Roma communities constitute Europe’s most marginalized ethnic group, and one of the most vulnerable to human rights violations. Roma people face widespread and pervasive discrimination, harassment, hate speech, violence and hate crime. In Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Roma people constitute one of the most marginalized minorities, experiencing relative socio-economic deprivation and barriers to integration. Yet to date, there has been little publicly available systematic evidence about anti-Roma victimization in Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

It is important to know what is a hate crime. When a hate crime is committed, one or more perpetrators target the victim, which can be one or more people or property, because of a protected aspect of the victim's identity, such as religion or ethnicity, race, sexual orientation or disability. Similarly, a hate incident is an act of hostility motivated by prejudice or bias that does not necessarily reach the threshold of a criminal offence, or the criminal nature of which is yet to be determined. A hate crime is any crime where the perpetrator is driven by prejudice or bias.

SARAJEVO, 28 August 2026 - The OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina (Mission) recalls that the glorification of convicted war criminals is a criminal offense and is deeply offensive to victims and survivors, undermines reconciliation and risks further dividing communities.