Four young men await Police Committee decision: We only ask that FUP respects and enforces laws

Four young men, who were arbitrarily removed from the list of 15 most successful candidates for admission to the FUP Special Unit by director Dragan Lukač before the Police Committee decided on appeals, are awaiting the epilogue of this case. The four young men, who identified as Bosniaks, occupied the 10th, 11th, 12th, and 14th positions, and were replaced by candidates from the 18th, 27th, 42nd, and 48th places who identified as Others and Croats, writes Patria agency.

The Office of the High Representative (OHR) is also aware of the entire case and has called on the authorities to respect procedures and the law. In this case, these are directly Lukač, the Police Committee, as well as the Minister of Internal Affairs of FBiH, Aljoša Čampara.

The candidates who were harmed in this competition have repeatedly written to the editorial offices of media outlets and relevant institutions, only asking for the law to be respected.

- As you may have noticed, all the letters you received were not based on any violence, threats, pressure, or blackmail. With none of the letters we sent you did we ask for anything other than the implementation and respect of the law. Why am I writing this now?

This struggle of ours is coming to an end. The Police Committee will convene in the coming days. It consists of two representatives of the FUP proposed to the FBiH Government by the FUP director, and one representative of the F MUP proposed to the FBiH Government by the Federal Minister of Internal Affairs. The FBiH Government has confirmed the appointment of this Committee.

The Police Committee will respond to our appeals, and then we will know what's next. The Police Committee has two options: to accept the appeals or reject them. Perhaps there is a third option, but we don't know. We know that the OHR has called and warned about respecting the Law, and we know that many other institutions and media outlets have warned Lukač and the F MUP that the laws of this country must be respected. The phrase "warned the MUP" sounds strange, doesn't it?

The candidates state that the list of candidates with points was submitted by the commission to the FUP director on July 14, 2017, and he published his final list on July 21, 2017. Under the same act number. So, 7 days later. Perhaps one day director Lukač will answer that question for someone.

- What you need to know, and now is the time to say it, is that we, as candidates, have also had several unpleasant experiences. We do not want to go into details, but what is important, and we emphasize this again, is that we believe we have been wronged, that the four of us have been discriminated against without any reason, and that the Constitution and the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination of BiH (Official Gazette of BiH 59/09) have been violated, which is decisive, especially when it comes to discrimination in employment.

It is clear to us, and we young people know very well that we are not the only ones who have experienced this, but we think it is high time to put an end to this and to start applying the laws of this country, which exist and are very good when interpreted correctly. It is time to start selecting capable individuals, not just those who are suitable - state the candidates, hoping that justice will prevail in this case.

Removed from the list were Hamdo Maličević (10th) with 69 points, Edvin Smaka (11th) with 69 points, Nadir Čengić (12th) with 68 points, and Halil Ćelović (14th) with 68 points.

- In his denial, Lukač explained this by respecting the national or ethnic structure of the FUP, because three candidates from "his list" are Croats by nationality and one candidate is from the "Others" group. By doing so, direct national and ethnic discrimination has been committed against us, because the condition for employment in the SPECIAL UNIT is not national affiliation but capability and earned points in accordance with the criteria he, as the FUP director, prescribed - conclude the candidates.