The fifth BiH Prime March is taking place in Sarajevo on Saturday and participants will raise awareness about violence against LGBTIQ+ people in Bosnia and Herzegovina, pointing out how it affects their ability to live freely.

Anisa Pracic Sehic and Ivana Arapovic from the Organizing Committee of the event told N1 that violence in BiH is not only suffered by LGBTIQ people, but that they are in a difficult position, especially if they did not “come out”. Special emphasis was also placed on “economic violence”.

“When two people live together and one is employed and the other is not and does not have a car, there is no support system and in case of violence there is no possibility to leave. This can also be related to institutional inaction in regard to employment discrimination or in cases where a person is already employed somewhere and they experience threats of dismissal if it is found out that the worker is a member of the LGBTIQ community“, said Arapovic.

Pracic Sehic points out that the state if BiH still has a lot of work to do when it comes to legal regulations so that LGBTIQ people can exercise their rights.

“Same-sex partnerships exist, but they are legally invisible“, she emphasized.

With the slogan “I like not to be afraid”, the organisers aim to send the message that “they are part of society, that they exist and have always existed, and that regardless of what they have experienced, they have their own lives and loves that are equally valuable in society like the others”.

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