On October 18, 2012, Center for Social Research Analitika, in cooperation with the Association of Prosecutors of the Federation BiH, organized the panel discussion “Prosecuting Hate Crimes in BiH: Current Situation and Perspectives” in Neum, as part of a joint project implemented by the two organizations and supported by the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Bosnia and Herzegovina.   The panel was held as part of the Fifth Professional Training of Prosecutors in BiH (October 17th -19th 2012).

The event’s primary aim was to offer insights into the practice of hate crimes prosecution in BiH to date and to initiate a dialogue between professionals working in a field of criminal law that has been seldom discussed. The panel also marked the beginning of the implementation of the 12-month project “Prosecuting hate: Towards adoption and implementation of EU standards and best practices in combating hate crimes in BiH”, implemented by Analitika and the Association of Prosecutors of FBIH, and supported by the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Edin Hodžić, Head of the Public Law program at Analitika and the keynote speaker and moderator of the discussion,  briefly  introduced the “Prosecuting hate” project and opened up the discussion. Other participants in the panel were Saša Bojanić, Legal Advisor at the OSCE Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Miroslav D. Marković, Prosecutor at the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Zekerija Mujkanović, Chief Prosecutor at the Prosecutor's Office of the Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Zdravko Knežević, Chief Prosecutor at the Prosecutor's Office of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The discussion was attended by some 90 legal professionals, mainly prosecutors from BiH, Montenegro, Slovenia and Croatia, court representatives, representatives of entity ministries of internal affairs, the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council BiH, academic institutions and relevant international organizations.

In the upcoming months, Analitika and the Association of Prosecutors of FBiH will engage in policy research, will organize two professional events and produce various analyses, publications and educational materials related to the field of hate crimes prosecution.