Overview of Existing Analyses of the Level of Legal and Policy Harmonization of Domestic Legislation and Policies with International Standards

The document highlights gaps between domestic legislation, policy and international standards in BiH. The findings of the report saw a high degree of inconsistency in legislation with recommendations from the Istanbul Convention on Specialized Services for Victims of Domestic Violence (in particular, Article 23 of the Istanbul Convention relating to safe houses, Article 24 SOS phone hotline and Article 57 for free legal aid). It found that the situation in BiH is particularlty bad concerning safe houses, due to there being no legal framework for establishment, functioning and financing (no secondary legislation under the Law on Protection against Domestic Violence from 2013, which regulates the provision of this services). The situation is much more favourable in terms of the legal framework, however access to safe houses for victims of domestic violence has not yet been ensured.