PLACE: Center for Interdisciplinary Studies – University of Sarajevo
DATE: Thursday, June 20th, 2019
TIME: 6 – 8 p.m.
On Thursday, June 20th, at 6 p.m., a discussion “Freedom of Assembly of LGBTI People in Bosnia and Herzegovina” will take place at the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies (CIS) of the University of Sarajevo. The discussion is organized by the GC SEE/ MA program in democracy and human rights (ERMA) with the support of the Global Campus of Human Rights and CIS. This is an opportunity to discuss the forthcoming first pride march in Bosnia and Herzegovina, scheduled to take place on September 8th in Sarajevo. We will discuss this event through the lens of the freedom of assembly for LGBTI people, as a basic human right of all citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Bosnia and Herzegovina is the only country in the region, along with North Macedonia (the first pride pmarch in North Macedonia is announced for June 29th), which has yet to host a pride march. The discussions on whether the LGBTI people actually have the right to organize the protest have intensified before the first pride march in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The discussion will address the issues of how the laws cover the right to assembly of the LGBTI people, what the organizers’ duties are, as well as the duties of the state authorities who are obliged to protect the pride march. Other topics which will be addressed are the requirements for the pride march to go without incident and the mutual efforts of the entire society to create an atmosphere without hate speech. The participants in the panel discussion are: Lejla Huremović (Sarajevo Open Center) and Ena Bavčić (Civil Rights Defenders), members of the Organizing Committee of the Pride March in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as Full Prof. Dr. Asim Mujkić, co-director of the ERMA program and professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences in Sarajevo. The discussion will be moderated by Masha Durkalić, a journalist, researcher and activist.
The event will also incorporate the presentation of the analysis of the policies “Conquering the Right of Assembly of LGBTI people in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Towards the First Pride March”, by the author Masha Durkalić. The analysis was conducted as a part of the project GC Policy Observatory, implemented by the organization Global Campus for Human Rights, a global network of universities which gathers seven MA programs in democracy and human rights around the world. One of the members of the GC is also the ERMA MA program of the University of Sarajevo and the University of Bologna. The opening statements will be given by Khaldoun Sinno, Deputy Head fo the EU delegation to Bosnia and Herzegovina and H.E. Nicola Minasi, Ambassador of the Republic of Italy in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The discussion will be organized in Bosnian and the opening statements will be in English, with consecutive translation.
Welcome!