The number of incidents potentially motivated by prejudice, that are reported to the police in Bosnia and Herzegovina, is at least 175. the reported incidents most often include attacks and threats, damage to property, religious objects and cemeteries. Incidents towards Roma people and sexual minorities are not as much reported as the previously mentioned ones.
We are proud to announce that a module on criminal offenses based on hate crime at the Police Academy (FBiH). The training will last for two months and all cadets for the rank of policeman and for the rank of the younger inspector will pass it
The Coalition for the fight against hate speech and hate crimes harshly condemns the transmission of texts of hooliganism like that of Tomislav Zelenika, which provokes Croat hatred towards the Bosniaks and spreads ideas about the superiority of one nation over another, stating: “Bosniaks are genetically predetermined for treason, what to expect from people whose ancestors betrayed their faith”, giving honor medals to war criminals during the celebration of the Republika Srpska Day, the exploitation of flags and symbols for political purposes and the undermining of the security and coexistence of citizens of BiH.
Sarajevo Open Centre is implementing a project “Protecting Affected Communities: Improving the implementation of hate crime regulation in Bosnia and Herzegovina “. The project is financially supported by Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the OSCE in Vienna, and it included four half-day trainings in period from February to July 2018. named “Hate crimes, how to report violence to the police and prosecutor’s office”.
Sarajevo Open Centre, with the financial support of the Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of Netherlands to the OSCE in Vienna, in cooperation with OSCE in BiH, on 18 and 19 October 2018, held the joint two-day education for police officers of the Canton Sarajevo Ministry of Interior (MoI) and prosecutors within the Canton Sarajevo Prosecutor’s Office. The training, named Prejudice as motives of hate crimes tackled these crimes, focusing on minority groups that are especially targeted by these hate crimes in BiH – lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex (LGBTI) persons, Roma people, returnees, as well as religious and sacral objects.
During 2016, Sarajevo Open Centre was advocating with every Cantonal Ministry of Internal Affairs in Federation of BiH to include hate crime modules into their permanent and obligatory trainings in 2017. Police officers in every single Ministry of Internal Affairs are obligated to participate in these trainings. When it comes to educating police officers, in last few years Sarajevo Open Centre has worked on the topic of hate crime in many different ways and with high intensity.
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.
Sarajevo Open Centre, continuing trainings for police bodies, prosecutors and judges, on 29 and 30 November 2017, in Sarajevo, organised one more training, the topic being “Hate Crimes towards lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) persons – experience from BiH and the Region”, this time for the interns of the Municipality/Basic and Cantonal/District courts and prosecutors’ offices of Sarajevo and Banja Luka.
At the end of two-day training, a chief prosecutor of Canton Sarajevo emphasized that the training greatly contributed to the senzibilization of persecutors on problems that LGBTI persons are facing, and to learn more about the effective ways of combating the incidents and hate crime towards LGBTI persons.
Having in mind the expansion of violence and hate crimes against LGBTI persons, we consider the education of police officers on human rights of LGBTI persons to be crucial. Police officers, at the end of the training, emphasised that it contributed much to their better understanding of the issues LGBTI persons face in BH society.