Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina has reported hate crime data to ODIHR via the Ministry of Interior. There is no institutional system for recording and collecting hate crime data in the country. In co-operation with ODIHR and the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, the authorities of Republika Srpska have worked to improve hate crime recording and data collection through ODIHR's Information Against Hate Crimes Toolkit (INFAHCT) programme, including through a diagnostic workshop held in April 2022. Bosnia and Herzegovina has also co-operated with ODIHR and the OSCE Mission to train law enforcement officers and criminal justice professionals on hate crimes.
Bosnia and Herzegovina has launched a Gender Action Plan, 2023-2027. Hate crime prevention activities were included as part of the strategic implementation of the Action Plan.

SELECT YEAR

Download the 2014 hate crime report for Bosnia and Herzegovina

OFFICIAL DATA REPORTED BY STATES

Year	Hate crimes recorded by police	Prosecuted	Sentenced
2023	54	10	8
2022	42	8	6
2021	45	7	4
2020	8	8	5
2019	21	13	9
2018	Not available	Not available	Not available
2017	Not available	Not available	Not available
2016	Not available	Not available	Not available
2015	24	12	3
2014	200	36	23
2013	350	77	88
2012	Not available	Not available	Not available
2011	Not available	Not available	Not available
2010	19	Not available	Not available
2009	15	Not available	Not available

About 2014 Data

The exact number of hate crimes recorded by police is not known. Reported police figure is an official estimate based on information from law enforcement and some non-governmental monitoring.

Hate crime recorded by police

KEY OBSERVATION

ODIHR observes that Bosnia and Hercegovina has not reported hate crime data disaggregated by bias motivation to ODIHR.

Incidents reported by civil society, international organizations and the Holy See

Download incident data

Reports

Hate crime against Christians and members of other religions

The Holy See reported an incident in which two victims were severely beaten and later died. The Holy See also reported one incident of threats, three arson attacks on the homes of returnees and on a church, three incidents of the vandalism of Catholic churches, and three incidents of the desecration of graves.

Anti-LGBTI hate crime

Sarajevo Open Centre reported an incident in which three women were physically assaulted, with one of them suffering serious injury; a physical assault against a male LGBT activist; and 13 incidents of threats against gay people and LGBT activists. The Sarajevo Open Centre and the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina reported physical assaults against three LGBT activists at an LGBT-related discussion in a cinema, carried out by a group and resulting in the hospitalization of two of the victims.

Racist and xenophobic hate crime

The Islamic Community of Bosnia and Herzegovina reported one incident of graffiti on the offices of a local Islamic community centre.

Anti-Muslim hate crime

The Islamic Community of Bosnia and Herzegovina reported two incidents of threats, one in which threats were directed at a group of women, seven incidents of graffiti, one incident of vandalism, seven incidents of damage to mosques, one incident of the desecration of a mosque, and ten incidents of the desecration of graves.

INTERNATIONAL REPORTS

Racist and xenophobic hate crime

The OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina reported that it continued its activities with law enforcement, the judiciary and civil society organizations, including organizing four training events for 52 prosecutors and judges, and the establishment of five local civil society coalitions that aim to work together to improve monitoring and prevention of hate crime. The Mission continued to support its online “Super Citizens” reporting tool and to publish reports in its Hate Monitor, a monthly visualization of the Mission’s hate crimes monitoring information, which presents the latest data on all known bias-motivated incidents and responses to these incidents by judicial agencies, local authorities and civil society throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Mission also continued its co-operation with the project “Fighting Hate Crime in BiH”, funded by the Dutch OSCE Delegation. The Mission also reported that the Federal Ministry of Interior and the Police Academy adopted a hate crime training programme for the police, and that five municipalities adopted Community Cohesion Action Plans.

Anti-LGBTI hate crime

The UN Human Rights Council, in its Universal Periodic Review (UPR), recommended that local authorities collect and evaluate hate crime data, and publicly and unequivocally condemn any hate crime against LGBT groups and bring those responsible to justice.