A new Action entitled “Strengthening the Human Rights Ombudsman to fight discrimination” is officially launched on 5 October 2016 in Sarajevo at the first Steering Committee meeting of the Project. This joint project between the European Union and the Council of Europe under the Horizontal Facility for Western Balkans and Turkey will aim at supporting the key human rights institution in the country through in fighting against discrimination. The goal will also be to strengthen the Ombudspersons’ role as a main national protector of human rights and to ensure the implementation of its recommendations and a proper co-ordination with other public bodies and NGOs.

Various forms of discrimination remain one of the most serious human rights issues in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and this was the reason for initiating a project in this priority area. The problem does not only concern the still non-executed 2009 “Sejdić and Finci” judgment of the European Court of Human Rights. It includes wide spread cases of discrimination at work place, access to work and education and in treatment before courts. Although measures are taken by the State and Entities’ authorities, there is space for improvement, in which the main role should be played by the Human Rights Ombudsman, which has also been assigned a role of equality body.