PINK REPORT. Annual Report on the Human Rights Situation of LGBT Persons in BiH in 2012
Publisher: Sarajevo Open Centre SOC, BiH Date: 2013 Volume: 58 pages, pdf Description Authorities in BiH are not really aware that LGBT persons are a part of society and consider their rights inferior to the rights of other groups. This kind of attitude is mostly explained by the low number of visible LGBT per- sons, and the common consideration that this (meaning homosexuality) or them (meaning LGBT persons) do not exist in BiH. When discussing LGBT rights, most institutions in BiH assume that the prohibition of discrimina- tion regulated by the Anti-discrimination Law in BiH is enough to enable the protection and equality of LGBT persons with other citizens of BiH, and are not sensible enough to notice or deal with other issues that LGBT persons face daily in BiH. Throughout 2012, as LGBT topics have become more visible in BiH through the media coverage, which is still mostly sensational and shocking in order to attract the viewers, and through the work of organisations working on LGBT human rights and activists, hate speech and hate crimes aimed at LGBT people have become more evident as well. The increased visibility of LGBT activism in 2012 was followed by hate speech on web portals, which became even more severe and threatening. In all the cases presented in this report, the response of the authorities was either non-existent or insufficient, and in some of the cases the perpetrators of the incidents were officials. Authorities consistently fail or refuse to condemn the hate speech and intolerance aimed at LGBT persons or to sanction the perpetrators, which leads to the lack of trust of LGBT persons have in governmental institutions. This lack of trust results in LGBT persons not reporting more serious incidents and cases such as discrimination and hate crimes.