Bosnia and Herzegovina - August 2023

A day of mourning was held in both of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s (BiH) entities, and large-scale protests were held in Sarajevo, as well as in other towns across BiH, to call on authorities to step up their response to violence against women with slogans of “Institutions React.” The public outrage came following the murder of Nizama Hećimović, who was fatally shot by her ex-partner, Nermin Sulejmanović, in the presence of their baby in Gradačac on 11 August. Days before the attack, on 7 August, the municipal court had rejected Hećimović’s request to issue a restraining order against the perpetrator due to insufficient evidence, according to the court’s president Slobodanka Kojić, where the police report submitted to the court lacked details such as medical documentation, witness statements and criminal records. The Office of the Disciplinary Prosecutor has since initiated disciplinary proceedings against a judge of the municipal court. The murder was broadcast live on the social media platform Instagram. The perpetrator then murdered two additional people, whom he knew personally, and injured three others, including a police officer, before committing suicide.

Sources: Sarajevo Times (1), Sarajevo Times (2), Euractiv, Balkan Insight, Euronews, N1 (1), N1 (2), N1 (3), RFERL, FENA, Vijesti

The European Court of Human Rights found that territorial and ethnic rules applicable in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH)’s state-level elections are discriminatory, violating the general prohibition of discrimination in the European Convention of Human Rights. BiH’s Constitution defines a power-sharing arrangement whereby the three “constituent peoples” (the Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs) are equally represented in the House of Peoples (a parliamentary chamber) and the tripartite presidency. People outside the three dominant ethnic groups are not included in these arrangements and cannot be elected to these institutions. The ruling held that elections are “undemocratic” because they entrench advantages of the main ethnic groups over others. The case was brought by Slaven Kovačević, an adviser to a member of BiH's Presidency who is not affiliated with any ethnic group, who argued he was not genuinely represented in the 2022 elections.

Sources: Euronews, European Court of Human Rights (1), European Court of Human Rights (2), Avaz

Protests were coordinated by local NGOs following the publication of a video showing a staff member at a state-run institute for mentally disabled children beating and abusing a resident with a disability. In a statement following the incident, Adnan Delić, the Minister of Labor and Social Policy of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), one of the country’s two entities, not only called for criminal charges to be brought against the staff responsible for the violence, but also for the prosecutor to investigate those who recorded the event and shared the recording with journalists, sparking calls for improved whistleblower protections. Protesters decried the government’s failure to address inhumane treatment against children with disabilities. In July, three former directors at the same institution were sentenced by the Sarajevo Municipal Court for neglecting their supervision and monitoring duties of the residents’ conditions following the publication of photos in 2019 showing residents tied to beds and radiators.

Sources: RTV BN, Human Rights Watch, N1, Sarajevo Times, Avaz, RFE/RL