Arnaut Proposes Law: Those Who Don't Pay Child Support Cannot Get a Passport

(Patria) - Member of the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly, Damir Arnaut, today submitted a Bill on Amendments to the Law on Travel Documents of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which stipulates that persons who have not settled all due property-legal obligations from marital relations or parent-child relations, i.e., child support, cannot obtain a passport of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and that passports already issued to such persons can be revoked.

The problem of parents avoiding financial obligations towards their children is increasingly acute in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in both entities and the Brčko District. Single parents bear the brunt of the efforts to enforce these obligations, and children suffer the greatest damage.

The BiH Law on Travel Documents currently allows the rejection of an application for a travel document only if there is a well-founded suspicion that the applicant will evade the fulfillment of a due property-legal obligation from marital relations or parent-child relations, and even then, exclusively "upon request of the competent court".

The proposed amendments to the law significantly tighten the treatment of persons who avoid obligations towards their children, as issuing a passport will not be possible if all such obligations are not settled, and in such situations, the revocation of an already issued passport will be mandatory.

All authorities responsible for child support issues will be obliged, under the proposed amendments, to provide data on non-payment of child support to the authorities responsible for issuing travel documents, and these authorities will be obliged to maintain separate records and electronically register them in the central registry of travel documents.

Competent entity and cantonal authorities should in any case intensify their efforts to ensure comprehensive fulfillment of these obligations by parents, but this law significantly aids those efforts, in accordance with the competencies at the level of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and improves the position of children and single parents.