Osmanović at the UN General Assembly: The Right to Education in Emergency Situations

Bosnia and Herzegovina, together with Qatar, Costa Rica, the Kingdom of Norway, Nicaragua and Portugal, as well as other key actors, initiated a high-level event during the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly, in the context of the UN Summit, on the topic „The Right to Education in Emergency Situations“, reports the Patria news agency.

Minister of Civil Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina Adil Osmanović emphasised the importance of holding such an event at a time when more and more young people are facing the interruption of education and the loss of the right to education in various crisis situations, and stressed that during the times of war horrors and destruction in Bosnia and Herzegovina, education and healthcare were the only functional segments.

 - As someone representing Bosnia and Herzegovina, a country that has gone through the horrors of war, I assert that the right to education must be included in the international humanitarian response to armed conflicts and other crisis situations in the world, both during the conflict or crisis and after! In this regard, I appeal that refugees and migrants who are today forced to leave their homes and countries be given the same chance that refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina received in a large number of European and overseas countries - said Minister Osmanović.

The Minister pointed out that in Bosnia and Herzegovina a mistake was made in the form of inadequate attention paid to education after the end of the war, together with the right to return to pre-war homes and the restitution of property. He strongly condemned any politicisation of education, bearing in mind that quality and inclusive education, in the broadest sense of the word, is the best guarantee of the future of every individual, as well as of every state and society.

At the meeting in New York, the Post-2015 Development Agenda was adopted, in which the right to education in emergency situations was emphasised, and concrete proposals were considered on how to support the right to education in emergency situations, including a humanitarian and development approach.