Ambassador Brian Aggeler, Head of the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina (Mission), and Duška Jurišić, Deputy Minister of Human Rights and Refugees of Bosnia and Herzegovina, accompanied by representatives of the international community, visited Banja Luka, Prijedor and Kozarac today to learn about challenges facing minorities living in these communities.
In Banja Luka, the delegation, which included representatives of embassies of UK, Turkiye and Norway and the EU Delegation in BiH, met with Republika Srpska (RS) Secretariat for Displaced Persons and Migrations Deputy Director Gojko Jotić and Advisor Ljiljana Orešković to discuss issues related to sustainable return.
During the meeting with Omer Redžić, Imam of Prijedor City Mosque and Ermin Trnjanin, President of Islamic Community Medžlis Prijedor, the discussion focused on the security situation in Prijedor, especially in terms of potential bias-motivated violence and incidents, including those involving Bosniaks and other numerical minorities and religious communities. They also discussed projects and support provided by the City of Prijedor to these communities.
The delegation also met Jusuf Arifagić, Prijedor City Assembly Councillor, to discuss the critical importance of strengthening community cohesion to help overcome security challenges facing communities and citizens.
"Everyone must be able to exercise their rights fully, regardless of their ethnicity. This includes a critical need to ensure the sustainability of return and local integration of Bosniaks and other minorities, including access to social protection, health care, education and employment," said Ambassador Aggeler, expressing hope for increased collaboration in reconciliation efforts to ensure stability across the country.
In Kozarac, Emsuda Mujagić, President of the NGO "Srcem do mira"; Edin Ramulić, the President of the Foundation for Building a Culture of Remembrance"; Branko Ćulibrk, Executive Director of Youth Center KVART and Fikret Bačić, President of the Prijedor Association of Parents of Killed Children during 1992-1995, spoke about paving a path for reconciliation and trust-building.
"Prijedor is a city where Bosniaks and Croats suffered the fate of Holocaust victims from World War II in 1992. They were forced to wear white armbands, after which they were imprisoned in concentration camps, where they were tortured and killed. It was the area of the biggest ethnic cleansing in the last war. After initial successes in return, there has been a stagnation in dealing with the past, with attempts of assimilation instead of efforts to restore trust and mutual respect. Disputed names of schools and other institutions, as well as streets, the refusal of local authorities to allow the construction of monuments to the victims, above all the murdered children, and the impunity of incidents that show intolerance towards returnee communities, are a constant cause of tension and anxiety among returnees. At the same time, hate speech is on the rise, which not only violates the right to human dignity, but can lead to new hate crimes." said Duška Jurišić, BiH Deputy Minister of Human Rights and Refugees.
This visit, the second in a series hosted by the Ministry and the Mission, will enable and inform further efforts to ensure continued support for communities throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina to ensure respect for and fulfillment of all fundamental freedoms and rights for everyone.
