Network of Associations in FBiH: House of Peoples of FBiH Parliament should not adopt the law on principles and material support for persons with disabilities

(Patria) - At the session of the House of Representatives of the Parliament of the Federation of BiH on 24.7.2024, the draft Law on Uniform Principles and Framework for Material Support of Persons with Disabilities in FBiH was adopted. Although it is a framework law that should provide tools for quality protection of persons with disabilities, the proposed Law that was before the representatives is worse than the draft law that was publicly debated for months and with which we were not satisfied, claims the Network of Associations in FBiH Moje pravo.

"With the adopted proposal, persons with disabilities of 90 and 100 percent are once again faced with possible limitations in the payment of disability benefits and care and assistance from others. The Law leaves it to the Government of the Federation to change the fixed amount of the base at any time by Decision. In case of an increase in GDP and rising consumer prices, the Government is not obliged to make a decision to increase the base for calculating income. Also, if there is not enough money in the budget for monthly payments, the total amount will be distributed, and subsequent payments of the missing difference at the time of payment will not be made.

Persons with disabilities from 60 to 80% remain outside this Law, so we can say that it only treats persons with the most severe disabilities, and therefore the name of the law does not correspond to the actual situation.

With this proposal, the Government plans to carry out the verification of disability decisions, which will cost 4.2 million KM of public money, and expose persons with disabilities and their families to additional harassment to prove their disability to God knows whom and God knows for what time. There are numerous other shortcomings of the Law, which the Network of Associations in FBiH “Moje pravo” has been warning about for months.

At the session of the House of Representatives itself, despite the possibility according to the Rules of Procedure, as well as a properly submitted request two days before the session, the representative of the Network was not allowed to address the representatives. Our representative tried to do so twice during the session, however, the presiding officer Dragan Mioković did not show understanding for these requests.

Therefore, an official of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, Dobrica Jonjić, was allowed to justify such a bad law, shocking the entire population of nearly 50,000 persons with the most severe disabilities with a statement that increasing disability benefits and care and assistance from others would tie the hands of the Government to increase the cost of labor and thereby, as he said, prevent the further outflow of young people from our country.

Such imposition of non-existent guilt on persons with disabilities and the labeling of our population is shameful and represents the highest degree of arrogance and impudence that someone could show towards us and our families.

We demand that the Government of the Federation of BiH clarify its position regarding this statement and clearly and decisively inform the public whether this is its OFFICIAL stance?

With this draft Law, the Government's intention to transfer numerous aspects of exercising the rights of persons with disabilities to the cantons without imposed obligations, without any deadlines and proposed solutions, and without an idea of how to overcome the unequal economic potential and strength of the cantons, is clear, which will put persons with disabilities in a situation where the level of exercising rights depends on how economically strong the canton is.

This draft Law has not yet been presented to the delegates in the House of Peoples of the FBiH Parliament.

We hereby call on the delegates of the House of Peoples of the Parliament of the Federation of BiH to NOT SUPPORT THIS DRAFT LAW!

The level of success of a society is reflected in the extent to which it cares for the most vulnerable in that society. With such a law, a message is sent that persons with disabilities are still at the bottom of the survival ladder in the Federation of BiH. We do not want to agree to that!, they state in the statement.