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

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 which is carried out by Federal Administration for Geodetic and Real Property Affairs a public lecture on gender equality when registering property rights was held in the premises of the Municipality of Čapljina on June 20, 2017.

Round table participants were citizens from the area of Gračanica Čapljina, employees of the Municipal Court and the Municipality. At the opening address, Ms. Andja Zimić, director of the Project welcomed the attendees and round table was led by Ms. Jasminka Suša, head of the working group which under CIIALP Component 1 directly work on promotion of gender equality in Land administration.

Lectures were held by Mrs. Jasminka Suša, Ms. Nefisa Dobrača-Mahmutagić and Mrs. Edna Hadžibegić. The focus of the lectures was to familiarize the participants with the importance of gender equality, from the macro and micro spectrum, to familiarize women with the ownership right, the role of marital partners in property relations, the concept of a (pre) marriage contract, marital property, novelties in family legislation and Inheritance law (inheritance contract), 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.

Emphasis has been put on the acquisition and transfer of real property rights as a formal-legal business, and the attendees are familiarized of the importance of the registration, respectively of written and legal evidence of property ownership.According to the current situation, FBiH has a significantly lower number of registered women as property owners than men. Therefore, the aim of public lectures is to raise women's awareness of their rights and their protection and economic empowerment in the FBiH. After the lecture, the participants asked questions about issues related to this topic.