Chairman of the Council of National Minorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mujo Fafulić, met with representatives of the Office of the OSCE High Commissioner for National Minorities

Chairman of the Council of National Minorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mujo Fafulić, met today in Sarajevo with representatives of the Office of the High Commissioner for National Minorities (HCNM) at the OSCE - senior legal advisor River Hustad and senior political advisor Mikko Vayrynen.

During the meeting, Chairman Fafulić introduced the guests to the organizational structure, working method and key activities that the Council carries out in order to improve the status of national minorities, with a special focus on participation in political life and the participation of minority representatives at all levels of government in the country.

In this context, Chairman Fafulić emphasized the fact that members of national minorities in BiH can currently participate in decision-making processes only at local levels of government, while, as he emphasized, certain provisions of the Constitution and the Election Law of BiH prevent them from full political participation at higher levels of government. In this regard, Chairman Fafulić pointed to the need to enable adequate representation of representatives of national minorities at all levels of government in Bosnia and Herzegovina through constitutional and legal reforms, and said that the Council of National Minorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as an advisory body of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, advocates that all recognized national minorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina be clearly stated through legal provisions and the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, then precisely defines who is considered a member of a national minority, and prevents frequent abuses related to changing the national declaration.

Chairman Fafulić invited the OSCE High Commissioner and representatives of the Office to participate in the Conference of National Minorities in BiH, which will be held by the end of the current year, which was accepted with pleasure. (end)