Lawyers from Banja Luka, Doboj, Prijedor, Čelinac, Bijeljina, Istočno Sarajevo, Sarajevo and Mostar are participating in two days cascade training on hate speech which includes understanding and application of the European standards established by the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), as well as in the practice of the European Court of Human Rights but also in local legislative framework and practice.
Defining the hate speech is a sensitive segment in the application of European standards, and the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights emphasises the importance of the overall context and taking into the consideration each individual case. Emphasis is put on the dual model upon which the European Court evaluates cases of hate speech, and in cases where a triple test is applied - the proportionality test where it is determined whether the violation of freedom of expression is in the domain of Article 10 § 2 of the ECHR, when the state has the right to restrict freedom of expression or it is a type of expression which, under Article 17, is automatically excluded from the protection of the Convention by reason of a substantive attack on the values protected by the ECHR.
The training is based on an interactive method, so the lawyers had the opportunity to read, discuss and present various examples from the practice of both European and domestic courts, and thus develop their skills in applying European standards in their own work.
The aim of the seminar is to further strengthen the capacity of the local judiciary with regards to standards of the freedom of expression in the context of the hate speech, whose presence has been intensified in the public space of Bosnia and Herzegovina and according to recent research. The educators in this seminar were Jelena Surčulija Milojević, professor of Media Law at the University of Belgrade and international expert of the Council of Europe, judge of the Supreme Court of FBiH Svjetlana Milišić Veličkovski, judge Amir Kapetanović from the Court of BiH and lawyer from Doboj Irena Obradović Puzić. The seminar was organised in co-operation with the Republika Srpska Bar Association.
This training is organised within the joint European Union/Council of Europe programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey 2019-2022”, and its action on “Freedom of expression and freedom of the media in Bosnia and Herzegovina (JUFREX)”.
