Constitutionality challenges already prepared: Is the Law on Veterans' Rights doomed to fail?

(Patria) - Initiating proceedings before the Constitutional Court of the FBiH regarding the Law on Veterans is an obligation, because this law is discriminatory and unconstitutional. 

This was stated in an interview for the Patria News Agency by Drago Grbavac, president of the Association “Forgotten Veterans.”

“Bosnia and Herzegovina is a signatory to conventions on the protection of human rights, which prohibit discrimination, and the Law on Veterans is discriminatory by age and social category. Namely, it mentions that for the existential supplement, 12 months of participation in the war is required, the same amount of time must be spent on the records of the Employment Service, and one must be 57 years of age. According to this law, it is defined that the right to an existential supplement is exercised by veterans who have no income greater than 170 KM. This is precisely discrimination on an existential basis, because someone who has an income of 175 KM cannot exercise the right prescribed by this latest law,” explains Grbavac. 

He adds that of two veterans who were together in the trench, one exercises the right, the other does not. 

“The one who meets the given conditions has the right, while the veteran who was with him in the trench, if he lacks just one condition, has no right to compensation,” says the president of the Association “Forgotten Veterans.”  

He finds it incomprehensible “that federal parliamentarians kept saying that the Law on Veterans was unconstitutional and bad, yet they still voted for this law.” 

“As soon as the Law on the Rights of Veterans and Members of Their Families is published in the Official Gazette, we will file an appeal to have it repealed. This law will be repealed, and that is inevitable. I am not a lawyer, but I can see that it is unconstitutional and discriminatory,” Grbavac told Patria. 
 
He says he does not understand how his colleagues from other associations could have agreed to such a law, because in what was agreed last year, only a few minor changes were needed. 

“The Association ‘Forgotten Veterans’ represents both components, the HVO and the ARBiH, and we operate in 25 municipalities. Minister Salko Bukvarević is misleading the public, and it is not true that the law agreed upon last year required 350 million KM. Not everyone was in combat for the entire war. We are in favor of giving someone who was there for 10 months 60 KM for participation in the war, someone who was there for 11 months 66 KM, and so on. And someone who has a million should have the right to a veteran's supplement for the months they spent on the front line. Also, I don't see what the employment office has to do with the war,” Grbavac stated.

Representative in the House of Representatives of the Parliament of the FBiH Senaid Begić, who is also a member of the Constitutional Affairs Commission of this house, told Patria that the Law on Veterans was not considered by this commission, but he expects that the issue of the constitutionality of this law will be raised. 

“During the debate, there were several speakers who pointed out that the law is discriminatory, i.e., that it does not offer equal rights to members of the veteran population. Especially since it is considered to be more social in nature, because it even received that article in which there is no veteran's supplement, but it is called an existential allowance. I believe that the shortcomings of this law will become apparent when its implementation begins; only then do I expect a large wave of dissatisfaction among the veteran population, among whom I count myself. I have many friends - fellow combatants, who are very dissatisfied with this legal solution,” said Begić. 

As he says, time will tell whether this is a deception.

“This is not a satisfactory law, for which veterans have fought in recent years. I think there is merit in what Drago Grbavac presented before the Parliament, and I have a feeling that much of what he said will prove true in the coming period,” said Begić. 

According to information obtained by Patria, numerous municipalities and cities have already begun considering how they will react after the law is published in the Official Gazette of the FBiH, and one of the options is an appeal to the Constitutional Court of the FBiH.

The Law on the Rights of Veterans and Members of Their Families will enter into force after publication in the Official Gazette of the FBiH, and before that, it will have to be signed by the President of the Federation of BiH, Marinko Čavara, whose Office stated that this law has not yet arrived for signing, Patria reports. 

The House of Representatives supported the Law on Veterans' Rights at its session on July 16, and the House of Peoples did the same two days later.