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Just How Interested is the European Union in the Violence Towards Gays in Sarajevo?
 

COMMENTARY

Last month, the Sarajevo Queer Festival – the first of its kind to be organised in Bosnia-Herzegovina – was curtailed as it opened.

Extremist groups, egged on by politicians calling for violence against gay and transgender people, resorted to down-and-out thuggery, with the local police doing virtually nothing.

Bosnia-Herzegovina has its sights membership of the European Union, whose official motto is “United in Diversity”.

So where is the outrage from Brussels over the violence in Sarajevo?

About the only group at EU headquarters to publicly denounce the attacks on the Queer Festival is the European Parliament’s all-party ‘Intergroup’ for gay and lesbian human rights.

Last week, Intergroup president Michael Cashman said:  “It is a cowardly behaviour to challenge the views one disagrees with by violence.”

Mr. Cashman went on to point out that Bosnia-Herzegovina wants to become a member of the European Union.

“Authorities and society at large must show that they can respect the rights of gays, lesbians, bisexual and transgender people not just in law, but also in practice.

“Respect for Human rights is at the heart of EU membership,” Mr. Cashman insisted

Alas, Mr Cashman and the Intergroup he heads appear to be the only people in Brussels screaming “foul”.  The Intergroup also issued a statement denouncing the violence on September 25.

A search on the EU’s main portal, Europa.eu, drew a blank on the search term “Sarajevo Queer Festival” (apart from a three-years-old report on “Changing City Spaces”).

Interestingly, the European Commission – Bosnia-Herzegovina Interim Committee held its first meeting in Sarajevo last week.  While most of the meeting was devoted to trade, the post meeting press release did mention, in passing, that Bosnia-Herzegovina be “encouraged” to “ensure full compliance with the European Convention for Human Rights”.

Only “encouraged” after the disgrace of the September thuggery against gay men and women in direct contravention of the European Convention for Human Rights?

So much for “United in Diversity”.

What the European Union needs to do is to publicly condemn Bosnia-Herzegovina in the strongest words possible – and then to put the application for membership “on hold” until the country sorts itself out.

One can but hope that the Human Rights sub committee of the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee can comes up with a resolution, using strong words, when it meets tomorrow (October 14).

Most of the embassies of European Union members in Sarajevo and European Union Special Representative in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Miroslav Lajcak, did, to their credit, issue a joint statement on September 26, in the local language (translation courtesy British Embassy, Sarajevo).

The Heads of the missions of EU member states and of the EC delegation in Sarajevo regret that the Queer Sarajevo Festival 2008 that opened in Sarajevo on 24^th September had to be drastically downsized and closed for the public for the remaining three days due to serious violence after the opening. We strongly condemn this violence and ask the authorities to do everything in its power to apprehend the perpetrators.

According to Article 2 of the Gender Equality Law that Bosnia and Herzegovina has adopted in 2003, discrimination based on gender and sexual orientation is forbidden. Also, Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights and its Protocol 12 forbids discrimination on any ground, including sexual orientation.

Bearing in mind that Bosnia and Herzegovina aims to become an EU member state, it is sad to witness that the actions of some individuals have been able to disrupt this festival. The European Union is, among other things, first and foremost a community of values. Bosnia and Herzegovina aspires to be part of this community and has committed itself to uphold human rights principles as laid out in the European Convention on Human Rights.

Also on September 26, the then UK Minister for Europe, Jim Murphy MP wrote on his blog on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office website:

This week saw the launch of the 'Queer Sarajevo Festival'. This was meant to be a celebration of  Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) rights and freedoms in Bosnia and Herzegovina and to promote tolerance and diversity. I was shocked and saddened to hear that following an outbreak of violence on Wednesday night the organisers felt they had to take the decision to cancel the remainder of the festival.

Homophobic violence has no place in any society. Bosnia and Herzegovina has signed up to various international human rights treaties that forbid discrimination and under Bosnian law such discrimination is illegal. It is important that all people in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and all over the world, should be allowed to enjoy their human rights without fear of violence, intimidation or discrimination on the basis of their beliefs or sexuality. The British Embassy has been keeping in close touch with the festival organisers and issued a joint press statement with other Embassies in Sarajevo condemning the violence. And as the UK Government, we urge the Bosnian authorities to take strong action against those who perpetrated this violence.

Strong words, indeed.  But have the powers that be in Bosnia-Herzegovina got the message yet?  We leave that for you to decide …

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