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SARAJEVO, May 28 (FENA) - The Council of National Minorities of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina advocates for amending the constitutions of the cantons in the Federation of BiH and the BiH Election Law in order to ensure guaranteed representation of members of national minorities in the cantonal assemblies.
Mehmed Suljić, a member of the Council of National Minorities of the Federation of BiH, explained in a statement to the press that he is trying to achieve a guaranteed election quota for members of national minorities with the new election law, that is, amendments, according to the principle that exists at the level of local communities.
“Our country is a signatory of international documents and is obliged to respect international standards, but when it comes to implementation it does not. Simply, we still struggle with this and we need to be consistent if we want to achieve the goal that national minorities are persistent in the implementation of everything agreed at the sessions of the National Minorities Council,” emphasized Suljić ahead of the session of the Council of National Minorities.
Deputy Chairman of the National Minorities Council of FBiH Mehmed Mujić says that the conclusions of today's meeting will be addressed to all cantonal assemblies and emphasizes that what they aspire is “to be equal citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, equal with the constituent peoples of BiH".
“Seventeen national minorities have guaranteed seats in the FBiH Parliament, BiH PA, as well as cantonal assemblies. This issue must be resolved urgently, for the Council of National Minorities, under all conventions, to have its, guaranteed rights,” he stressed.
Bruno Palestra of the Association of Citizens of Italian Origin says that as a minority they are guaranteed all the rights regarding the law on national minorities.
“However, this law is not implemented. Practically, we do not have the help of any of the levels of government for our work and activities. We expect that national minorities in our country, as in other countries, will have more rights than they do at the moment,” he stressed.
(FENA) S. R.
