Half a year after the General Elections in 2018 in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the executive bodies for the forthcoming four years have been formed in the Republika Srpska and seven cantons, while the new composition of the Council of Ministers of B&H, the Government of the Federation of B&H and three cantons (Tuzla Canton, Herzegovina – Neretva Canton and Canton 10) haven’t been formed yet.
As it was announced in December 2018, Sarajevo Open Centre (SOC) has joined the process of promoting human rights protection through the United Nations mechanism – the Universal Periodic Review.
The first module of the fifth generation of the Academy of Equality – Platform for Political Leadership and Joint Action of the Representative, leaders of political parties and civil society organizations, was held in Sarajevo from 15 to 17 March, organized by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation and the Sarajevo Open Centre.
For the purpose of analyzing the study of gender equality in the curricula of the universities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo Open Centre sent inquiries to 33 public faculties of social and humanistic sciences.
Following the successfully implemented programs of the Equality Academy, the Friedrich Ebert Foundation and the Sarajevo Open Center in 2019 are organising the fifth generation of the Equality Academy – a platform for political leadership and the joint action of deputies, leaders of political parties and civil society organizations.
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!”
Lejla Huremović, an activist who monitors and analyzes media coverage of LGBTI issues, and has a broad insight into the presentation of this community in public and social networks, to our question on whether she believes that Facebook groups that address the issue of violence can raise awareness so that individuals would do some concrete actions against violence, notes that through today’s education, young people unfortunately do not get the opportunity to learn to think critically.
Sarajevo Open Centre is an independent feminist organization, with an emphasis on the feminist, and guess what – men also work for us. All jokes aside, for those who are not so well-informed (let’s hope they are a minority) feminism as an ideology, political and social movement is unfortunatelly often perceived as a movement that is strictly related to women, especially those identifying as feminists
On the occasion of the International Women’s Day, the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in BiH and the Sarajevo Open Centre organized an interview on the topic of working-class women in BiH. Karolina Leaković, Suada Karić and Lejla Gačanica discussed on the topic, while Besima Borić was the moderator.
Instead of empty greeting and unnecessary praising of the qualities possessed by more than 50% of society, mark the 8th of March by proposing laws, policies, acts and mechanisms to achieve real equality and respect for women’s human rights. If you do not know how to do so, contact the nearest civil society organizations.