Last week, as part of the ‘Silencing Stigma!’ (Utišaj Stigmu!) campaign, Professor Janine Natalya Clark and Association XY organized a street action in Sarajevo.
The various campaign messages (which have also been made into short videos) were displayed and youth volunteers from Association XY distributed leaflets to members of the public with information about the campaign and its aim of spotlighting the issue of sexual violence-related stigma and raising new awareness.
Passers-by were invited to write messages of support for victims-survivors of sexual violence in BiH. Ambassador Matthew Field, Her Majesty’s Ambassador to Bosnia-Herzegovina, attended the street action and gave a press statement in support. Professor Clark and Emina Osmanagic, the director of Association XY, also gave press statements.
Reflecting on the street action and the campaign more broadly, Professor Clark said: “I want to thank everyone at Association XY for all their hard work and efforts in helping to make this a successful campaign. I would also like to thank Ambassador Matthew Field for attending the street action today. I hope that the campaign, all the materials and the various press statements and media interviews will send the message to any woman or man in BiH who has suffered sexual violence, whether in war or in peacetime, that they are not alone.
“It takes time for popular attitudes to change and I would like to repeat the campaign during the summer. Focusing on victims-survivors themselves is not enough. It is also essential to address the social environments in which they live, and that was precisely the aim of the ‘Silencing Stigma! (Utišaj Stigmu!) campaign.”
Images from the street action, campaign materials and videos:
Janine talks about the campaign on Bosnian breakfast TV (Bosnian and English)