Sarajevo Open Centre has been actively working for the past year on drafting amendments to the BiH Law on Sport, which was adopted yesterday (31.08.), at The House of Peoples, BiH Parliamentary Assembly. By the adoption of these amendments Bosnia and Herzegovina can be proud that this is the first time that the Law on Sport regulated the issue of equal participation of women in the Council for the sport, as well as the issue of gender responsive budgeting and the prohibition of discrimination on all grounds – including disability, age, sexual orientation and gender identity and sexual characteristics.

The Law on Amendments to the Law on Sports BiH, which Maja Gasal Vrazalica member of parliament proposed, predicts the following changes:

• Discriminatory term “disabled persons” throughout the Law to change into the term “people with disability”;
• Introduction of non-discrimination on any grounds, in accordance with the BiH Law on Prohibition of Discrimination and the BiH Law on Gender Equality;
• Equal access to sports regardless of race, ethnicity, social status, religious, political or other opinion, disability, health status, age, sex, gender, sexual characteristics, sexual orientation and gender identity – becomes one of the founding principles of the sports;
• The prohibition of incitement to hatred and hostility on the basis of national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, political or other beliefs, disability, gender, sexual orientation and gender identity, language or other personal characteristics also becomes one of the basic principles upon which the sport is based;
• The issue of gender equality and equal access to sport will be part of the Strategy for the development of sport;
• The Council for the sport, as a state body for the development of sports, in the future can be formed only if both sexes are with equal representation, with a minimum of 40%;
• Gender-responsive budgeting, through this bill as well becomes a legal obligation for the Ministry of Civil Affairs of BiH;

Currently in the procedure is a proposition to the BiH Law on free legal aid that has been adopted in two readings in the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina and in the first reading before the House of Peoples delegates.

In cooperation with the parliamentarian Damir Arnaut, we have helped in the process of harmonization of Article 14 of the above mentioned Law with the adopted amendments to the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination.

In this way regulations are being consistently harmonized at the state level and introduce the principle of non-discrimination by other regulations.