Children's rights are not a priority of the competent institutions in BiH, it was pointed out today during the presentation of the report on the state of children's rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina and at the roundtable on the implementation of the recommendations of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.
The Monitoring report on the state of children's rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina for the period 2019-2022 was presented at the UN headquarters in Sarajevo, prepared by non-governmental organizations, together with the Children's Monitoring report on the state of children's rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina, prepared by children and young people, representatives of nine children's groups from Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Crucial mandate
What UNICEF needs and can do and is a crucial mandate, said Sanja Kabil, who heads the education program at UNICEF, concerning the monitoring of the implementation of children's rights through the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
- We cannot implement those recommendations, but we can provide support to the competent authorities who are obliged to work on it. We can be a voice where children cannot have their say and we will certainly do that, so that all that they said and the recommendations they gave are widely disseminated, that they are heard and reach those who decide on their implementation - said Kabil.
UN Committee on Children's Rights
Mirsada Bajramović, director of the "Land of Children in BiH" association, a member of the "Stronger Voice for Children" network, said that the findings of the alternative report on the state of children's rights show that the state of BiH has not implemented or complied with most of the recommendations of the UN Committee on Children's Rights, with very small number of recommendations that were implemented in the previous three-year period.
- Certain progress has been achieved in the area of social protection when it comes to equalizing children's rights to child allowance, as well as when it comes to the position of caretaker parents, as well as the area of foster care. However, if we look at all other areas concerning children's rights, we can absolutely see that there is actually no progress - Bajramović pointed out, adding that children's rights are not a priority of the competent institutions in BiH.
Universal health insurance
All children in BiH, as she added, do not yet have the right to universal health insurance due to certain non-harmonization of the legislative framework with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and children aged six to 15 who attend the educational process are especially at risk, and these are precisely the children who are victims of violence, abuse, human trafficking, etc.
Bajramović stated that, unfortunately, child victims of violence in the existing legislative framework when it comes to the Federation of BiH and Brčko District of BiH are not recognized as beneficiaries of rights in the field of social protection.