ANNUAL REPORT ON THE RESULTS OF THE ACTIVITIES OF THE INSTITUTION OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS OMBUDSMAN OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA occurrence of factors that cause work stress. Adequate investment in the prevention and repair of impaired interpersonal relationships would have numerous benefits for both the work organization and employees and service users. Through work on cases 468 in the past few years, as well as in 2019, it has been observed that there are a large number of cases in which the parties point out that they are exposed to discrimination, and the investigation procedure shows that the competent authorities did not act in accordance with the provisions of Article 24 of the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which prescribes the obligation to harmonize other regulations with this law, and in this regard it was noted that in most cases there was a lack of implementation of Article 24, paragraph 4, of the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which prescribes the obligation of all public bodies and other legal entities to regulate in their general legal acts, or through specific legal acts, the principles and principles of equal treatment, and to ensure effective internal procedures for protection against discrimination. In such cases, the Ombudsmen issued recommendations to the competent authorities to act in accordance with the above provision. Implementation of the mentioned provision would significantly improve the work of public bodies and legal entities in terms of creating working conditions and working environment free from discrimination, with precisely defined rules and manner of treatment in the event of any form of discrimination, but would also impose an obligation for employees in their work to promote and apply the principles of equal opportunity and prevention of any form of discrimination both to work colleagues and service users. The Ombudsmen point out that the following section highlights a number of examples of recommendations that point out to the competent authorities the obligation to implement the relevant provision of the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination in Bosnia and Herzegovina and, for reasons of economy, do not find it necessary to highlight the same examples especially within this chapter. 10.3. Zero tolerance policy for acts of sexual and gender based harassment Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina at an Extraordinary Telephone Session held on 16 October 2019, on the proposal of the Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees of Bosnia and Herzegovina, adopted the Information on Mechanisms for Effective Prevention and Protection Against Gender and Sexual Harassment in the Institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a Guide to Take Effective Measures to Prevent Harassment based on gender and sexual harassment in the workplace in the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Ministries and independent administrative organizations should take effective measures by the end of 2020 to prevent gender-based harassment and sexual harassment in the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and adopt and announce a zero-tolerance policy on acts of sexual and harassment based on gender. By the end of 2020, the Heads of the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina should appoint advisers to prevent gender-based and sexual harassment in the workplace. By the end of 2021, the Agency for Gender Equality should submit to the Council of Ministers of BiH a report on the implementation of these activities. 468 Ž-SA-06-551/18 and Ž-SA-06-512/18 117