Presentation of the report on the fight for human rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina held in Banja Luka

In the premises of PIM University, in Banja Luka, on September 9, 2022, the presentation of the Report on the Fight for Human Rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina was held. The second public presentation of the Report, which was carried out as part of the project Contribution of the Academic Community to the Protection of Human Rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is implemented in partnership by PIM University, the Association for Democratic Initiatives, with the financial support of the European Commission, was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Srpska, Ministries of Internal Affairs of Una-Sana Canton, Posavina Canton, Brčko district Police and Municipal Court in Prijedor.

Veljko Turanjanin, PhD, the project manager, introduced the attendees to the objectives of this Report and the methodology according to which it was prepared. Author of the Report Aleksandar Ivanović, PhD, professor at the Faculty of Law in Lukavica, presented the identified shortcomings of the domestic legal framework in relation to the European Convention on the Protection of Human Rights. In this regard, he particularly pointed out the problem of too broad determination of the definition of a public place in the misdemeanor area of ​​public order and peace at the entity level of the Republic of Srpska, and the problem of imprecise definition of the provisions of the misdemeanor Arguing, shouting, screaming and indecent behavior in the misdemeanor area of ​​public order and peace and Offense at the level of this entity. He also pointed to the problem of the existence of a criminal offense for damage to the reputation of the Republic of Srpska entity, which is in direct contradiction to the provisions of Article 10 of the European Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the practice of the European Court of Human Rights. In addition to this, inconsistencies in the misdemeanor-law area of ​​public gatherings in the Republic of Srpska entity with Article 11 of the European Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the practice of the European Court of Human Rights were highlighted. When it comes to the right to freedom of movement, he pointed to the lack of adequate misdemeanor-law and criminal-law protection of the right to freedom of movement at the level of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republic of Srpska and Brčko district of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Member of the working group of the CAHR project, Mladen Jeličić, PhD, judge of the Misdemeanor Court in Šabac, presented his experiences in advocating the harmonization of the domestic legal framework, as well as the actions of security institutions, with European standards for the protection of human rights. In this regard, the problem of the quality of legal norms was discussed with the representatives of the mentioned institutions, with special emphasis on the element of predictability of prohibited behavior. In addition to this, it was pointed out the necessity of constant education of police officers in the field of the skill of stating the description of the factual situation of the misdemeanor in the misdemeanor order, that is, the request for the initiation of misdemeanor proceedings. Finally, with the analysis of the case of inadequate treatment and inadequate use of force towards the participants of a peaceful assembly in the Livno area that took place at the end of September of the current year, the most sensitive issues in the domain of the application of police powers towards the participants of peaceful assemblies were pointed out, as well as the necessity of educating police officers in the domain of protection of the human right to freedom of peaceful assembly.