The Sarajevo Human Rights House-based Helsinki Committee on Human Rights (HCHR BH) has finished a research project on the position of women in society. The sad conclusion is that women in Bosnia and Herzegovina are still very far from being represented on equal terms, both in politics and work related contexts. Domestic violence and trafficking, other human rights related issues, are also on the rise, says HCHR BH. (26-JAN-04)

 Although numerous procedures and mechanisms have been developed to implement and safeguard human rights in general, and women`s rights in particular, most societies do not activate or enforce them all. Bosnia and Herzegovina is among the modern societies still leaving a lot to be desired on this front. Last year a new law on gender equality was adapted. It promotes, regulates and protects gender equality, regardless of marital or family status, and is also meant to secure equal opportunities to all citizens, both in the public and private spheres. The new law draws particular attention to education, employment and economy, social and health care and cultural and public life. Furthermore, the law regulates the obligations of the Ministry of Human Rights of Bosnia and Herzegovina, of which it is required that it forms an agency for gender equality at state lavel. This law also obliges all other state and entity laws to be harmonised and adjusted to meet the requirements of the country´s new gender equality standards.

With reference to this fundamental legal breakthrough, HCHR BH decided to investigate how far gender equality has come in real terms in Bosnian and Herzegovinian society. This research project has just been completed with the conclusion that equality between men and women remains a distant dream. Women still have far to go to gain full recognition and equality, both in the private and public spheres of Bosnian and Herzegovinian society. The authorities have not fulfilled their commitments. The state agency for gender equality has yet to be formed, and the process of harmonisation of other legislation is much too slow. However, in the municipalities, commissions for human rights have been formed to monitor the protection and fulfillment of women`s rights. In addition, all levels of BiH legislature have commissions for gender equality. Finally, bodies of Ombudsmen have been established with the explicit mandate to monitor women´s rights.

The HCHR report finds that employers tend to prefer male to female applicants, even in cases where the female ones are at least as well educated and otherwise suited for the job. The reason given is that women are allegedly more prone to take leaves, be it sick leaves, maternity leaves or whatever. In addition to this kind of discrimination, vacancy ads may also set an upper age limit of 35. This applies more frequently in typically female dominated sectors of the labour market, or even in ads openly asking for women only to apply. This shows that the equal right to employment for men and women, laid down in international human rights agreements and in Bosnian and Herzegovinian legislation alike, is there more in name than in reality. Discrimination leading to inequalities in the labour market also has spill-over effects in other sectors, such as health care and insurance. Since these services tend to be linked to your employment situation, and unemployment is a lot higher among women than it is among men, women once again end up far worse off. In fact, more than half the Bosnian and Herzegovinian female population lives without any kind of health insurance. 

The problem of domestic violence is also massive. It is well known that women and children are the most frequent victims, but also that most victims are reluctant to talk about their situation. Instead, an alarming number of women end up killing their violent and abusive relatives, most often their men. In HCHR BH´s report from its fact-finding mission in women`s prisons in BiH, completed last year, it was established that 65 women, in other words 80 % of all female inmates in BiH, were serving sentences for manslaughter, all claiming that their killing only happened after years of physical and mental abuse and harassment.

Finally, human rights issues related to so-called trafficking are on the raise. In turn, these issues relate to corruption and other kinds of finance-related criminal activities. Violent abuse of prostitutes has increased in recent years and BiH has changed, also, from being a country primarily associated with the transit of sex workers from Eastern to Western Europe, to becoming ever more of a place where all the problems related to this business now also originate and happen. In an attempt to deal with this situation, Bosnian and Herzegovinian authorities have adopted a National Action Plan for Combating Human Trafficking. This plan is based both on the Convention on Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the European Convention on Human Rights. A co-ordination committee for tracking down, preventing, suppressing and sanctioning the trafficking in human beings, especially in women and children, has also been established.