06 Feb Human Rights Watch 2023 Report

Human Rights Watch publish ist HRW’s World Report 2023 on 12 January. The Report shows that 2022 was a worrying year in Central and Southeast Europe with a high record of abuse by authoritarian rulers, political tensions and human rights violations.

In Bosnia, HRW said that authorities failed to prioritise human rights protections.T he Report states that discrimination against minorities remains a serious concern. Progress in war crimes prosecutions remains slow. Further, it is acknowledged that In April, a municipal court in Sarajevo ruled in favor of two activists who sued a former assembly woman for encouraging state institutions to discriminate
against LBGT people. It was the first ever verdict in a BiH court against discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity handed down a landmark ruling upholding a complaint about discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people.

HRW also underlined the increasing intolerance and ethnic tensions in Bosnia following the Office of the High Representative’s, OHR’s, controversial changes to the election law.

“After polls closed on election day, October 2, the OHR imposed further election changes, provoking widespread criticism, including of the timing. The measures fail to address long-standing political discrimination against Jews, Roma, and other minorities who are barred from standing for the Presidency, notwithstanding the modest increase in the number of seats for such minorities in the upper house of the Federation Parliament.,” the report added.

In October, the European Commission published its annual progress report on BiH, granting European Union candidate status to the country, even though “significant reforms are still needed to ensure that all citizens are able to exercise their political rights” and a lack of progress on rule of law and election reform.

In Serbia, the report noted that independent journalists continued to face intimidation, threats, and violence. “War crimes prosecutions remained slow, inefficient, and marred by delays,” the report wrote. 

A pan-European pride parade in Belgrade took place with police protection, despite authorities having banned it, underscoring the precarious situation for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Serbia. Authorities sought to cancel the September 17 pan-European Europride march in Belgrade, citing security concerns and the tensions with Kosovo as reasons. The move triggered international criticism including by EU Equality Commissioner Helen Dalli, Council of Europe Commissioner of Human Rights Dunja Mijatovic, and members of the European Parliament, who travelled to Belgrade to support the event.

In Kosovo, journalists also continue to suffer, facing attacks, harassment, and threats with a poor state response, while war crime investigations slowed down in addition to rising tensions with neighbouring Serbia. “There was slow progress on accountability for war time abuses. Tensions flared after Kosovo authorities ordered that ethnic Serbs in the north may not enter Kosovo with Serbian issued IDs or license plates” the report wrote.

Domestic violence survivors continue to face obstacles to obtaining protection, including few prosecutions and failure by judges to issue restraining orders against abusers, and reduced sentences in cases of the murder of women by their husbands, according to the Kosovo Women’s Network.

Albania, Nort Macedonia and Montenegro were not included by the Report.

The full HRW’s World Report 2023 you can find here.

Reference from the website of the Human Rights Watch