Salkić: Apartheid being carried out against Bosniak children in RS

Ramiz Salkić, Vice President of the BiH entity Republika Srpska, commenting on the statement of RS Vice President Anton Kasipović, openly supported the initiative of US Ambassador Maureen Elizabeth Cormack to establish unified plans and programs in education at the level of the entire BiH, reports the Patria news agency.  

Opposing such an initiative, Kasipović said that cooperation in the field of education between the entities of RS and FBiH is good and that Bosnia and Herzegovina does not need a unified education system. He rejected the stance of Ambassador Cormack that a unified plan and program should be adopted at the BiH level for children to attend classes, characterizing it as interference in the competencies of the entities.

In his reaction to such positions of Anton Kasipović, Ramiz Salkić said that problems in the field of education in the BiH entity of RS have culminated in recent years, reaching the brink of institutional violation of basic human rights of non-Serbs in this entity:

-In recent years, a true apartheid has been carried out against non-Serbs in the BiH entity of RS in the education system. In Konjević Polje and Vrbanjci, children do not even attend classes because they do not have the right to the Bosnian language and a national group of subjects. We tried to resolve this issue, but the RS authorities persistently insist on violating basic human rights, such as the right to a mother tongue, rejecting our proposals and demands. And let us not even talk about cooperation between the entities.

The proposal of US Ambassador Maureen Elizabeth Cormack that it is necessary to reach unified plans and programs at the level of the entire BiH came as a logical response to the long-standing discrimination carried out in the education system in RS. In this way, minority peoples would get the opportunity for their basic human rights to be respected throughout the territory of BiH. I absolutely support this initiative, believing that it will enable the right to language, national group of subjects, and freedom of expression to be respected throughout the territory of BiH, Salkić said.

Salkić called on Kasipović to prevent violations of children's rights to their mother tongue in RS schools. He emphasized that all previous attempts at talks with government representatives were unsuccessful, and that discrimination in the education system of RS is generated precisely from the relevant ministry, which creates such an environment in which ordinary citizens have the impression that a multi-ethnic society is impossible, it was announced from Salkić's office.