The data below were reported by the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) and the Interior Ministries of the Republika Srpska, Central Bosnia Canton, Zenica-Doboj Canton and Sarajevo Canton.
In 2022, 12 training sessions on hate crime were organized by different international institutions for police officers in Republika Srpska, including CEPOL (the EU Agency for Police Training), the OSCE, and the Council of Europe.
In addition, a project on "Promoting Diversity and Equality in Bosnia and Herzegovina" was implemented in co-operation with the Council of Europe and the European Union. In 2022, the project developed an action plan to promote equality for LGBTI persons in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as a study mapping responses to hate speech in the country.
ODIHR recognizes Bosnia and Herzegovina's efforts to report hate crimes to ODIHR and improve hate crime recording and data collection. However, based on the available information, ODIHR observes that the country's mechanisms for recording hate crime data and statistics do not sufficiently distinguish hate crimes from other crimes, while the numbers of officially recorded hate crimes are low. In addition, ODIHR observes that Bosnia and Herzegovina would benefit from raising awareness among and building the capacity of criminal justice officials, in particular prosecutors and judges, to address hate crimes.
ODIHR recalls that in Ministerial Council Decisions 9/09 and 12/04, OSCE participating States committed to collect reliable data and statistics on hate crimes. States also committed to take appropriate measures to encourage victims to report hate crimes, including through co-operation with civil society, and to make use of all reliable information available. This can be addressed by introducing a robust system for recording hate crimes, as well as initiatives to encourage victims to report such crimes. ODIHR further recalls that in Ministerial Council Decision 9/09, participating States committed to introduce or further develop professional training and capacity-building activities for law enforcement, prosecution and judicial officials dealing with hate crimes. ODIHR stands ready to support Bosnia and Herzegovina in meeting the relevant commitments through its comprehensive resources and tailored assistance in the area of hate crime recording and data collection, as well as by providing further resources and tailored capacity-building assistance for police, prosecution, and judiciary.
🛈 Please note that the total number of incidents may be lower than the sum of incidents presented in the breakdown chart above, as some incidents involve multiple bias motivations.
🛈 ODIHR no longer presents descriptions of property attacks in the incident tables below. Data on property attacks are presented in the breakdown charts above. One property attack may target multiple properties or involve multiple types of attack.