Production country
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Decentralised governance creates varying legislation across entities and cantons. While it has ratified the Core ILO Conventions, risks remain around living wages, health and safety, social dialogue, and harassment.
Bosnia and Herzegovina is a middle-income country and an EU candidate since December 2022. The country is an apparel and footwear producer, with one of the oldest and the most developed footwear sectors in the world. Legislation differs across each district of the country and its ten cantons. The country has ratified the Core International Labour Organisation (ILO) Conventions, whic Fair Wear’s Code of Labour Practices are based on. ILO Convention 190, which asserts the right of everyone to a world of work free from violence and harassment, is not yet ratified by Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Has one of the oldest footwear sectors in the world.
Over 60,000 estimated garment workers
13
Factories Fair Wear members source from
6
Fair Wear member brands sourcing from the country
What Fair Wear is doing
How we work locally with partners to address risks and improve working conditions.
Due diligence requires companies to know what is happening in their supply chain. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, Fair Wear collaborates with local stakeholders to offer custom HREDD facilitation support to companies, such as verification activities.
Insight only creates change when you act on it. Fair Wear equips brands with a set of established training modules to raise awareness, address root causes and implement mechanisms for prevention, mitigation and remediation. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, companies can request Module 1 of the Fair Wear Onboarding Training for suppliers and workers, which focuses on awareness-raising on workers' rights.
Staying ahead of risks means knowing about them before they escalate. Fair Wear's grievance mechanism is available in Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian, ensuring workers can raise concerns in their own language. The mechanism also extends support to workers in neighbouring North Macedonia, Serbia, and Croatia — providing an accessible, confidential channel across the region, with findings feeding into Fair Wear's work with brands and suppliers to address root causes.