Berton: Bosniaks in RS have the right to learn the Bosnian language under the Constitution

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - Minister for Human Rights and Refugees of Bosnia and Herzegovina Semiha Borovac and Minister of Civil Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina Adil Osmanović condemned the continued denial of the Bosnian language in the education system of the Republika Srpska entity and called on the authorities of that entity to stop the bad practice of continuous discrimination against returnees.

- In violent attempts to impose the name „language of the Bosniak people“ instead of the Bosnian language, returnee children suffer the most, and this directly violates the Dayton Peace Agreement, i.e. the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, human rights, and especially the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child – stated Ministers Borovac and Osmanović in a joint statement.

They recalled that the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina concluded that every constituent people and others have the right to call the language they speak by the name they wish, and that the authorities in the Republika Srpska entity have no right to determine the name of the language spoken by Bosniaks. Also, the Basic Court in Srebrenica last year ruled in favor of parents and children from Konjević Polje, thereby confirming their right to call their mother tongue Bosnian, to use textbooks in the Bosnian language in the education process, and to use it in the education process.

The Institution of the Human Rights Ombudsman of BiH issued a recommendation in 2016 to take necessary measures to ensure equal treatment of children in schools in RS regarding the naming of their mother tongue, emphasizing that there is no acceptable justification for different treatment in the formation of the language name.

This view is also held by the Head of the OSCE Mission to BiH Bruce Berton, who stated in a letter addressed to the Vice President of the RS entity Ramiz Salkić, the contents of which Borovac and Osmanović were informed of, that in accordance with the decision of the Constitutional Court of BiH, Bosniaks have the right to name the language they speak according to their own choice.

- The inconsistent application of terminology, as established by the provisions of Article 7 of the RS Constitution, i.e. the use of the term „language of the Bosniak people“ without applying the same term to the language of the Serbian and Croatian peoples, constitutes discrimination and a violation of international law – states the letter from the Head of the OSCE Mission to BiH.

Ministers Borovac and Osmanović emphasized that the language of the Bosniak people is the Bosnian language and that no one's recognition is sought for this fact, especially not after the last census in which more than half of the inhabitants of our country declared that they speak the Bosnian language.

- It is demanded that the authorities of the Republika Srpska entity eliminate discrimination in the education system, i.e. return to the earlier practice of respecting the right of Bosniaks to call their mother tongue by its name – the Bosnian language, and to learn and use it as such in the education system of their country. The persistence of returnees in their demands for respect of the right to their mother tongue is a reflection of their firm decision to remain in their homes, which has not been shaken by attempts to deny them their human rights and rights guaranteed by the Constitution of BiH – stated Ministers Borovac and Osmanović in a joint statement.

They concluded that this very fact additionally obliges both the governmental and non-governmental sectors, as well as international organizations, to help them achieve a goal that is nothing other than the fight for equality, i.e. equal rights for all citizens in Bosnia and Herzegovina.