The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Srpska determined at its session held on March 26, 2025 that the amendment to the Protocol for the Protection of Children from Violence, Neglect and Abuse is unconstitutional!
This is an amendment that removes the words “sexual orientation, gender identity and any other specific characteristics of the child” from the Protocol as protected grounds for discrimination.
The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Srpska determined that the four competent ministries exceeded their legal powers by narrowing and limiting the list of characteristics protected from discrimination. This, according to the Constitutional Court of the RS, is in contradiction with the Constitution of the RS and the laws regulating the field of preschool, primary and secondary education and upbringing in the RS.
In the submission, we warned that legal solutions must follow social changes and recognize new forms of discrimination, and that the omission of certain characteristics, including “other specificities of the child”, creates legal gaps that may exclude certain vulnerable groups from protection.
We recall that the principle of non-discrimination is the foundation of modern legal systems and is contained in Article II/4 of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Article 10 of the Constitution of Republic of Srpska.
These provisions guarantee equality before the law and prohibit discrimination on the basis of different characteristics, using open-ended wording such as “or other status” to ensure inclusiveness.
The Amended Protocol, by adopting a closed list of protected characteristics, contradicts these constitutional guarantees and limits the scope of protection against discrimination.
You can read the detailed decision of the Constitutional Court of Republic of Srpska in PDF format:
Odluka Ustavnog suda Republike Srpske broj U 47 24-2-7 (5)Download
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