Freedom of Assembly of LGBTI People in Bosnia and Herzegovina

The European Regional MA Program in Democracy and Human Rights (ERMA), with the support of the Global Campus of Human Rights and Center for Interdisciplinary Studies (CIS), UNSA, organized a discussion on “Freedom of Assembly of LGBTI People in Bosnia and Herzegovina”. The conference, held at CIS on Thursday 20 June at 6 pm, represented an opportunity to discuss the forthcoming first Pride march in Bosnia and Herzegovina, scheduled to take place on 8 September in Sarajevo. This event has been discussed through the lens of the freedom of assembly for LGBTI people, as a basic human right of all citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

 

Bosnia and Herzegovina is the only country in the region, along with North Macedonia (the first pride march in North Macedonia is announced for 29 June), which has yet to host a pride march. The discussions on whether the LGBTI people actually have the right to organize the protest have intensified before the first pride march in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The discussion addressed the issues of how the laws cover the right to assembly of the LGBTI people, what the organizers’ duties are, as well as the duties of the state authorities who are obliged to protect the pride march. Other topics which have been addressed are the requirements for the pride march to go without incident and the mutual efforts of the entire society to create an atmosphere without hate speech. Among the participants in the panel discussion: Lejla Huremović (Sarajevo Open Center) and Ena Bavčić (Civil Rights Defenders), members of the Organizing Committee of the Pride March in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as Full Prof. Dr. Asim Mujkić, co-director of the ERMA program and professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences in Sarajevo. The discussion has been moderated by Masha Durkalić, a journalist, researcher and activist.

 

The event also incorporated the presentation of the analysis of the policies “Conquering the Right of Assembly of LGBTI people in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Towards the First Pride March”, by the author Masha Durkalić. The analysis was conducted as a part of the project GC Policy Observatory, implemented by the Global Campus for Human Rights.

 

Khaldoun Sinno, Deputy Head fo the EU delegation to Bosnia and Herzegovina and H.E. Nicola Minassi, Ambassador of the Republic of Italy in Bosnia and Herzegovina, opened the discussion.

freccia sinistra

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