Project and Systemic Activities in Combating Violence against Women and Family Violence – a Critical Perspective of Social Work

Abstract

The article focuses on the social phenomenon of violence against women and family violence, which marks the everyday life of society in different spheres. Critical social work through its theoretical frameworks and critical reflection has been contributing for decades to raising awareness regarding human rights issues and social phenomena, such as violence against women and domestic violence, but also of the challenges faced by individuals, social workers, and social structures that essentially occupy the central place of critical social work theories. This paper presents research results into systems solutions and project activities in the Republic of Srpska through the prism of theoretical approaches and perspectives of critical social work. The results showed that the system’s response to violence against women and family violence is framed by the normative (international and national) framework in the Republic of Srpska, where the Istanbul Convention and the The Law on Protection from Violence in the Family of RS are crucial normative, as well as that significant steps have been taken to criminalize violence as a criminal offence in the The Law on Protection from Violence in the Family of RS. The results show that in the past few years, a series of project activities have been carried out that have contributed to implementation of laws, policies and programs in the area of protection from domestic violence and violence against women. The theoretical framework offers an understanding of structural and post-modern approaches to critical social work in the analysis of the social phenomenon of violence against women and domestic violence. Also, the perspectives of critical social work have been used in the discussion on the results of this research concerning the project activities and systemic solutions in combating violence against women and family violence.