Public advocacy
On May 05, 2023 in East Sarajevo, the workshop Presentation of Guidelines and Public Advocacy was held as part of the project Contribution of the Academic Community to the Protection of Human Rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was attended by representatives of Sarajevo Canton Ministry of Interior, the West Herzegovina Canton Ministry of Interior and the Canton 10 – Livno Ministy of Interior.
At the beginning of the workshop a retrospective was made of what was done within the project, which refers to the prepared drafts of the Law on Public Order and Peace and the Law on Peaceful Gathering of Citizens of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Canton 10 – Livno, where good cooperation was highlighted and support for the drafting of the law achieved through the project with this police agency.
Also, information was exchanged with representatives of the MIA of Sarajevo Canton regarding the work done on the adoption of the new Law on Public Order and Peace and the Law on Peaceful Assembly of Citizens, European standards in the field of human rights that are incorporated into the drafts of these laws, as well as the challenges representatives of this MIA met. The representatives of this ministry expressed special interest in spontaneous gatherings that are protected by the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, as well as by the practice of the European Court of Human Rights. Canton Sarajevo is the canton with the largest number of gatherings of citizens in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and it is very important for police officers to change their awareness, and therefore their actions, which will be in line with European acquis and the protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and the right to freedom of movement.
The representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the West Herzegovina Canton was encouraged within the workshop and the advocacy process to support the initiatives addressed to this ministry through the project, pointing out the necessity of harmonizing the law with the European acquis, while highlighting the key issues that should be solved as soon as possible in a systemic way, i.e., through the adoption of the new Law on Public Order and Peace and the Law on Peaceful Assembly of Citizens.
In the second part of the workshop, a set of five guidelines was presented, developed as part of the project aimed at advancing the policy of protecting the human right to freedom of thought and expression, the human right to freedom of peaceful assembly and the human right to freedom of movement in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The project Contribution of the Academic Community to the Protection of Human Rights in BiH is implemented by the University of Business Engineering and Management and the Association for Democratic Initiatives, with the financial support of the European Union.
