The Chairman of the Committee for Gender Equality of the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly (PABiH), Mirsad Isaković, the Committee member, Maja Gasal Vražalica, and Damir Arnaut, member of the Joint Committee for Human Rights talked to the representatives of the Solidarity Network for LGBTI persons of Armenia and Georgia about the cooperation of these committees and the BiH’s highest legislative body with the civil society.

In addressing the guests, the Chairman of the Gender Equality Committee, Mirsad Isaković, pointed out that the joint initiatives to amend the Electoral Law and the Law on Council of Ministers of BiH, related to establishing parity between female and male candidates on electoral lists, are an example of good cooperation between the PABiH and the civil society sector.

In regard to the rights of LGBT people in BiH, Mr Isaković pointed out the importance of recognizing sexual orientation, gender identity and sex characteristics in the laws that prohibit discrimination. The obligation of BiH is to develop a detailed set of measures that would improve the respect and protection of the human rights of LGBTI persons. Those are the measures that arise from the signed and ratified international documents, as well as from the BiH membership in international organisations (Mr Isaković’s full speech is available here).

MPs Maja Gasal Vražalica and Damir Arnaut expressed their hopes that the PABiH will continue with the activities that aim at protecting the human rights of LGBTI persons, especially having in mind the obligations that our country has to meet on the road to full membership in the European Union. Furthermore, they emphasized the need to strengthen the cooperation with NGOs when it comes to protection of LGBTI human rights that would, ultimately, result in changes in legislation, strategies and politics regarding these issues.

The panel and discussion of BH parliamentarians and members of the Solidarity Network for LGBTI persons of Armenia and Georgia were organized by Sarajevo Open Centre.

The article is taken from the BiH Parliamentary Assembly’s website.