Bosnia considers face veil ban

August 23rd, 2010

The Bosnian Central Parliament is to discuss new legislation on 1 September that would ban the wearing of a face veil, or niqab. The new law would impose a 24-hour curfew on veiled women, and those violating the ban could be fined 50 euros. Muslim women held a protest outside the Central Parliament in Sarajevo after the proposal was made by the Bosnian Serb Party of  Independent Social Democrats (SNSD). France and Syria have already banned the veil, and the Netherlands and Belgium are considering similar legislation.

Bosnia: High Representative criticises media freedom record

April 7th, 2010

The EU Special Representative in the region has condemned “increasing pressures” on media freedom in Bosnia and Herzegovina.  Valentin Inzko said in a statement that he was worried by attempts to “curtail the ability of media to report freely, accurately, and fairly from all parts of the country.” Of particular concern are the “efforts led by elected officials to deny certain media access to information or to influence their editorial policies “prior to the country’s parliamentary elections scheduled for October. According to Borka Rudic, the head of a Bosnian journalist association, there have been 18 attacks on journalists in the last three months.