About us

The association Budućnost was established in 1996 in a country where, at that moment, citizens had little perspective for prosperity and good future. The fact that the tragic war just ended did not paralyze us because the will to help vulnerable women was stronger than anything. We overcame all the complications that were imposed on us as well as the division within the society that none of us wanted. Budućnost managed to unite the divided and we are proud that we have been eliminating barriers, changing laws, and helping the most vulnerable groups of our society for more than two decades.

Safe House Modriča – a place of real safety

After four years of providing different kinds of legal help, out of which the most difficult were cases of property restitutions and domestic violence, we decided to take more concrete steps and establish the first Safe House for victims of violence in Republika Srpska. Soon after that, we succeeded in advocating for domestic violence to be recognized as a criminal offence. We were also proud of our advocacy work in 2003 when the gender-based discrimination was, for the first time in our region, regulated in different spheres by law. Our work successfully continued in 2005, when we fought for adoption of another important law – the law on protection from domestic violence in Republika Srpska – which was soon adopted in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (the entity that takes up 51 % of Bosnia and Herzegovina), and which officially protects victims of violence and gives them hope for a better future. It is possible to accommodate 16 women victims of violence in our Safe House at the moment which is a great success considering the beginnings of the project, but we still have not reached the final goal. Budućnost continues to focus all its efforts on raising awareness of the whole public to recognize the importance of supporting vulnerable women, to whom this House is the only true light at the end of the tunnel. We also claim credit for the adoption of proposal amendments of the Law on protection from domestic violence on 27 September 2019 which serves as a proof that all the years of effort to fight for those who cannot do it themselves has been worth it.

Every fifth woman in Bosnia and Herzegovina survived violence – Don’t be part of the statistics

Statistics show that every fifth woman experienced some form of partner violence, yet only 5.5 % of them contacted appropriate institutions to seek help. The fact that one in four victims of violence has reported violence to the relevant institutions says that we as a society must work much harder to put an end to this plague. Women often do not recognize themselves as victims, remain silent about the violence, and in many cases protect their partners if someone notices that something is wrong with them. Patriarchy and tradition which are deeply rooted in our society do not allow a woman to fight for herself and her rights. Budućnost works on the psychological as well as economic awareness of victims so that they can find the right path after leaving the Safe House. It is a long, painful, and slow process but we have never chosen an easy path.

Wide range of services that we offer

• Safe House, where more than 100 women and children victims of violence receive psycho-social, legal, and medicine aid every year
• Involvement in the process of adoption of law amendments concerning protection of victims
• Running a free SOS help-line (1264) that is available 24/7
• Taking part in many humanitarian actions
• The first Men Center in BaH where professionals work with perpetrators of domestic violence
• Managing awareness-raising campaign and prevention work because without it any effort on elimination of violence is incomplete.

If you want to help us to make a better future and support the victims and their children on their way out of the circle of violence, please contact us 00387 53 820 701