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Amnesty Slams Bosnian Authorities as Gay Festival Is Called Off
 

NOTE: While Reuters is reporting that “Sarajevo Queer Festival” has been called off, Agence France Press (AFP) is reporting that the festival is continuing "underground"

LONDON, September 25, 2008  –  The authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina should have provided adequate security for the participants in the first “Sarajevo Queer Festival”, said Amnesty International after several people were attacked at the end of the first day of the festival.

In a statement issued at Amnesty headquarters in London late this afternoon just as Reuters was reporting the cancellation of the festival, Amnesty said that there must be a prompt and thorough investigation of the attacks – and those responsible must be bought to justice.

Eight people, policemen and a journalist included, were reported to have been injured after dozens of young men attacked visitors to festival of art and culture, which opened yesterday in the Academy of Fine Arts in the centre of the capital, Sarajevo.

According to the organisers of the event, initially scheduled to continue until September 28, (the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender non-governmental organization Udruženje Q), police let anti-gay protestors get too close to the venue thus endangering the participants.

“The call of gay rights activists for equality before the law and an end to discrimination was met with intolerance and violence,” said Nicola Duckworth, Europe and Central Asia Programme Director at Amnesty International.

The organisers of the festival and their sympathisers, including journalists, have and continue to receive death threats.

Homophobic posters are widely distributed and put in prominent places. Some media outlets have used homophobic language and misrepresented the aims of the festival.

In a letter to the Prime Minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Nikola Špiric, earlier this month, Amnesty International expressed concern at the increasing atmosphere of intimidation against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the country and called on him to ensure that their rights are protected.

To date, Amnesty International has not received an answer.

The apparent lack of adequate measures by the authorities to guarantee an atmosphere free of intimidation and violence for the festival shows that the organisation’s recommendations have not been heeded.

Amnesty International is calling on political leaders at the highest level to publicly condemn discrimination against individuals based on their actual or perceived sexual orientation – and to make clear that any act of discrimination or violence, whoever the victim, will not be tolerated.

“Gay and lesbian people have the same rights as everybody else in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the authorities are obliged to guarantee their right to freedom of assembly and to freedom of expression,” Nicola Duckworth added.

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