Balkan Women Plan Protest Marches Across Region

Women's rights activists all over the Balkans will be leading other rights organisations and leftist groups at a series of rallies on Thursday, marking International Women's Day and demanding better rights and more equal treatment.

In Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the women's CURE Foundation is organising a march with members of the Women's Network in order to highlight the problems that women face.

"Unfortunately, despite the strong role that women in Bosnia have played in history, in 2018 many of us are on the very margins of society," CURE said in its call to join the march.

The protest will begin at 1pm in front of parliament, and will follow a route through Marshal Tito Street to the Children's Square.

The CURE Foundation said capitalism had created a system that made life difficult for everyone, while in combination with patriarchy women toil for even less.

The activists say "re-traditionalisation, fascism, nationalism and patriarchy" have conquered Bosnia, oppressing women, their freedom and their rights.

In Sofia, the Bulgarian Fund for Women will take to the streets for its annual women's march to remind the public that "there is still no gender equality in Bulgaria and to urge dialogue".

"The march for women's rights takes place to remind us that every third woman in Bulgaria is a victim of violence, that women are poorer than men and that their labour is valued less," the organizers said.

On March 7, the government of Boyko Borissov withdrew its earlier decision to send the Council of Europe's convention on preventing and combating violence against women, known as the Istanbul Convention, to parliament for ratification.

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