary target group consists of women who have survived gender-based violence, with a focus on sexual violence during wartime and peacetime, human trafficking for sexual exploitation and other forms of exploitation, prostitution, asylum seekers, refugees, and displaced women. With the increase in the organization''s capacity, we have been able to expand our engagement in networking and collaboration with other organizations and institutions, extend our reach to women who have survived violence, and provide direct assistance to those who have sought our help. One of the new employees is a lawyer with many years of experience providing legal counseling to women who have survived violence.
The increased capacity has also allowed us to intensify our efforts in securing funds for legal representation, translation services, cultural mediation, and psychological counseling, thus enabling us to offer these services to a larger number of women. Legal and psychological assistance, as well as translation, are provided free of charge to our clients. We are the only organization in Croatia offering free legal aid and representation in court for women who have survived sexual violence during the war, human trafficking, and asylum seekers, which has led other organizations working with victims to refer women to us.
The number of women who have received legal counseling and assistance in asserting their rights has significantly increased, establishing a standard for early legal intervention programs that all women victims of violence and discrimination should have access to. Through this work, women who survived sexual violence in the war received legal aid in situations where their claims were initially rejected or partially accepted by the Ministry of Veterans'' Affairs. During this period, we supported five women who were granted the status of victims of sexual violence in war, two of whom, with both legal and psychological support, received positive decisions after initial rejections and long-lasting court processes. These cases set precedents in our system and are extremely important for the recovery of the women involved.
In cases of women who are victims of human trafficking, we provided legal aid and representation in court for women who approached us directly or were referred by the Croatian Red Cross. As the only organization in Croatia offering free legal aid and psychological counseling to trafficking victims, we have directly contributed to the realization of their rights.
Our support program for victims of human trafficking, as well as for refugees, asylum seekers, and women with granted asylum, also included assistance with job and housing searches, enrollment in Croatian language courses, school and kindergarten enrollment for children, securing scholarships for children, medical assistance, social rights (social welfare benefits), obtaining and renewing personal documents and status issues, family reunification, and more. This direct assistance and support, along with group sessions, have enabled better integration into Croatian society and the realization of their rights.