Equality for All: Civil Society Coalition against Discrimination

In August 2014, Center for Social Research Analitika, in cooperation with Mediacentar Sarajevo, Rights for All and Vaša prava BiH, started implementing the project “Equality for All: Civil Society Coalition against Discrimination“. This project is financed by USAID and Open Society Fund Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Short project description: In Bosnia and Herzegovina there are different types of discrimination present in various aspects of everyday life, especially among vulnerable groups, such as women, Romas, persons with disabilities and LGBTQ population. Although adoption of the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination is an important step in combating and eliminating all forms of discrimination in BiH, certain legal solutions/laws are not in the best interest of victims of discrimination. Furthermore, antidiscrimination laws are not applied to the full extent and sufficiently due to the number of problems occurring in practice.

The project focuses on promoting the active role of CSOs in preventing and combating discrimination in BiH, as well as on advocating for improvements and effective implementation of the legal framework regulating this field. Some of the key issues in the legal framework that will be addressed in this study include procedural shortcomings, inadequate regime of a collective lawsuit and insufficient complementarity of the proceedings before the Ombudsman BiH and those before courts.

During the first year of the project implementation, the project will yield the following outputs: three policy analyses and five policy memos/ case notes on important antidiscrimination matters. Furthermore, Analitika will organize an expert panel with judges, an annual cross-sector meeting with relevant stakeholders in the field of antidiscrimination, as well as regular meetings/discussions with representatives of public institutions, international organizations and CSOs.

Objectives: The overall goal of the project is to prevent and combat discrimination in BiH by promoting active involvement of CSOs in implementing antidiscrimination legislation in BiH. The specific objective of the project is to improve cooperation and build strategic partnership between CSOs and key government institutions and courts, in order to improve the legal framework pertaining to the protection from discrimination and to ensure its effective implementation.

Project duration: 11 months (31/07/14 – 30/06/15)

Budget: 52,818.00 USD

Partners: Mediacentar Sarajevo, Rights for All, Vaša prava BiH

Donors: USAID and Open Society Fund Bosnia and Herzegovina

More information about the AD program is available at: www.diskriminacija.ba.