STOP DISCRIMINATION: Movement Ban – Either for Everyone or for No One

By Rasim Belko

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Children in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina are paying a high price today for the choices of their parents. Because the fate of these children is now in the hands of politically suitable and privileged individuals, instead of professional staff.

Yes, #stayhome is undoubtedly the right decision. Social distancing, as well. And a good part of the other measures.

But the ban on movement for persons under 18 and over 65 is beyond all reason. Discriminatory, legally unfounded, and according to psychologists, extremely dangerous.

Under which law was such an order issued? The Federal Civil Protection Headquarters stated that it issued the order based on Article 108 of the Law on Protection and Rescue of People and Material Goods from Natural and Other Disasters, Article 18 of the Rules of Procedure of the Federal Civil Protection Headquarters, and the Decision of the FBiH Government on declaring a state of natural disaster caused by the coronavirus.

Article 108 of the aforementioned Rescue Law states: In managing protection and rescue actions, civil protection headquarters perform the following tasks: 1) decide on the use of civil protection forces and resources for the protection and rescue of endangered and affected people and material goods and deploy these forces to endangered areas; 2) order the implementation of appropriate protection and rescue measures and determine the forces and resources that will implement these measures; 3) direct, coordinate, and manage protection and rescue actions of all participants engaged in protection and rescue in their area; 4) resolve all issues that arise during the implementation of protection and rescue activities regarding the engaged forces.

Therefore, under this article, headquarters are given the possibility to order the implementation of APPROPRIATE measures.

Furthermore, Article 18 of the Rules of Procedure of the Federal Civil Protection Headquarters states: When the Headquarters orders the use of civil protection forces and entities and leads protection and rescue actions for people and material goods, the Headquarters issues orders. Orders are issued in writing. Exceptionally, in urgent cases, an order may be communicated orally, provided that it is subsequently confirmed in writing.

And the third act they refer to is the Decision of the FBiH Government on the state of natural disaster.

“The Federal Civil Protection Headquarters is tasked to, in accordance with the Federal Plan and applicable legal regulations, undertake all activities regarding the coordination and management of protection and rescue actions for people in the endangered area. All heads of administrative bodies and administrative organizations of the Federation and cantons, i.e., heads of municipal/city administrative services and heads of legal entities and other institutions, are obliged to ensure the implementation of the order of the competent civil protection headquarters.”

Thus, neither the Law, nor the Rules of Procedure, nor the Decision define the decisions made by the Civil Protection Headquarters. This is apparently left to their discretion. How much of that knowledge they possess and how confident they are in the correctness of the orders could best be seen at press conferences. In response to questions from Patria and other media inquiries regarding specific measures, they always stammered and evaded. Why?

However, the first question that arises is: why do these orders not refer to the Law on Protection of the Population from Infectious Diseases?

Article 54 of the Law on Protection of the Population from Infectious Diseases states that the Federal Ministry of Health, in order to prevent and suppress infection, may order special and emergency protective measures.

In paragraph 2 of this article, the measure listed is “Prohibition of movement of the population, i.e., restriction of movement in infected or directly threatened areas.”

It is interesting and strange that the Federal Headquarters did not refer to this measure. But even if it had, it would be difficult to justify a movement ban based on the age of the population.

This is not the only order that has sparked public anger. Remember that they repeated “mass testing is not needed,” and then, after reactions from the public and the World Health Organization, they started ordering large quantities of tests.

But the decision to ban the movement of minors is particularly discriminatory, dangerous in the opinion of psychologists, and unique in examples from the region and Europe. Only in the Federation is movement banned for two age groups.

Why? The claim that children are the biggest transmitters of infection might have held water before the virus began to spread massively due to the IRRESPONSIBILITY of those who are not banned from moving.

In the article “CONFIRMED: Three infected with coronavirus in Sarajevo, new infections in Goražde and Tešanj,” Patria reported on March 20 around 9 PM: “In Bosnia and Herzegovina, with the evening’s six, 89 people are now infected.”

That day, the Federal Headquarters issued an order banning movement for those under 18 and over 65.

From then until today, the number of infected has increased by 200. According to the graphs on the website covid-19.ba, the number of infected is constantly rising.

And the youngest and oldest in this society are under house arrest.

“A sunny period is coming, and we need the possibility to go outside, at least for a certain period, but with caution and maximum awareness from parents. Look, we tried to endure isolation for a week, but after that, I believe the problem will escalate in the worst possible way, at the worst possible time, when the coronavirus in BiH is much more widespread than now,” said psychologist Prof. Dr. Jasna Bajraktarević in a statement to Al Jazeera Balkans on March 27.

Bajraktarević is certainly more knowledgeable on this issue than the Federal Civil Protection Headquarters.

Therefore, the Federal Headquarters should consider stopping discrimination and thinking about some other solution. It is as clear as day that the number of infected is rising even while children are locked up.

They should, for example, give children the opportunity to go outside on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays from 10 AM to 5 PM, and those over 65 on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays.

This way, we would avoid contact between children as carriers and the elderly as the most vulnerable.

Otherwise, you face legal proceedings for all the consequences that house arrest can have on children.

Especially since you have no legal basis to differentiate orders by age of the population.

Protection as a cover for dictatorship will not work. It never has. Don’t bother. Call in experts and abandon the persecution of the youngest and oldest.

The right to movement is guaranteed to them by the Constitution and the conventions in its preamble. In this situation, with caution from parents for children and from the elderly for their own lives.

Everything else is dictatorship and manipulation.