Ever since the United Nations adopted its Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, the International Human Rights Day has been celebrated in various ways all around the world . Most commonly, the day is being used to inform, discuss and increase awareness about past and present human rights abuses, as well as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights itself. This was the case also at yesterday´s event at theHuman Rights House in Sarajevo were the six organisations in the house invited all local and national media and a wide selection of individuals and organisations as well to inform them and appeal for their support.

The invitees were informed about all the aim and activities of each organisation in the house, including the various activities intended to promote human rights, to prevent and eliminate all kinds of discrimination and to provide free legal aid to anyone whose rights are threatened or outright violated. Among the other activities initiated and conducted by the organisations in the Human Rights House in Sarajevo are various kinds of participation and contribution to the work of the International Commission on Missing Persons, attempts to facilitate dialogue not only between NGOs but also between different ethnic groups in Bosnia and Hercegovina, monitoring of the media, co-ordinate the work of a larger coalition of NGOs through the election period, and submit and follow up suggestions and proposals to the legislative bodies in order to bring both new and existing laws into harmony with international human rights standards. In addition to all this, there is also a lot of both formal and informa co-opration going on between the six organisations. What brings them together and puts them at the forefront of the entire civil society´s efforts for human rights is exactly their joint attempt to strengthen civil society and help accelerate the processes towards the establishment of a more profound democracy in Bosnia and Hercegovina .

Aida Samardzic, the local coordinator of the Human Rights House in Sarajevo, had the backing of all six organisations in concluding that the mini-seminar had been a success. This holds true not only for a special day like the International Human Rights Day, but also in a more general sense: Looking back at the activities of the whole year, Samardzic reflected that “the more we talk about human rights, the more people will know about them and the more we can achieve”.