The legal status of women

Source: Vaša Prava: Participants in the discussions
Source: Vaša Prava: Participants in the discussions
Bosnia and Herzegovina

Issues of equal rights for women in the law: a seminar on this theme was held in Sarajevo on 4 October 2023, organised by the IRZ with the non-governmental organisation, Vaša Prava, which operates a nationwide network for legal advice and representation of persons in need and vulnerable groups.

This event was made possible by project support from the Federal Foreign Office, and the target groups were the lawyers working at Vaša Prava, judges and representatives of other organisations, including the Agency for Gender Equality in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the non-governmental organisation TRIAL International, which is active in the protection of victims of crime.

A wide range of topics were covered, including the treatment of women in inheritance law in Bosnian-Herzegovinian practice and the experiences in the legal representation of women who were victims of sexual violence during the war. In the latter area, the association recently obtained a landmark decision for one of its clients, who was awarded damages amounting to tens of thousands of Euros.

The situation of women in the area of domestic violence is particularly problematic. Many cases fail to be prosecuted here because the victims refuse to report them through a sense of shame, and also because the police are reluctant to take action, as these cases are internal family matters.

Adisa Zahiragić, a judge at the Sarajevo Cantonal Court, and Ahmet Salčin and Emir Prcanović, two senior directors of Vaša Prava, gave presentations to ensure that the event included both the perspective of the judiciary and that of consulting practice. The situation in Germany was set out by Ms. Ramona Pisal, former President of the Potsdam Regional Court and Vice President of the IRZ Board of Trustees. Her comments on domestic violence and proposals for potential improvement in the legal situation of victims in Bosnia and Herzegovina resonated with all the participants and provoked great interest and formed a basis for some intense discussions.

More information in the country language is available on the Vaša Prava homepage and on Facebook.

 

Interdisciplinary exchange on family law in Mostar

Prof. Dr. Slađana Aras Kramar from the Zagreb Faculty of Law, during her presentation.
Prof. Dr. Slađana Aras Kramar from the Zagreb Faculty of Law, during her presentation.
Bosnia and Herzegovina

The 11th International Conference “Family law days” was held in 21-22 September 2023 in Mostar, attended by researchers, judges and employees of organisations in the family welfare sector.

This event was jointly organised by the local Faculty of Law “Džemal Bijedić” and the IRZ and was opened by the Dean of the Faculty of Law Prof. Dr. Amra Jašarbegović, the Vice Rector of the University “Džemal Bijedić” Prof. Dr. Armina Hubana, the Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton Prof. Dr. Rašid Hadžović, and the State Secretary to the Minister of Science and Technology of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Jasmin Branković, and Dr. Stefan Pürner as the IRZ responsible project area manager.

This was followed by two days with approx. 20 presentations and intensive exchanges of opinions and ideas, for example on the topics of divorce proceedings, the right to artificial insemination?, the legal status of legitimate and illegitimate children, children in foster families and mediation in family law. Numerous practitioners and researchers from other disciplines also attended the conference, which provided an interdisciplinary platform for the exchange of research and practice.

Similar to previous years, a transcript of the conference was produced to ensure the sustainability of the event.

The publication is also available online: https://pf.unmo.ba/media/ogekxcn0/zbornik-radova-dani-porodi%C4%8Dnog-prava-br-10-2022.pdf.

You can also read the report from FENA, the government-owned national news agency of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina here: https://mostarski.ba/odrzan-11-medjunarodni-naucni-skup-dani-porodicnog-prava/

Anti-discrimination training for prospective judges

Participants in the group work.
Participants in the group work.
Bosnia and Herzegovina

The IRZ and the “Centre for the Education of Judges and Public Prosecutors of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina” organised a hybrid training course for prospective judges on the “European Convention on Human Rights and Equal Rights (ECHR)” on 5-6 June 2023.

The speakers presented Art. 5 and 6 and Art. 14 of the ECHR in accordance with the curriculum of the Centre.

Lawyer Holger Hembach who, after several years working in human rights for the OSCE in South East Europe and Africa now represents clients before the ECHR and is also the author of several publications on the subject, presented practical cases that the participants worked on in groups. Important aspects here were the potential for judges to influence the design of procedures that is fit for purpose, the active and transparent conduct of negotiations and the substantiated justification of decisions.

Prof. Dr Zlatan Meskić, who is currently lecturing in Riyadh, presented several cases of discrimination, with a focus on gender discrimination. In addition to the main concept of case law of the European Court in Strasbourg, he presented the structural schemes used by the ECHR when examining cases.