What is the position of youth in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina? What were the budget allocations for youth in 2015? What will they be in the following year? Are they distributed properly?
The Federal Youth Council, the umbrella youth body in that BiH entity will focus on all these issues and other issues concerning youth in the Federation of BiH in the following period. The founding assembly of the Council will be held on Friday, 11 December, at the renovated Sarajevo City Hall with the support of the Institute for Youth Development KULT.
The establishment of the Federal Youth Council, as the representative body of all youth was provided for in the Youth Law of FBiH that was adopted in 2010 on the initiative of the Institute for Youth Development KULT. Since then, conditions have been acquired by establishing local and cantonal Councils the representatives of which will comprise the Federal Youth Council.
Mate Lon?ar, the President of the Youth Council of the West Herzegovina Canton, states that all is ready for the founding committee of the Federal Youth Council. “I am more than pleased. The Youth Council of the West Herzegovina Canton is ready for establishing the Federal Youth Council. In the last meeting, attended by representatives of 6 cantonal councils, we defined the Statute, and we also discussed the candidates for the managing body of the Council and progress was definitely made” – stated Mate Lon?ar. He also added that the Council will immediately start working and do all it can to finally resolve the burning issues of youth. Jasmina Keserovi? from the Youth Council of the Una-Sana Canton has a similar opinion. She claims that they are especially happy in this canton that youth in the Federation of BiH will finally have an umbrella body. “The Federal Youth Council will advocate for the interests and requirements of youth and will use an institutionalised dialogue with the authorities to resolve the accumulated problems of this population” – added Keserovi?.
Katarina Vu?kovi? from the Institute for Youth Development KULT also agrees that there are indeed many problems. Still, she adds, the problems are not unsolvable. “The statistics present the situation of youth in BiH in the best manner. Over 65% of youth are unemployed, 27% believe that the current situation will never change and 21% expect the situation to grow even worse. In order for the situation not to worsen, i.e. to improve, youth have to be included in the decision-making processes. They have to be invited to make suggestions and be a part of the solution. That is what we will get from establishing the Federal Youth Council” – stated Katarina Vu?kovi? from the Institute for Youth Development KULT.
The fundamental obligation of the Federal Youth Council will be to act on strengthening youth inclusion in the social life of the community and their informing. The Council will be directly involved in the processes of implementing youth strategies with the purpose of contributing to adopting and implementing youth policy and the action programmes for youth that correspond in the best manner to their requirements and issues.
The Federal Ministry of Culture and Sports also provided support to establishing the umbrella youth body in the Federation. The Minister Zora Dujmovi? will attend the founding assembly of the Council. That type of support will be very important for youth, as they claim. “We are very pleased because the first steps were made in cooperation with the Ministry, primarily in creating the Federal Youth Strategy and then in establishing the Federal Youth Council” – concluded Jasmina Banjaluk?i?, the representative of the Youth Council of Una-Sana Canton.
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