On 2 June 2026, the Committee of the Parties to the Istanbul Convention adopted Conclusions on the implementation of recommendations addressed to Bosnia and Herzegovina following the first (baseline) evaluation procedure.

The Committee welcomed the measures undertaken by the authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina to implement the recommendations, while at the same time noting the need to continue with additional measures in certain areas. The remaining measures are subject to further monitoring in the upcoming period.

Special emphasis was placed on the need for the response to violence against women to be based on a comprehensive, coordinated, and gender-sensitive approach, covering all forms of violence against women, and not limited solely to domestic violence.

The Committee recommends that Bosnia and Herzegovina:

• ensure that policies, strategies, and measures for the implementation of the Istanbul Convention encompass all forms of violence against women;
• guarantee that measures are applied across the entire territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina;
• strengthen inter-institutional coordination;
• establish appropriate mechanisms for independent monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of policies and measures;
• ensure that implementation of the Convention is not restricted to domestic violence, but also addresses other forms of violence against women, including sexual violence, forced marriage, stalking, sexual harassment, and other forms of abuse.

Federal institutions should ensure that programmes and measures relating to the prevention of violence against women, protection of victims, and promotion of gender equality are interconnected and aligned with the standards of the Istanbul Convention.

The Committee also highlighted the need to:

• rationalise and reduce the number of existing coordination bodies;
• clearly define their mandates;
• avoid overlapping competences and activities;
• secure adequate institutional coordination;
• provide sufficient financial resources for the implementation of policies and measures.

This is particularly important for Bosnia and Herzegovina given its complex constitutional structure and the division of competences between the state, entity, and cantonal levels.

The Committee stresses the need to secure adequate and sustainable financial resources for the implementation of the Convention.

One of the key recommendations relates to Bosnia and Herzegovina continuing its efforts to establish a system for systematic, comparable, and disaggregated data collection.

The Committee insists that data be collected from all relevant sources, in a manner that ensures their mutual comparability.

The Committee also pointed to the need to guarantee that migrant women who are victims of violence have access to an autonomous residence permit, independent of their marital or family status, in line with the standards set out in Article 59 of the Istanbul Convention.

Note: The Committee of the Parties has not replaced GREVIO; rather, it acts on the basis of GREVIO’s findings and monitors the implementation of its own recommendations. For Bosnia and Herzegovina, GREVIO’s baseline evaluation report was published on 8 November 2022, the Committee’s recommendations were issued on 12 December 2022, and the latest conclusions on the implementation of recommendations were adopted on 2 June 2026.