The Round Table on plans to end statelessness in Bosnia and Herzegovina brought together representatives of relevant state, entity and canton-level ministries, government institutions, Brcko District, city and municipal authorities, centres for social welfare, Office of the BiH Ombudsman for Humans Rights, the EU Delegation in BiH, UNICEF and the OSCE.
More than 60 experts gathered at the Round Table discussing plans to end statelessness in Bosnia and Herzegovina, expressed their willingness to intensify efforts to put an end to statelessness in BiH by 2024. The event was organized from December 12 to 13 in Sarajevo by the Ministry of Civil Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina with the support of UNHCR and the NGO Vasa Prava, and in cooperation with the Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees and the Ministry of Security of BiH.
“I think that representatives of the competent institutions today at this successfully concluded event in Sarajevo, listed and recorded all problems related to the statelessness, and expressed their willingness to finally resolve the remaining issue in Bosnia and Herzegovina in a way to transform the established guidelines into an action plan that will be implemented by 2024,” said Milan Zjajic, Assistant Minister for Citizenship and Travel Documents at the BiH Ministry of Civil Affairs.
Over the last decade, with the support of UNHCR, Bosnia and Herzegovina improved its legislation, policies and practices to support better identification, prevention, protection of stateless persons, drastically reducing statelessness.
“Today’s event has provided an opportunity to all relevant actors to further discuss the most effective measures to end statelessness in BiH, building upon significant achievements of the country’s institutions in the past, as well as to discussed ways to implement pledges to completely close the chapter of statelessness in BiH by 2024 that had been submitted at the UNHCR’s High Level Segment on Statelessness held in Geneva in October 2019, ”said Ljiljana Kokotovic Head of the Asylum Unit at UNHCR in BiH.
The event brought together representatives of relevant state, entity and canton-level ministries, government institutions, Brcko District, city and municipal authorities, centres for social welfare, Office of the BiH Ombudsman for Humans Rights, the EU Delegation in BiH, UNICEF and the OSCE.
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