Press Release regarding distortions and violations of basic human rights and freedoms of Bosniak children in primary and secondary schools in the smaller entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina

 

17. 09. 2013

Regarding distortions and violations of basic human rights and freedoms of Bosniak children in primary and secondary schools in the smaller entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, we issue the following:

Press Release

Knowing the fact that Bosnia and Herzegovina is a signatory of the Convention for the Rights of the Child, which was adopted on November, 20^th 1989 at the UN General Assembly which guarantees the right to free education, free practice of religion and the study of their own culture and traditions, the Institute for Research of Genocide in Canada and the Congress of North American Bosniaks strongly condemn the behavior of the political establishment in the RS entity which prevents the Bosniak children from getting an education on Bosnian language and preventing their rights to study Bosniak national and cultural identity.

We call on authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, particularly the Bosniak political representatives in all legal institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina to take urgent action to rectify the injustice to Bosniak children in RS entity and hold accountable those responsible for violations of human rights and punish them for these crimes.

We fully support absolutely justified demands of student’s parents from:  Kotor Varos, Konjevic Polje near Bratunac, Vrbanjici and Kravice who protest with dignity, demanding their basic human rights and freedom in their own country.

Specifically, the process of discrimination in these returnee areas- areas where genocide has taken place against Bosniak people was continued through the school system.

For example, at the Geography classes, children were taught that Bosnia and Herzegovina consists of Serbia and the Federation, children who enroll in the first grade are given textbooks that say Serbian language and they have to study Serbian language, but children want to and need to study Bosnian language, but they do not have textbooks nor teachers who will teach them Bosnian.

All these facts are proof that the basic human rights of the school system were directly violated as well as the Law on Primary Education in RS and the Framework Agreement on Education Act from the year of 2002 passed on the country’s level, which guarantees that there cannot be any discrimination in primary and secondary education in the whole Bosnian territory.

How is it that only in the mainly Bosniak returnee areas, in a smaller entity, the conditions in the schools attended by Bosnian children there is no drinking water with not even a minimum sanitary conditions for classes?

The answer to this question is simple and straight forward, Bosniak children as well as their parents are not welcomed to their centuries-old homes, they are again banished through the system of apartheid in the entity of Republika Srpska.

We believe that children in all countries of the world, regardless of their ethnic, cultural and religious distinctiveness, should be entitled to unrestricted development and Educational Progress.  On behalf of the victims of the aggression against the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and genocide against its people, the Congress of North American Bosniaks and the Institute for Research of Genocide Canada, will invite all the political, academic and cultural organizations and communities in the U.S. and Canada, as well as fully American and Canadian public opinion to stand up in defense of a fully legitimate demands of parents and students in the RS, where daily violation of human rights of all those who were not Serbs, clearly and unequivocally oppose continuing aggression against the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina and genocide against the Bosniak people, this time by other means.

In particular, we will inform the U.S. and Canadian Institutions and Organizations for the protection of human rights and freedoms, and ask them to stand in the way of endeavor which prevents the Bosniaks in their own country from enjoying the rights and freedoms that belong to them.

It is unacceptable that the international community once again tolerates the violation of rights and freedoms of the Bosniaks and Bosniak children in the smaller entity, whose foundations are based on the genocide against Bosniak people.

Once again we call on all the international representatives that within their areas try to influence institutions in the entity of Republika Srpska to consistently implement the legislation in the field of education and respect the declarations, agreements, laws and international laws on human rights, non-discrimination and the rights of children to get an education and the use of their mother tongue in educational institutions and teaching process.

Institute for Research of Genocide, Canada

Congress of North American Bosniaks

17. 09. 2013

Povodom  narušavanja i krsenja osnovnih ljudskih prava i sloboda bošnjačke djece u osnovnim i srednjim školama u manjem Bosansko-Hercegovackom entitetu RS, izdajemo sljedeće

Saopćenje

Polazeći od činjenice da je  Bosna i Hercegovina potpisnica Konvencije o pravima djeteta, koja je usvojena 20. novembra 1989., na Generalnoj skupštini UN - a, kojom je zagarantovano pravo na slobodno obrazovanje, slobodno ispovijedanje vjere i izučavanje vlastite kulture i tradicije, Institut za istraživanje genocida, Kanada i Kongres Bošnjaka Sjeverne Amerike najoštrije osuÄ‘uju ponašanje političkog establišmeta entiteta Republika Srpska koji bošnjačkoj djeci onemogućuje školovanje na bosanskom  jeziku i osporava pravo na izučavanje predmeta koji obradjuju bošnjački nacionalni i kulturni identitet.

