On 15 November, 2008, within regional project “How to Reach Truth?”, the public tribune “How do we live human rights?! Equality before the law” was held in the City Hall of Velika Kladusa. The partner organisation in Velika Kladusa was the Centre for Democratisation and Tolerance. The regional project “How to Reach Truth?” is funded by the Dutch organisation IKV Pax Christi.

The basic aim of the public tribune was to analyse the situation of human rights that deal with social, economic and cultural rights (articles 17, 22, 23, 25 and 27 of the General Declaration on Human Rights) through the open discussion with the representatives of local authorities, national minorities, cultural associations, associations of former soldiers, women organisations, youth associations, civil society and citizens.

The speakers at the public tribune were:
• Mr Husein Murtic, the president of the Centre for Democratisation and Tolerance from Velika Kladusa; and
• Mr Djuro Globlek, the first deputy of the Federal Ombudsmen.
The moderator at the public tribune was Mr Vehid Sehic, the president of the Forum of Tuzla Citizens.

As the host of the public tribune, Mr Husein Murtic welcomed all participants and emphasised that that public tribune was the continuation of the activities that were started in 2007 together with the Forum of Tuzla Citizens. Although the title of the project is “How to Reac Truth?”, in the discussion with the representatives of the Forum of Tuzla Citizens it was decided to organise the public tribune about the human rights since many citizens of Velika Kladusa report violations of human rights to the Centre for Democratisation and Tolerance.

Mr Djuro Globlek prepared very good and detailed analysis of the human rights in Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. There were cases of violations of human rights that the institution of Federal Ombudsmen confirmed and gave recommendations to solve these cases. However, many of their recommendations were not accepted and they, as the institution, do not have the mechanisms to make decisions that would be legally in force.
The poor situation of human rights, i.e. violations of almost all articles on human rights of the federal Constitution, led Federal Ombudsmen to the conclusion that nationalistic ideologies in Bosnia and Herzegovina boycotted the Dayton Peace Agreement, particularly Annex VII, and destroyed and divided society that is already destroyed during the war and 13 years of peace. The Federal Ombudsmen draw this conclusion upon received complaints and in direct contacts with citizens, but also upon the relation of the authorities towards decisions and recommendations of the Federal Ombudsmen that are often neglected and ignored, rarely implemented.
The protection of human rights is not also provided by judiciary, which should be independent from executive and legislative authorities. Even after several reforms, Bosnian judiciary is not efficient and for most of the poor citizens unapproachable.
After introductory speeches, many participants joined the discussion. Some of them presented the cases of human rights violations in the domain of right to work, while the others presented discriminatory relation of the authorities, inequality before the law, i.e. disrespect of the decision on equality of all participants in the war and their families made by the Constitutional Court.

After four-hour discussion, the conclusions of the public tribune were:
• Through representatives in the House of Representatives that are coming from Velika Kladusa, to make pressure on the authorities to implement the above-mentioned decision of the Constitutional Court, and
• To pass the Law on prohibition of discrimination at the state level, which would precise obligations of those in power to prevent discrimination in the domain of their authority.