#EqualBeforetheLaw: Campaign for Equality of All Couples in BiH

Although they live in Bosnia and Herzegovina, same-sex couples do not have many of the same rights as their heterosexual counterparts. This discrimination is evident in a number of unregulated life concerns, and same-sex partnerships remain outside the law, despite the fact that they exist in BiH reality.

Based on their sexual orientation, people in same-sex partnerships do not have the following rights: the right to legally regulated support between partners when necessary; the right to mutual care and support when one of them becomes seriously ill; the right to pension and social support in the event of their partner’s death; access to tax benefits through which the state rewards mutual support of family members to strengthen social security in society; access to benefits through which employers support family life as a form of compensation for their employees’ work; protected property acquired jointly as part of family life or the regulations that govern how relationships are resolved if the partners separate; and many other rights and obligations that come with the legal regulation of the living community.

Since the rights of same-sex couples are one of the priorities of our work, we have recently put a lot of will, work, and effort in the campaign for the adoption of the law on same-sex partnerships. With the campaign, we hope to demonstrate which (economic and social) rights same-sex couples in BiH do not have, and which are implied for heterosexual married and extramarital couples. In the campaign, we have provided space for LGBTI persons of various genders, sexual orientations, professions, and life experiences, but they are all bound by the same desire: to be equal before the law.

Follow us on social media, where you will be able to follow the campaign, and we hope that by sharing the campaign, you will support the fight for equality of same-sex couples in BiH.

Sweden supported the media campaign by providing institutional support to the Sarajevo Open Centre as part of a development cooperation program.