Pozivamo državne organe Bosne i Hercegovine, posebno bošnjačke političke predstavnike u svim državnim institucijama Bosne i Hercegovine da hitnom akcijom otklone nepravdu prema bošnjačkoj djeci u entitetu Republika Srpska, a odgovorne za krsenje osnovnih ljudskih prava pozovu na odgovornost, i krivicno kazne.

Poptuno podržavano apsolutno opravdane zahtijeve roditelja djece iz Kotor Varoši, Konjević Polja kod Bratunca, Vrbanjici i Kravicama, koji na dostojanstven način protestuju tražeći svoja osnovna ljudska prava i slobode u svojoj državi. Naime, proces diskriminacije u ovim povratnickim mjestima, mjestima u kojima je nad Bosnjackim narodom pocinjen genocid, je kontinuiran kroz skolski sistem. Na primjer, na casovima geografije se uci da se Bosna i Hercegovina sastoji od Srbije i Federacije BiH, djeci koja se upisu u prvi razred osnovne skole se daju udzbenici na kojima pise Srpski jezik i izucava se Srpski jezik, a djeca hoce i trebaju da izucavaju Bosanski jezik, ali nemaju udzbenike niti nastavnike koji bi im predavali. Svim navedenim cinjenicama se direktno krse, prije svega osnovna ljudska prava o skolstvu zatim zakon o Osnovnom obrazovanju i vaspitanju RS kao i okvirni sporazum o skolstvu iz 2002, donesen na drzavnom nivou, kojim se garantira da ne moze biti bilo kakve diskriminacije u osnovnom i srednjem obrazovanju na citavoj teritoriji BiH. Kako to da samo u ovim vecinski Bosnjackim povratnickim mjestima, u manjem entitetu, uslovi u skolama koje pohadjaju Bosnjacka djeca nema ni pitke vode a ni minimalnih sanitarnih uslova za odrzavanje nastave? Odgovor na ovo pitanje je jednostavan i jasan, Bosnjacka djeca kao i njihovi roditelji nisu dobrodosli na svoja stoljetna ognjista, nego ih se nastoji opet protjerati kroz sistem aparthejda koji suvereno vlada manjim BiH entitetom, po svim osnovama.

Svima nam je poznato da djeca u svim državama svijeta, bez obzira na nacionalnu, kulturnu i vjersku posebnost, imaju pravo na  nesmetan razvoj i edukacioni napredak, u ime žrtava agresije na Republiku Bosnu i Hercegovinu i genocida nad njenim graÄ‘anima, Kongres Bošnjaka Sjeverne Amerike i Institut za istraživanje genocida Kanada, će pozvati sve političke, akademske i kulturne organizacije i zajednice u SAD i Kanadi, te kompletno američko i kanadsko javno mnijenje da stanu u odbranu potpuno legitimnih zahtjeva roditelja i učenika u entitetu RS gdje se svakodnevno krse ljudska prava nad svima onima koji nisu Srbi, da se jasno i nedvosmisleno suprostave nastavku agresije na državu Bosnu i Hercegovinu i genocida nad bošnjačkim narodom, ovoga puta drugim sredstvima.

Posebno če mo upoznati  američke i kanadske institucije i organizacije za zaštitu ljudskih prava i sloboda i tražiti od njih da se stane na put nastojanjima da se Bošnjacima onemogući da u svojoj zemlji uživaju prava i slobode koja im pripadaju. Nedopustivo je da meÄ‘unarodna zajednica ponovo toleriše ugrožavanje prava i sloboda Bosšnjaka i Bosnjacke djece u manjem BiH entitetu, ciji temelji su zasnovani na genocidu nad Bosnjackim narodom.

Jos jednom pozivamo sve medjunarodne predstavnike da u okviru svojih oblasti utjecu na institucije manjeg BiH entiteta da dosljedno provode zakonske propise u oblasti obrazovanja i postuju deklaracije, sporazume, zakone i medjunarodne akte iz oblasti ljudskih prava, ne-diskriminacije i prava djece na obrazovanje i upotrebu maternjeg jezika u obrazovnim institucijama i nastavnom procesu.

Institut za istraživanje genocida, Kanada

Kongres Bošnjaka Sjeverne Amerike