Youth Day Celebration Without 150,000 Young People Who Left BiH

There are about 700,000 young people in Bosnia and Herzegovina, according to the Law on Youth, aged 15 to 30. The most productive and promising part of the population, the future of any country, many would agree. Today we are celebrating the International Youth Day, announced the KULT Institute (Institute for Youth Development), reports the Patria News Agency.

 

In 1999, the United Nations (UN) declared August 12th as the International Youth Day, and it has been celebrated every year since then to promote youth activism and recognize the efforts and actions of young people worldwide that contribute to positive changes, development, and economic benefits for communities and society at large.

And where are the young people in Bosnia and Herzegovina?!

On the margins of society, like numerous other citizens. These are not meaningless criticisms from those who sit in the comfort of their homes and criticize on blogs, forums, social networks… These are devastating statistics that are perhaps, or could be, even worse than the current data, as data is only released sporadically.

 

According to the data from the analysis of the situation and needs of young people in the FBiH, conducted by the Institute for Youth Development KULT, more than 150,000 young people have left BiH since the end of the war. Is it superfluous to ask why?!

Is it enough to say that about 67% of young people in this country are unemployed?! That one out of three young people is employed, and two are looking for a job?

We forget the fact that a high unemployment rate not only “drives” young people out of the country but also has a negative impact on the BiH economy, destroys the competitiveness of the labor force, and puts young people in a long-term unfavorable position.

The data from the 2013 census also serves as an alarm for us, but we first counted bloodlines, and only after a night passed did we become interested in how illiterate we are, how many young people lack formal or informal education, how many of us are of working age, and how many of us are working.

We still don't seem to be concerned enough that 60% of young people want to leave the country in search of jobs, better education, and a better life. We are also not concerned that as many as one-third of young people in BiH do not complete secondary education, nor that the unemployment rate is highest among young people aged 15 to 24, because if we were concerned, we would have a Youth Strategy, we would have relevant data on the position of young people, and the implementation of the Law on Youth. Youth Councils, as legitimate representatives of this population, would have greater support and be more involved in decision-making that is important to them.

For now, we have the Law on Youth and the Youth Policy of Republika Srpska for the period 2016-2020, and we are still waiting for the adoption of the Youth Strategy of the FBiH. However, some individuals claim that even this is a significant step forward, and the fact that 2016 is almost over should not worry us.

Today is August 12 – International Youth Day. We are marking a significant date without 150,000 young people who have decided to leave Bosnia and Herzegovina and seek a better life elsewhere. At the same time, we are waiting for some new miracle because in this country, life continues under the slogan “Three days is enough for any miracle.” We are waiting for those three days to pass, for the attention to shift from young people to something else, for laws, plans, and strategies to be forgotten. To live a little more lethargically, so that next year on August 12, we repeat all of this again.

To publish this same text, with the same or more alarming data, problems without solutions and the will to solve them. To watch the number of those who have left the country grow, while nothing changes in this country, the statement reads.