Discrimination and hate crime as a priority for EU

121011Following the visit of the Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy Štefan Füle last week to BiH, when he i.a. talked to a broad and diverse group of representatives from the civil society at the European Union Delegation, several of those organizations have sent a written submission to set priorities to expand the framework of the EU-BiH Structured Dialogue on Justice. The submitting organizations call on the EU to expand the structured dialogue to four more specific rule of law topics: gender equality, anti-discrimination policies, hate crime and hate speech and freedom of assembly.

The civil society organizations call both upon the EU and the BiH representatives to further strengthen the role of civil society in this process, enabling civil society to continue being the corrective of state politics. For that purpose, the role of civil society organizations should become more structured and transparent.
The submission was written by Sarajevo Open Centre and supported by the following organizations:

Rights for all/Prava za sve, Sarajevo
Center for Youth KVART, Prijedor
Banja Luka Association of Queer Activists (B.U.K.A.), Banja Luka
BH novinari/BH Journalist Association, Sarajevo
Fondacija CURE/Foundation CURE, Sarajevo
Centre for Political Studies, Sarajevo
Association for Democratic Initiatives, Sarajevo
Helsinki Committee for Human Rights BiH, Sarajevo
Udruzenje Zašto ne/Association Why not, Sarajevo