Activists from several NGO’s marched through the centre of Banja Luka, the administrative centre of Bosnia’s Republika Srpska (RS) entity, on Monday, International Women’s Day, to raise awareness about the failures of the system in dealing with violence against women.

The march, under the slogan ‘State, Show We Are Not Alone!’, was organised by ‘Ostra nula’, the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Banja Luka, Center for Youth (KVART), Radnicka solidarnost (Workers’ Solidarity), Transparency International BiH, Revolt, eTrafika.net and the Center for Informative Decontamination of Youth.

The walk began in front of the building of the National Theater of Republika Srpska and ended at the central Krajina Square, where activists and other participants in the march read controversial parts of court verdicts in rape and sexual abuse cases.

“This year we decided to somehow include all types and forms of violence that women experience in our society and to show the state that the system is the one that fails in those moments when we need to protect women who are victims of violence,” said Milica Pralica, an activist from Ostra Nula.

She explained that the failure of the system in tackling the issue discourages women from coming forward and reporting such cases.

“On the other hand, the message is being sent that rapists, criminals are protected and therefore our message is for the state and the system to show that we are not alone in this process and that they should protect us,” she said.