The first legally binding judgment in Bosnia and Herzegovina for discrimination against LGBTI persons has been passed, announced the organization Sarajevo Open Center.
Namely, the Cantonal Court in Sarajevo passed a final judgment that established discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity and sexual characteristics, and the judgment refers to the public speech from 2019 of the then representative in the Assembly of the Canton of Sarajevo, Samra Ćosović Hajdarević.
After the announcement of the first BiH pride parade in 2019, she posted a status on Facebook that, among other things, contained calls for segregation, isolation and discrimination of LGBTIQ people: “Everyone has the right to live the life they want, we also have the right to choose who we want to live with. I want people like this to isolate themselves and stay as far away from our children and society as possible. Let them go somewhere else and make themselves a city, a state, laws and their rights that no one will challenge. But here NO!”.
The Sarajevo Open Center, as an organization that works to improve the human rights of LGBTI persons and women, filed a lawsuit against the representative claiming that her public speech discriminated against LGBTI persons and incited hatred. In this case, the first-instance judgment was passed in the Municipal Court in Sarajevo in 2022, after which the defendant exercised her right to appeal, but the appeal was dismissed as unfounded.
“With this verdict, the cantonal court fully confirmed the position of the first-instance court and clearly emphasized that the statement made by the defendant on April 1, 2019 constitutes hate speech. In this sense, the Court states that although the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination does not explicitly use the term ‘hate speech’, it defines it through two types of prohibited behavior: harassment and incitement to discrimination. This judgment is an important step forward in the protection of human rights and a strong message that hate speech will not be tolerated. I believe that it will encourage other associations and organizations to use the mechanism of collective lawsuits when the right to equal treatment of a large number of people, especially members of vulnerable and minority groups, has been violated,” said lawyer Dženana Hadžiomerović.
This verdict is a turning point for the protection of human rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina. For the first time, the court confirmed that sexual orientation, gender identity and sexual characteristics are real and applicable grounds for protection against discrimination. Although these grounds were introduced into the Law on the Prohibition of Discrimination in 2009, it took almost 17 years for the first final judgment to be reached.
From the Sarajevo Open Center, which conducts several strategic lawsuits before the courts in BiH regarding the human rights of LGBTI persons, believes that this case is proof that legal protection exists and that institutions can and must react.
“Freedom of expression is a protected right, but it does not include the right to call for discrimination and segregation. Public speech, especially the speech of politicians and public figures, carries responsibility and must not serve to dehumanize and exclude any social group. This judgment confirms the importance of the existence of the Law on the Prohibition of Discrimination in Bosnia and Herzegovina and represents a small but important step on the long road towards the full application of the standards prescribed by that law,” said Darko Pandurević from the Sarajevo Open Center.
