Federal Youth Council in Partnership with the Federal Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth in Creating a better Policy towards Youth
In April 2013, the representatives of youth councils indicated the following:
“Youth Councils in FBiH and RS are umbrella youth organisations based on a voluntary membership of youth organisations. We are legitimate representatives with approximately 750 000 youth in BiH, 30 000 of them active in the youth action fields. We represent interests of youth at all authority levels. Thus, we advocate promoting youth position in all spheres of social action, primarily for implementing previously adopted strategies and laws on youth and adoption of new ones to improve the status of youth in BiH. It is inacceptable to have more of us leave their communities, no one showing interest to keep us. We expect from the authorities to find an effective solution to provide a better education, new vacancies to ensure us starting a family. We expect a better social status and better healthcare. What we need is more practice in schools and faculties to learn our jobs. We need more space for youth to show their potential, a finer programme in culture and sports. What we need to emphasize is a greater material and non-material support, i.e. special budget allocations for youth. We expect the youth councils to be recognized as government’s partners in achieving goals and improving youth position.” (Official statement of youth council representatives at Keeping up with Laws on Youth in BiH conference held on April 22 2013).
Although each new initiative of youth councils active in their local communities is a step toward fulfilling their demands, youth are still not at the top of the priority lists of a great number of governmental institutions. The actions are blocked greatly by the lack of a representative body for youth at the Federal level, Youth Council FBiH.
Youth Council is defined as an umbrella youth association, based on voluntary membership of youth associations and representing interests of youth and youth associations. (Article 4:3 YL FBiH).
Over 50% of cantons must have a registered youth council in order to form and register a youth council at the Federal level. There are five cantonal youth councils currently in FBiH. Representatives of the formed youth councils met on September 19 2014 for an overview of the current situation and creating a plan for helping other cantons establish a youth representative body. They discussed all issues they face in their work, learned mistakes, valuable experiences and challenges awaiting them in the following period. Aside from the new leadership soon to be elected in most cantonal councils, the main challenge for the upcoming period is finding a sixth partner, sixth cantonal youth council to fulfil the terms for forming a YC FBiH. Mr Adis Salki?, assistant minister at the Federal Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth in order to jointly determine the course of actions of the Ministry in the upcoming period and the priorities. One of the priorities in founding YC FBiH is founding a Youth Committee FBiH. FBiH government is obliged to form an interdepartmental body to improve the collaboration between the government and the youth and to make the coordination more efficient.
FBiH government will form a Federal Youth Committee as an interdepartmental working body. The main task of the FBiH Committee is coordination and synchronisation of policies to youth in FBiH. The persons holding executive functions at the ministries and institutions of the Federation whose competence includes the fields as referred to in Article 25 shall actively participate in the working body as referred to in Paragraph 1. Minimum 50% of members of the Council for Youth of the Federation shall be representatives from the Youth Council of the Federation. (Article 18 YL FBiH)
The participation of the FBiH Youth Council in the FBiH Youth Committee ensures equal treatment for the problems and needs of youth – the way youth find proper through their representatives in the YC FBiH.
Mr Salki? presented the Ministry’s current activities and the plans for the upcoming period relying on the existence of YC FBiH and its active partnership with the Ministry. The first goal of the YC FBiH should be the budget item for the aforementioned and then youth budget item in all cognizant ministries.
The Institute will assist the councils in the process of founding YC FBiH in partnership with the government institutions in creating a better policy towards youth, as it has been doing since the adoption of the Youth Law FBiH.
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