Outcome Report >> Bosnia & Herzegovina, Comment, 34th Session, November 2019

The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom welcomed the acceptance by Bosnia and Herzegovina of many recommendations regarding the respect for economic, social and cultural rights. However, entity-level governments continue to push for reforms conditioning economic growth to structural reforms and fiscal consolidation, which ultimately lead to cuts in public spending. Despite the foreseeable impacts of the reforms on inequalities, they are not planned with a human rights-based and a gender-sensitive approach. Instead, the entity level governments should further invest in the realization of economic and social rights, including by working towards full employment, universal social protection and healthcare and environmentally sound investment, It also urged the authorities to introduce mandatory gender and human rights impact assessments into the planning and implementation of economic reforms and to ensure the meaningful consultation of civil society in economic processes, including of women's groups in line with recommendation 120.164 accepted by Bosnia and Herzegovina. [Para 901]