Within the project “Contribution of the academic community to the protection of human rights in BiH – CAHR project” which is implemented by the Faculty of Law in Lukavica of the University of Business Engineering and Management Banja Luka, in cooperation with the Association for Democratic Initiatives (ADI) from Sarajevo, with the financial support of the European Commission. The research was conducted in the period from March to July 2021, focusing on legal analysis of laws and by-laws in the area of ​​respect for the human right to freedom of thought and expression, the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association, and the right to freedom of movement, as well as an analysis of the implementation of the provisions of these acts by security and judicial institutions (police and courts).

The aim of the research was to map cases of institutional violations of the three aforementioned human rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as to review the actions of the Human Rights Ombudsperson Institution in the field of protection of the three aforementioned human rights and determine opportunities for strengthening and popularizing the participation of academic institutions and civil society organization in the promotion of human rights protection policies in Bosnia and Herzegovina. As the final outcome of the research, the “Mapping Study of Institutional Violation of Human Rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina” was prepared, which mapped more than 451 cases of institutional violation of the aforementioned human rights (176 cases of institutional violation of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, 102 cases of institutional violation of the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association and 173 cases of institutional violations of the right to freedom of movement). Based on the findings of the Study, it can be concluded that bad legal solutions, in terms of non-compliance with the European Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the practice of the European Court of Human Rights, are accompanied by bad wording of by-laws as well as the absence of internal procedures in terms of the actions of security institutions, which led to cases of institutional violations of human rights that were mapped by the Study.

Accordingly, the “Report on the fight for human rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina” presents a qualitative analysis of the current legal provisions in relation to the three aforementioned human rights that are guaranteed by the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina and international treaties that oblige Bosnia and Herzegovina to protect them. In addition to this, in order to provide as comprehensive research of the state of protection of the three aforementioned human rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina as possible, an anonymous survey was conducted on the issue of the perception of the state of three selected human rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina among representatives of the academic community and civil society organizations. Based on the aforementioned information, the report contains recommendations for ministries at all levels and recommendations for the Human Rights Ombudsperson Institution in Bosnia and Herzegovina in terms of guidelines for improving human rights protection policies.

The text of the report is available here: