Government equalizes mothers in FBiH, opposition wants more but welcomes progress

By: Ernad Metaj

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The House of Representatives of the BiH Parliament, scheduled for March 28 and 29, plans to consider the Bill on Material Support for Families with Children in FBiH. This law will regulate for the first time the minimum rights of unemployed mothers throughout FBiH.

- What needs to be understood is that this is a social law that should help poor families. In this regard, the FBiH Government, not wanting to create unrealistic obligations for cantons, has opted to establish rights that all unemployed mothers will realize, Miroslav Jurešić, Assistant Minister for Social Protection of FBiH, told Patria.

According to estimates, this law would cover about 9,000 mothers, and 30 million marks will need to be secured for its implementation. The amount of compensation is 55 percent of the minimum wage, or 298 KM.

The Bill is going into parliamentary procedure at a time when the Tuzla and Sarajevo Cantons have already started activities to provide mothers in those cantons with 1,000 KM per month. In this case, the right is not tied to the mother's employment status.

SDP BiH MP in the FBiH Parliament Irfan Čengić is not happy that the FBiH Government has not followed these examples.

- We will have five amendments to this law because we want mothers to have compensation of 1,000 KM and for there to be no discrimination between employed and unemployed mothers, says Čengić.

Neither Our Party is satisfied with the FBiH Government's decision, as it leaves it to the cantons to potentially treat mothers' rights unequally.

- We proposed the formation of a fund from which all mothers would be financed. On the other hand, we fear that the implementation will only start next year because the cantons have already adopted their budgets. In addition, the law provides a period of three months for the harmonization of cantonal regulations, and the House of Peoples must also confirm the Law, stated Nasiha Pozder, president of the Parliamentary Committee for Social Protection.

Assistant Minister Jurešić considers such ideas good, but unrealistic, because, as he says, it is wrong to impose obligations on cantons that they might not be able to fulfill. Past practice has shown that mothers' rights were unequal and usually less than the proposed amount.

- What is not understood is that this is a social law; pro-natal policies are something else. No one is preventing cantons from establishing additional rights. Large incomes should not be given through social welfare, otherwise no one would want to work. Pro-natal policies are a much broader area, and we should look at how much more developed countries than BiH do it, says Jurešić.

He hopes the law will be adopted because, for the first time, minimum rights will be uniform throughout FBiH. Čengić's stance also gives optimism.

- If our amendments are not adopted, the SDP club will decide how to vote. I personally think that in the search for excellent solutions that the ruling parties do not agree to, we should not give up on supporting minimal progress, said Čengić.