Round table on “Gender equality during acquisition of property rights and real estate registration”

Within the implementation of the Real Estate Registration Project in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (RERP), and with the support of the Swedish Donor Project “Capacity Building for Improvement of Land Administration and Procedures in Bosnia and Herzegovina” – CILAP project a public lecture on “Gender equality in the registration of marital property and the acquisition of ownership rights by inheritance” was held in Maglaj on March 14, 2019.

Participants were addressed by Mr. Šeho Zimić on behalf of the CILAP project who presented the Project and Mrs. Jasminka Suša, head of sub-components related to gender equality within the CILAP project and Secretary of Federal Administration for Geodetic and Real Property Affairs. Mr. Saša Savičić, a local expert from the mentioned field, held a lecture with indicators and analysis of the position of women and the reasons for the integration of gender equality into all segments of society and also in sector of Land Administration.

Mrs. Jasminka Suša held a lecture with a review on:

• International and domestic legal framework related to Gender equality regulations;
• The status of women has been presented through history in the area of property rights;
• The reasons for why gender equality and their relation are important;
• Present institutional framework of land administration in FBiH was presented.

Then, with the interpretation, discussion and examples, the Family Relations Act of Federation BiH with particular reference to the Marriage Acquisition and the Inheritance Act were presented. The process of registration in Land Registry books and the importance of trust in the Land Registry Book have been clarified. Mr. Šeho Zimić presented a movie with examples for this topic.

The focus of the lectures was to familiarize the participants with the importance of gender equality, women and her ownership rights, the role of marital partners in real property affairs, novelties in family legislation and Inheritance law, the principle of trust in the Land Registry Book and the consequences that can occur if a woman or one of the spouses does not register. Also, the emphasis is on economic empowerment of women through the acquisition of property rights.

The lecture was attended mostly by women with a smaller percentage of men, which is also positive because the goal is to educate the target group of women to increase the number of registered women with immovable property rights.

Public Lectures on Gender Equality are part of the Action Plan for Year 2019 for the purpose to increase the number of women in registration its property rights by getting them acquainted with the rights under applicable laws, developing awareness and breaking the prejudices that are traditionally present in these areas.