Association “Novi put” from Mostar was founded in 2010 at the initiative of women who have gained many years of experience in preventing and combating trafficking, gender-based violence and violence against children and working directly with potential and actual victims of these forms of violence. In addition, the Association “Novi put” is actively working on educating marginalized and vulnerable categories and promoting gender equality and human rights in cooperation with all relevant institutions.
Author: Đorđe Krajišnik
“Novi put” implements its activities to raise awareness and prevent various forms of violence through programs of public campaigns and advocacy, prevention and education campaigns in which it organizes trainings, seminars, round tables, workshops and lectures for vulnerable categories, the general public and representatives of non-governmental organizations, media and state institutions. Special attention is paid to young people who in general represent a category at risk of human trafficking, child pornography, peer violence. “Novi put” organized thematic workshops and lectures for them in the counseling center of the Association as well as workshops in primary and secondary schools. In addition to the above activities, the Association provides counseling and primary psycho-social assistance through telephone and online helplines for potential and actual victims of violence.
Association “Novi put” from Mostar is the winner of the prestigious international award for 2021, which is awarded for the fight against child trafficking and sexual exploitation of children by the Foundation “Child10” from the Kingdom of Sweden, as well as the awards of Her Majesty, Queen Silvia of Sweden and her foundation “Briga o djeci.” “Novi put” from Mostar is one of only ten awarded organizations, selected from over 90 nominations from 27 countries around the world. This Bosnian non-governmental organization is the only one in Bosnia and Herzegovina that received this award and was praised for “its efforts and contribution aimed at eradicating all forms of exploitation of children and girls in Bosnia and Herzegovina.”
Work during the pandemic
In an interview for the Snaga lokalnog, Abida Pehlić from the Association “Novi put” talked about the experiences of working during the pandemic, and about the growing number of those who contact “Novi put” for some kind of help in these difficult circumstances for many people. Pehlić told us that before the pandemic, they did counseling directly in the counseling center, and that this is one of their main activities.
– Before the pandemic, we worked a lot in the field, on raising awareness among vulnerable categories about human trafficking, gender-based violence and violence against children. We have organized many seminars, trainings and other activities. However, when the pandemic started, we received numerous calls on our help line. For many years we have had this help line for cases of human trafficking, as well as all kinds of violence. After only ten days since the beginning of the pandemic, we have faced a significantly increased number of calls. We were a little surprised, we knew that there were a large number of cases of violence, but not so many. We now have Viber and WhatsApp apps that we promoted via Facebook and Instagram during the pandemic and that allowed people to contact us anonymously and ask for advice, help, although anonymity was always guaranteed to all our clients even in cases of immediate arrival.
Our interviewee points out that before the pandemic, they very rarely did online counseling, the vast majority of activities were performed face to face. Now, in the changed circumstances, as she emphasizes, it seems that the possibility of anonymous reporting for many people who suffer violence, and society additionally stigmatizes them if they report violence, was a mitigating circumstance. When we started exclusively with online counseling, we knew that we were a very patriarchal and traditional society, in which the stigma was imposed on the victims that they were actually to blame for being victims of violence. And, it seems to me, we opened a Pandora’s box. We faced a lot of demands and we worked in the previous period on very difficult cases in the Mostar area and its surroundings, Pehlić describes the situation.
– This showed us that the victims have a very strong sense of shame, because of the violence they are experiencing. It is very sad and very wrong. We have been working for years to empower potential and actual victims of violence and we always try to make it clear to them that they can in no way be blamed for the violence they suffer. We understand that there are sometimes disagreements in relationships or that people do not have the same views, mentality, but this must not be an excuse for violence, whether verbal, physical or economic. In addition, there is a lot of psychological violence, violence that is not visible to the naked eye, and it leaves long-lasting consequences. This type of violence is present both in lower- and middle-income families, but also in wealthy families. We have well-situated families, but violence is more and more present in that framework as well. What worries us the most is the fact that we do not have only one victim in one family. Although the wife is usually the victim, in most cases the children are actually secondary victims of violence, witness domestic violence and suffer from internal struggle, which parent to support, because they love both parents, said Abida Pehlić.
She further states that “Novi put” has a great number of inquiries for legal advice. They focus their work in Herzegovina-Neretva Canton, but they also have requests for legal advice from other areas of BiH.
– People who apply for legal assistance are mostly informed about the legal provisions regarding custody of minor children, the division of joint property. Since Mostar is a small city, women do not want to risk their husband finding out that she was with a lawyer and inquiring about the possibility of divorce. When it comes to domestic violence, a very big problem is that in most cases it is the wife who leaves the shared home with the children. And it would only be reasonable for the mother and children to stay in the apartment or house, especially if the father is the perpetrator of the violence, Pehlić points out.
Violence against children
Speaking about violence against children, our interviewee from the Association “Novi put” says that they usually find out about violence against children, since they themselves do not report violence, from teachers. She adds that just before the pandemic, they launched a campaign to raise awareness about the problem of violence against children.
– The pandemic hindered us in the realization of that campaign, at a time when we have already started visiting schools. In a safe environment for them, we spoke to children who were identified as potential victims of either domestic violence or peer violence. We usually reach out to children who are secondary victims of violence through their mothers, who are clients in our counseling center. What worries us is the increase in violence against children on social networks, and especially the recruitment of children for the purpose of producing pornographic material. Trafficking in children for the purpose of creating pornographic material, which is further spread via the Internet, and especially the dark web, is one big problem. It often happens that children themselves unknowingly involve each other in such problems, and we have been paying special attention to this issue for many years, through preventive-educational workshops and lectures for primary and secondary school students in BiH, showing real life examples from practice and using educational videos and other content, and especially through social networks. This way of work proved to be very useful and interesting for children. However, at almost every workshop, we could see that a child had already been recruited or used in that way, or that the workshop participants knew one of the children, to whom it had already happened, said Abida Pehlić.
Speaking about what can be legally achieved in terms of sanctioning child exploitation and violence via the Internet, Pehlić explains that in terms of law, cybercrime is the least regulated area.
– Cybercrime is very difficult to detect, and these types of criminal acts leave long-term consequences, because when a child publishes or sends his/her photo with, say, inappropriate content, he/she can never be sure where the photo is and who has the photo, or whether it is uploaded on one of the pornographic sites. It is a fear that a child has to live with all his/her life. There is also the fear of possible teasing, ridicule by peers. Unfortunately, it often happens that a child receives an anonymous message in which a photo is sent to him or her with derogatory comments or immoral suggestions and requests. We have situations where a child who does not know what pornography and recruitment are enters into social media communication with a person he/she thinks is his/her peer, and actually falls into the trap of an adult, who is on the other side of the screen and who is a very good manipulator, who knows how to easily intimidate a child and force him/her to do whatever he/she wants from him. The child is reluctant to confide in anyone because he/she lives in fear of the manipulator and his/her blackmail. One very complex problem, and it is very demanding to work with children who have been victims of this type of violence. In most cases of peer violence, we managed to find a solution together with the victim and the perpetrator for the situation that led to the violence, pointing out the consequences that the act entailed, what impact it had on the victim. But when it comes to cyberbullying, the victim in most cases does not know who is on the “other side” of the screen, which is an additional burden, because children always have a subconscious fear that one day someone will appear with that photo, video, said Abida Pehlić for the Snaga lokalnog interview.
