News in English     | 17.05.2018. 17:51 |

LGBTI persons in BiH in majority of cases suffer domestic and peer violence

FENA Senka Trgovčević

SARAJEVO, May 17 (FENA) - On the occasion of the International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia (IDAHOT) the activists of the Sarajevo Open Center gathered in front of the FBiH Parliament where they emphasized that the LGBTI persons in BiH are the ones mostly exposed to violence in their families and in schools.

Every fourth LGBTI person becomes victim of violence at some point in her life. This mostly happens to transgender people, because two thirds of them experience some form of violence. The data was presented in this year's Pink Report.

“The negative trend in the number of cases of domestic violence and bullying/peer violence has continued in the past year. In 31 documented cases, there were incidents of verbal violence and even persecution of persons,” said the Advocacy Manager of the Sarajevo Open Center Vladana Vasić.

Also, it was found that there is no concrete institutional plan for combating peer violence and the development of an inclusive and tolerant educational environment, which would include the LGBTI perspective as well.

LGBTI persons have little faith in the institutions, especially in the police and prosecutors, while it is highly worrisome to see the growing trend of limiting the freedom of assembly of LGBTI persons by applying various administrative barriers at the local and cantonal levels.

“This could seriously undermine and reduce the space for the work of civil society organizations dealing with the protection of LGBTI rights and LGBTI activists. Therefore, we are opting for education in elementary and secondary schools in order to teach the youth how to deal with the problems of peer violence, especially when that violence is linked to person’s sexual orientation,” explained Executive Director of the Sarajevo Open Center, Emina Bošnjak.

In addition to the above said problems, she pointed out that in the past three years there has been an improvement of the legal framework in order to ensure the equality of LGBTI persons, adding that a contact person has been appointed that will deal with criminal offenses committed against LGBTI persons.

“The appointment of a contact person at the Sarajevo Canton Prosecutor's Office in connection with the commission of crimes based on sexual orientation and/or gender identity (SORI) means that LGBTI persons who were subjected to violence can go directly to the Prosecutor’s Office and report cases of violence to the appointed prosecutor," stressed Bošnjak.

In addition to this, the participants of today’s gathering stressed that BiH institutions, as well as the entity ones, have an obligation to regulate same-sex partnerships under the domestic legislation.

This is stipulated by the BiH Constitution, which states that the European Convention on Human Rights must be respected.

To this day, transgender persons in BiH are being discriminated against in many areas of their personal life because of their gender identity and gender expression, and are left on their own to face the legal vacuum that exists in the field of legal regulation of gender change.

(FENA) S. R.

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