German Ambassador to BiH Thomas Fitschen and his French colleague, Ambassador Christine Toudic jointly awarded Bosnian activist Emina Bošnjak with the German-French award for human rights and the rule of law for 2022 in Sarajevo today.
Emina Bošnjak, as one of 15 recipients of the award worldwide, has been honored for her role in the defense and promotion of human rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina and beyond, especially through engagement as the Executive Director of the Sarajevo Open Center.
Germany and France recognized her efforts to advance the rights of LGBTQ+ persons but also women’s rights.
Ambassador Fitschen said that they were delighted to learn that their nomination of Emina Bošnjak was accepted because of her long and courageous struggle together with her colleagues from the Sarajevo Open Center.
He pointed out that these struggles were fought to protect the LGBTQ+ population in order to end discrimination based on gender and sexual orientation and improve access to health, education and other public services.
Ambassador Toudic emphasized that this is the second year in a row that a woman from Bosnia and Herzegovina received this award.
“This is proof that women in this country are very much engaged and that they should continue to be encouraged, as evidenced by today’s gathering,” added Toudic.
Bošnjak said that the award is a recognition of the work of the entire Sarajevo Open Center, and that after learning that she was nominated, she felt that she had not done enough or that she could have done more.
“It is necessary for women to recognize their efforts and sacrifices to change themselves and their societies for the better,” said Bošnjak and added that she was proud and grateful for the award.
In addition to her work in the Sarajevo Open Center, Emina Bošnjak is actively involved in numerous local and regional groups, initiatives, organizations and networks.
She was a member of the coordinating committee of the BiH Women’s Network as well as the first organizational committee of the BiH Pride March.
Bošnjak is currently co-president of ILGA Europe, an independent LGBTQ+ umbrella organization that brings together over 600 organizations from 54 countries in Europe and Central Asia.
The aforementioned joint award was created in 2016 by the foreign ministers of the two countries as a symbol of German-French friendship and close political cooperation in the field of human rights and the rule of law.
