Hate speech is present every day in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) in political life, media and social networks, and hate messages are visible in almost every place in public space. Individuals, groups of people, and even entire communities are exposed to it.

The Institution of the Human Rights Ombudsperson of Bosnia and Herzegovina is one of the primary institutions for the suppression and prevention of hate speech in BiH. For this reason, this Institution was supported by the European Union and the Council of Europe through their joint action "Promotion of diversity and equality in Bosnia and Herzegovina“ and visited the cities of Banja Luka, Mostar and Sarajevo in the period 26-30 July 2021.

The Ombudspersons Prof. dr Ljubinko Mitrović, Nives Jukić and dr Jasminka Džumhur together with colleagues Vanja Burić, Hajrija Aksamija and dr Predrag Raosavljević, from the Department of the Ombudsman Institution for the Elimination of all forms of discrimination, discussed the topic of hate speech with civil servants of these three local communities.

Lectures and discussions were aimed at pointing out the difference between freedom of expression as a fundamental human right and hate speech, introducing international and national legal framework, mechanisms for prevention, protection of victims and sanctioning of perpetrators, as well as the role and position of civil servants in preventing and protecting against hate speech.

On this occasion, to the participants was distributed and recently published Manual for civil servants in BiH for recognising and dealing with hate speech cases, in whose analysis it was recognised that there is a need for education of civil servants on hate speech, as well as promotional material of the campaign "Block hatred. Share the love."