“THE STEPS TO EQUALITY OF WOMEN AND MEN IN LAND ADMINISTRATION” CONFERENCE

The first conference on the topic “The Steps to Equality of Women and Men in Land Administration in Bosnia and Herzegovina” was held on 12th December 2017 in Sarajevo. The CILAP project and the Swedish Embassy in Sarajevo and the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), geodetic authorities of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FGA) and Republic of Srpska (RGA), jointly organized this conference, and representatives of land administration institutions in BiH, international financial and development organizations and their project teams, relevant non-governmental organizations, institutional mechanisms for gender equality participated on this conference.

Ambassador of the Kingdom of Sweden, His Excellency Mr. Anders Hagelberg, opened this conference, sent positive messages and pointed out the importance of solving these and similar issues in the land administration sector. He also mentioned positive cooperation with geodetic administrations and positive results of the CILAP project so far. Director of the Republic Authority for Geodetic and Real Property Affairs, Mrs. Bosiljka Predragović also welcomed participants and highlighted the importance and meaning of those conferences- fight against discriminatory, a widespread behavioral model and emphasize women's rights and equality in the land administration sector. Director of the Federal Administration for Geodetic and Real Property Affairs, Mr. Željko Obradović pointed out that Federal Administration has many projects, and most important is harmonization between land registry and cadaster in the FBiH, and strengthening awareness of women's and men's equality in property registration. He noted that the percentage of registered women in the ownership is 38.5% and 61.5% men, and that the Federation of BiH has positive statutory regulations which do not discriminate men and women in the process of ownership registration.

Presentation titled “CILAP and Equality of Women and Men” was held by Mrs. Jelena Pajić-Baštinac, and on behalf the World Bank team Mr. Camille Bourguignon was presented the RERP Project experiences in solving these type of problems. Mr. Johan Norqvist behalf of the Swedish Embassy in BiH (Sida), was presented programs and projects related to equality of men and women supported by Sweden. Mrs. Sanne Tielmans, Political Adviser, behalf of the EU Delegation in BiH presented the importance of equality of men and women in the EU process. Project experiences related to property issues have also been presented by Mr. David Saunders from UN Women, and Mrs. Samra Filipović-Hadžiabdić, Director of Agency for Gender Equality in BiH, presented main Agency activities through concrete examples and statistical data.

A panel discussion entitled “How important is for women to be a property owner?” was also held, and like an introduction was shown a short movie with examples of many women who had a problem with property rights. The discussion was a great opportunity for representatives of women’s associations, institutions and international organizations and geodetic administrations to discuss and try to find some solutions.

The conference was closed by Mrs. Anđa Zimić, Director of the CILAP project, she thanked to everyone for their participation and good organization, stressing that the conference should be a good basis for raising awareness of women and men equality in the land administration sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina.