A step towards the regulation of hate crime in Federation of BiH

Today, on 1st of April, Sarajevo Open Centre has received a memo from the Commission for Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms of the House of Representatives of the Parliament of FBiH which informs that the Commission has instructed the Federal Ministry of Justice to initiate the adoption of amendments to the Criminal code of FBiH.

This memo is a response to the previous memo Sarajevo Open Centre sent, to all the relevant institutions in Federation of BiH and Hercegovačko-neretvanski Canton, as a reaction to the hate crime that occurred in Mostar, when a young man way beaten up for being homosexual. On that occasion Sarajevo Open Centre condemned the hate crime and emphasised the necessity of introduction of hate crime in the Criminal code of FBiH.

The Commission for Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms of the House of Representatives of the Parliament of FBiH discussed this submission on their 18th session in March of this year. In accordance with the Article 60 of the Rules of the House of Representatives, they have decided to instruct the Federal Ministry of Justice to initiate the adoption of amendments to the Criminal code of FBiH

This initiative was addressed to the Federal Ministry of Justice with and explanation that the above mentioned attack, as well as the fact that LGBT persons are exposed to the violence and discrimination in BiH, represents the necessity of introduction of hate crime into the Criminal code of FBiH, which is already done in criminal codes of Republic of Srpska and Brčko District. Hate crime regulation could be incorporated into the existing text of the Criminal code or introduced separately as an individual criminal act.

The initiative also stressed that BiH as a member of Council of Europe is obliged to comply its legal framework with its commitments, to respect and implement Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination as well as the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights.