Representatives of national minorities, relevant institutions, civil society and international organisations gathered together on 16 May in Sarajevo City Hall to learn more about the new initiative of the EU and Council of Europe for stronger protection of national minorities’ rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The project “Strengthening the protection of national minorities in BiH” is funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe, which is implementing it.

Head of the EU Delegation and EU Special Representative in BiH Ambassador Lars-Gunnar Wigemark underlined that rights for minorities are among the fundamental rights for the European Union and emphasised that minorities have equal rights in BiH regardless of where they live in.

“It is important that minority rights is not just a letter on a piece of paper that you have signed up in terms of legislation, but also that is implemented, and that minorities have the same rights in terms of education and in terms of work. Unfortunately, in all our countries there are different forms of discrimination, in particularly against minorities, who are less able to exert their rights, but can make a valuable contribution. You see in this country for instance, when Roma are given the opportunity to education and to work, they do often very well,” said Ambassador Wigemark.

Minister of Human Rights and Refugees BiH Semiha Borovac said that BiH is willing and committed to ensure full respect and protection of national minority rights.

“In this regard, BiH Ministry for Human Rights and Refugees allocates significant funds for protection and promotion of national minority rights. I am especially pleased that this project will carry out the analysis of the current legal framework and propose certain measures of improvement in the best interest of our citizens, that is, members of national minorities”, minister Borovac said.

Head of Council of Europe Office in Sarajevo Ambassador Drahoslav Štefánek, pointed out that this project will award 5 small grants to municipalities in Federation, Republika Srpska and Brčko District that will be chosen based on the transparent open call and has the aim to improve lives of national minorities directly in their municipalities.

“Today is an important day for persons belonging to national minorities but also to all other citizens of BiH, since democracy is also measured by the fact how many rights the majority would provide for minority,” said Štefánek.

The project already established Minority Coordination Group that includes all relevant stakeholders in order to strengthen institutional cooperation and coordination among them, the inaugural meeting of this particular group will take place in June 2018. It will also increase knowledge of the general public about the existence, roles and rights of national minorities, including minority languages in BiH.

Tihomir Knežićek, Chairman of the Council of National Minorities in BiH, said that members of national minorities are not among the representatives of the legislative and executive authorities in BiH and stressed the importance of investing further efforts in addressing these issues in a more systemic way.

The project is part of the joint programmatic framework “Horizontal Facility for Western Balkans and Turkey” and has a budget of EUR 400,000.