A meeting of the Children and Youth Committee was held in Sarajevo, attended by young people from 20 cities across Bosnia and Herzegovina who are involved in the project “Connecting the Dots – Advancing Children’s Rights in BiH.” The Committee members are representatives of formal and informal groups from 20 cities in BiH, aged between 12 and 25 years. Its establishment represents a systemic step forward in responding to the recommendations of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child for Bosnia and Herzegovina regarding the lack of children’s voices and opinions on issues and decisions that affect them.
During the two-day workshop, the young participants had the opportunity to exchange findings from research they conducted in their local communities over the past several months about the least respected children’s rights. They also shared experiences from research presentations given by children and youth to local decision-makers. According to these findings, the children’s rights most frequently violated in BiH are the right to education—especially in Roma communities where children also face discrimination—and the right to participation, as participation helps young people improve their communication skills and engage in all matters concerning children and youth. The participants decided to jointly prepare individual campaigns and projects to address the identified problems and to send a message to young people that they have the right to education, participation, and a life free from discrimination and violence.
“These young people, representatives of the Children and Youth Committee, together with decision-makers, representatives from all levels of government, the academic community, independent monitoring bodies, the Council for Children, and non-governmental organizations, are key actors of the online Coordination Platform. This platform was established to improve cross-sector coordination, ensure relevant information about the situation of children in BiH, uphold children’s rights, and provide information about the challenges children face,” said project manager Nela Hukić.
The Coordination Platform is integrated into the website of the Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees within the Human Rights section.
“It is a direct response to the need to have all relevant information regarding children’s rights in one place, which is essential for our daily work, but on the other hand, it also ensures that our country can inform and report to the Committee on the situation of children’s rights in BiH,” stated Hukić.
The importance of the project for young people was also shared with us by a young activist and member of the CAY Committee, Sumeja Mehmedović.
“The Connecting the Dots project is very important both for me and for all young people and children in our country. There are many problems, but I believe that together we can find adequate solutions, or at least some of them. These two days in Sarajevo helped me recognize the challenges faced by other youth organizations in BiH. I found it very inspiring, and I plan to implement several ideas I had the opportunity to hear also in Kalesija,” said Mehmedović.
The project “Connecting the Dots – Improving Children’s Rights in BiH” is funded by the European Union and implemented by the World Vision BH Foundation in partnership with the Association Our Children Sarajevo and the Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees. The project involves young people from all over Bosnia and Herzegovina of various nationalities, including the Roma national minority.
(Dajana Mirković, Portal Udar.net)
