Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees of BiH Cabinet of the Minister Semiha Borovac

Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees of BiH Cabinet of the Minister Semiha Borovac 71000 Sarajevo Bosnia and Herzegovina On December 10, 2017.
A Formal Request for an Initiative from BiH citizens outside BiH borders residing in the following countries (AU, AT, CA, USA, EU, UK, CH)

Honorable Minister,

We are following reports from various media outlets with great concern of your activities and activities of the Ministry on behalf of BiH citizens who temporarily and permanently reside and make a living beyond the borders of BiH, for which the legislator has chosen a somewhat strange name of "diaspora". We must mention that this term is used in a more inflated and increasingly negative context and aims to "stamp" BiH citizens outside BiH and increase its further segregation. The arbitrary behaviour of the Parliament and the Government of BiH has been more than scandalous on this issue. Your efforts of mapping of the BiH population and the opening of representative offices in the Federal Republic of Germany, according to national key and with huge administration and bureaucracy, we consider completely useless, counter productive and provocative. In the Federal Republic of Germany, we have several diplomatic and consular offices. We share the view that we are more than sufficiently represented and organized, both in the state and in the civil sector. We suggest that you include us in the activities of embassies of BiH throughout the world as well as in any new activities of consular representatives, and in doing so will finally justify diplomatic costs and inaugurate BiH citizens outside BiH as equal citizens of BiH, who for various reasons have centered their lives today (permanently or temporarily) beyond the borders of the homeland. It is impermissible to create isolated islands outside the structures of state offices, under the control of foreign states and organizations engaged in humanitarian or development activities and as you are well aware without great success and results. We emphasize in particular that the citizens of BiH outside the borders of BiH, directly or indirectly, invested more than EUR 20 billion into their home country in the period from 1996 to 2017, and in that way, more than any other state helped the survival of the state of BiH and its social peace. This effect cannot be ignored by any present or future authorities. We believe that the aforementioned activities are completely irrelevant and unnecessary, and they will only create additional burden for the state budget of BiH. Currently, there are offices in all municipalities of BiH for the so-called diaspora with the purpose of assisting potential investors, regardless of motivation or origin. With the aim of relevant spending and quality access to citizens outside the borders of BiH, we propose a series of measures (see Annex), which will aim to maximize the effect of investments and stabilize relations between BiH and its citizens residing outside BiH. Please, as the Minister responsible, submit the requests of the initiative to all relevant state institutions, primarily the Presidency of the State of BiH, the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH and the Council of Ministers, i.e. the Government of BiH (all members, parliamentarians and ministers). We invite all Bosnian-Herzegovinian associations and associations of citizens who want to support this initiative to contact: inicijativagradjanabih@gmail.com and thus express their support to our activities. At 2 the same time, we invite all associations of citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina outside the borders to cooperate in the interests of the common homeland.

With respect

Annex with the requirements of BiH citizens outside the borders of BiH from receiving countries (AU, AT, CA, USA, EU, UK, CH) Delivered: 1. Primary Address List - Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees of BiH - BiH Presidency (all members) - Parliament of BiH (all representatives, both houses) - Council of Ministers of BiH (Prime Minister and all ministers) 2. Secondary Address List - US Embassy in BiH - Embassy or the EU Representation in BiH - Embassy of Germany in BiH - Swiss Embassy in BiH - Embassy of Great Britain in BiH - Directorate for Development of Switzerland in BiH (DEZA) 3. Tertiary Address List - The Media - Political parties in BiH - Civil Sector in BiH

Annex Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina (all members) Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina (all representatives and delegates) Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina (all ministers) A Formal Request for an Initiative from Bosnia and Herzegovina citizens outside BiH borders residing in the following countries (AU, AT, CA, USA, EU, UK, CH) Dear Sir or Madam, The requirements for the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), or the institutions you are presently in charge of, are as follows:
1. Fulfillment of the valid conclusion of the BiH House of Representatives from 2015 that the Council of Ministers1 needs to draw up the LAW ON DIASPORA and enable the Diaspora’s full participation in the adoption procedure, rather than drafting this law and retroactively inviting to comment on what representatives of the ruling parties have already agreed to and do not want to change.
 2. Establish an appropriate institution at the level of BiH that will be explicitly responsible for all issues that refer to citizens outside of BiH, including the development of an earnest network of economic diplomacy in each diplomatic and consular office, which will include representatives of the Diaspora in accordance with their qualifications and demonstrated results in the field.
3. Obligatory inclusion of BiH citizens’ outside the borders of BiH long-standing requests in the new ELECTION LAW, which is under preparation (i.e. the abolition of active registration, the introduction of online voting, the establishment of a special election entity, and direct election of representatives outside BiH to the highest legislative body - Parliamentary Assembly of BiH, i.e. its House of Representatives) because the existing solutions openly discriminate against the citizens of BiH beyond the borders of BiH when it comes to the right to vote. 4. Urgent accession to the launch of dual citizenship negotiations with all the countries in which the citizens of BiH reside.
5. Census of BiH citizens outside the borders of Bosnia and Herzegovina (which was not done in the previous Census of population, households and dwellings, carried out in October 2013) - should be a special activity before the next census of BiH population.