Human Rights House Foundation statement
HRC59 – Item 6 – UPR Adoption – Bosnia and Herzegovina
1 July 2025
Check against delivery.
We welcome Bosnia and Herzegovina’s engagement with the UPR.
We echo the Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders, Mary Lawlor, who found in her official visit to the country this year that defenders are “increasingly stigmatized, including by high-level political figures” and face “legal uncertainty and political tension”, in particular in Republika Srpska.
Alongside the Human Rights House Banja Luka, we reinforce the following recommendations to Bosnia and Herzegovina in the context of their review, drawing on recommendations the state has accepted:
First, to guarantee a safe and enabling environment for all human-rights defenders. This includes adopting, without delay, the draft Law on Citizen Initiative and Protection of Activists in the Federation, and developing equivalent protections country-wide as well as investigating and prosecuting attacks on defenders, and launching a public campaign to counter smear narratives.
Second, to align all legislation on freedom of association, expression and peaceful assembly with international standards. Bosnia and Herzegovina should repeal recent regressive measures, such as the re-criminalisation of defamation and the “foreign-agents” registry in Republika Srpska. They should harmonise laws across entities and cantons so that civil society can meet, protest and report without fear of sanction.
Third, to resource and strengthen national human-rights institutions, including by ensuring that the office of the Human Rights Ombudsperson and the National Preventive Mechanism are not only independent on paper but also effective and accountable. This can partly be done through transparent, merit-based appointments, setting clear performance and public-reporting benchmarks, and establishing an internal focal point to track reprisals against human-rights defenders and trigger rapid interventions.
