On Tuesday, March 19, 2024, Human Rights House Zagreb, together with partners Human Rights Houses in Banja Luka and Belgrade, and Sarajevo Open Centre held a conference where a Regional Network of Human Rights Houses was officially launched and publicly presented. The conference was organized with the support of Human Rights House Foundation.
The Regional Network is an informal network of Human Rights Houses in Belgrade, Banja Luka and Zagreb, and Sarajevo Open Centre (which leads the initiative to establish Human Rights House Sarajevo), aiming to enable regional cooperation and joint work on the protection and promotion of human rights, the rule of law, and democracy. The network also aims to bolster networking and exchange between human rights defenders, utilize the euro integration processes to strengthen respect and adherence to values of human rights, social justice, and
inclusion, pluralism, and open society. Additionally, it seeks to promote, encourage, and support the establishment of new Human Rights Houses across the countries of the region.
The event was conceived as the launching of the Regional Network in the first panel, followed up
by a panel discussion and presentation of the Regional Report on the Situation of Human Rights
Defenders in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia.
The report shed light on the position, significant challenges, and obstacles faced by human rights defenders, and consolidates issues from these three countries into three main categories: attacks, threats, and intimidation of human rights defenders; participation in social and political life and involvement in public policy-making processes; realization of rights to public assembly and peaceful protest; and social and institutional pressures along with the lack of public support for human rights defenders.
The program of the conference is available here:
The Regional Report on Human Rights Defenders is available here: Publication – Regional Report of Human Rights Defenders
