Hate Speech: Overture to Hate Crime
Hate speech expressed in comments is not uncommon in BiH’s online media, but editorial staff often does not find an adequate way to cope with this problem.
Hate speech expressed in comments is not uncommon in BiH’s online media, but editorial staff often does not find an adequate way to cope with this problem.
Coalition For the Fight Against Hate Speech and Hate Crimes Condemns the unworthy treatement of Refugees and Migrants in Bihać, requires the investigation and sanctioning of the use of force against migrants and refugees, as well as the immediate freedom of movement within the territory of BiH for refugees and migrants, guaranteed by the Constitution and the laws of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Predstavljamo vam ovogodišnje izvješće o pojavama govora mržnje i kaznenih djela učinjenih iz mržnje u BiH u razdoblju od lipnja 2017. godine do lipnja 2018. godine
Coalition For the Fight Against Hate Speech and Hate Crimes harshly condemns attacks motivated by hatred on the LGBTI community and urges the authorities to investigate and prosecute perpetrators. In addition, members of the coalition point out that the hate speech preceding these attacks must be investigated and strongly condemned by local institutions.
Posters, which call upon citizens of Tuzla to protest “against opening and holding of a disgusting and immoral Queer Fest” in front of the Atelier Ismet Mujezinović, were posted on several city locations, right before the opening of the 5th Queer Festival Merlinka in Tuzla. Today, on the day of the opening of Merlinka, on the wall of the art studio, an unknown person wrote a homophobic graffiti “Faggots, get a treatment!”
Being a fighter for human rights and truth in a country with fresh wounds that still have blood from a recent war is, in the least, dangerous. Nikola Kuridža, a young activist of the Center Kvart from Prijedor, realized this in the most brutal way.
The institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina are unprepared in treating the increase of migrants and refugees in our country, which has directly reflected on the conditions these people have found themselves in. The reports of the volunteers who, on a daily basis, work with the persons who seek asylum in BiH, protection from persecution from their countries, or pass through BiH on their way towards the EU countries, state that the centres for accommodation are full, that they lack food and have no conditions for dignified living.
Ministry of Education, Science and Youth of Canton Sarajevo, in July this year, issued a Warning on the dress code for taking the driving license exam. With the warning, based on previous experience, the Ministry orders that the candidate for driver’s license should, during the exam in knowledge of traffic regulations/first aid/driving a motor vehicle, be properly and neatly dressed.
The Coalition for the fight against hate speech and hate crimes strongly condemns the homophobic attack on UDIK activists, and warns that the practice of not processing the attacks on LGBTI persons, activists that we witness since 2008 until this day is a shame for the BiH institutions, and should be stopped. We ask the police and judiciary of Canton Sarajevo to, in an adequate and timely manner, react, investigate and process this hate crime, threats and attacks on LGBTI activists that have already been reported during 2015 and 2016, and, before that, the attack on Merlinka Festival in 2014.
We expect that the Senate will finally have a discussion on the students’ complaints related to hate speech towards LGBTI people, as it just did with the requests to protect the human rights of students who are practicing believers.