Advocacy

Sarajevo Open Centre as part of its program of work has been devoted to the advocacy of new public policies and the implementation of existing ones. Our work focuses on rights of LGBT person and women’s rights, but additionally we work on different human rights and general issues of importance to women and LGBT people.

As part of our advocacy work on the rights of LGBT persons in the period from 2015 to 2017 we will focus on:

  • Monitoring the rights of LGBT persons in Bosnia and Herzegovina;
  • Reporting on the rights of LGBT person, through Pink Report – Annual Report on the Rights of LGBT Persons, and the submissions and reports by domestic institutions and international bodies (ia EU Progress Report, the CEDAW, UPR);
  • legal regulation of the hate crimes and hate speech, and comprehensive introduction of the judiciary and the police on the same;
  • combating discrimination against LGBT people, through changes to existing policies and legislation, the adoption of new and their implementation; 
  • legislation and bylaw the access of the rights of trans* persons;   
  • legislation and bylaw the rights and obligations arising from the cohabitation of two people of the same sex (life partnership).

The First Judgement for Discrimination Against LGBTI Persons

On April 4, 2022, the Municipal Court in Sarajevo issued a first instance judgement in which discrimination against LGBTI persons was confirmed by a court for the first time in...

International Transgender Day of Visibility: Legal and Medical Gender Reassignment – the Leading Problem of Transgender Persons in BiH

Fear of rejection, humiliation, mockery, marginalization, threats and even violence are just some of the challenges that transgender persons around the world face on a daily...

Contact person appointed at the District Public Prosecutor’s Office in Trebinje for LGBTI victims of hate crimes

Our efforts to sensitize the judiciary and educate legal experts on the rights of LGBTI persons have resulted in the appointment of another contact person in the prosecution to...

Conference “Words That Matter: The Fight Against Hate Speech in Bosnia and Herzegovina” in Sarajevo on July 23

Hate speech based on any ground is common in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Apart from political discourse, it is mostly present in media content, especially in the online world. The...

Point of contact in the Prosecutor’s Office of the Tuzla Canton appointed for cases of hate crimes against LGBTI people

For several years, the Sarajevo Open Centre has focused on sensitizing police officers, prosecutors, judges, and lawyers, as well as increasing LGBTI people’s trust in the...

Darko Pandurević on the adoption of the Law on Same-Sex Unions: We are still at the beginning

The work of the inter-ministerial working group, which focuses on the analysis of regulations within which same-sex unions can exercise their rights and which should propose...