Sarajevo, 20 November 2014

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a pleasure for me to represent the EU Delegation at this event, which is part of the MAXCAP research project funded under the EU Framework Programme 7. I would like to cordially thank the project partners for their work so far, and especially the organisers of this conference.

It is equally a pleasure to speak after Ambassador Jakob Finci, who has left quite a significant personal trace as regards the issue of minority protection in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Crucially, he is himself one of the victims of the existing situation.

I am not announcing a new thing to you when I say that combating discrimination and ensuring socio-economic integration of minorities belong to the most important values of the European Union, and to its top policy priorities internally as well as externally. Indeed the protection of minorities is referred to by the Copenhagen criteria, the most essential conditions for EU membership.

Clearly, the EU attaches high importance to ending discrimination and improving integration of minorities also in Bosnia and Herzegovina. And I could say the case of your country is a particularly important and symbolic one, given the recent history.

Every year the EU publishes a Progress Report for countries with an EU perspective, a document that assesses the advancement of a country toward EU membership. This year’s Progress Report for Bosnia and Herzegovina underlined discrimination as an issue of concern in several areas, and particularly in the case of vulnerable groups: Roma and other minorities, as well as disabled, returnee refugees, and internally displaced persons.

We believe the problems in Bosnia and Herzegovina and other countries need to be clearly spelled out and repeated as long as they are out there. One can make at least 2 observations:

1. Discrimination remains widespread and affects minorities and vulnerable groups disproportionally. The 2009 Anti-Discrimination Law is in force, but its full implementation is still lacking, and must be completed. More needs to be done in terms of awareness raising among the general public about the existence of the law. Furthermore, a reform of the law, in order to bring it fully in line with the EU aquis, will be essential to combat discrimination at large.

2. The constitutional provisions discriminating against groups other than the three constituent peoples have not been amended, and the rulings of the European Court for Human Rights still remain not implemented. Importantly, of course, the key to constitutional reforms is local ownership.

To address these issues the EU has been engaged along several tracks:

• Active support for the implementation of the Anti-Discrimination Law. The adoption of the law was a key benchmark for Visa Liberalisation, and its implementation features as an important aspect of the Post-Visa Liberalisation Monitoring Mechanism. The setting up of a data collection system regarding cases of discrimination was flagged up as an urgent matter in a recent meeting of the monitoring mechanism. On a continuous basis, the EU is following closely the ongoing process of revising the anti-discrimination law.

• The EU is also maintaining regular dialogue with the Institution of Human Rights Ombudsman of BiH with the aim of strengthening their capacity to deal with discrimination cases. We are following the revision of the ombudsman law in these and other aspects.

• Last but not least, the EU is actively engaged on Roma issues. In November 2013 the EU Delegation hosted a seminar on the inclusion of Roma People in BiH. The key priorities identified included: raising the level of participation in pre-school education; fighting discrimination by raising awareness among teachers, principals and parents; reducing the drop-out in primary and secondary education; and the institutionalisation of Roma mediators and Roma assistants in schools.

Besides, the EU remains committed to addressing Roma issues also in the framework of the Sarajevo process and the Zagreb Declaration.

And finally, the EU Delegation recently published a Call for Proposals (IPA 2013), as a second phase of the support to the national Roma Action Plan (2.5 mil €) for the housing and supporting measures (deadline for the concept notes submission – 05th November 2014).

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Let me conclude by saying that protection of minorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina is of undiminished concern today. Pro-active engagement to improve the situation should be “daily business” for all of us. We should continue calling on those in positions of authority and responsibility, as well as those present in public life, to champion the protection of minorities and to defend human rights of minorities as well as all citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

I wish you a fruitful discussion tomorrow and thank you for your attention.