"Islam" u anti-multikulturnoj retorici političara i antropologa Zapadne Evrope: kongruencija ili koincidencija?

Author(s): Marko Pišev,Miloš Milenkovic / Language(s): Serbian / Issue: 4/2013

The recent rhetoric of the "end" or "failure" of multiculturalism in Europe and beyond came as no surprise to anthropologists. Moreover, the statements made by leading politicians of key European economies seem as though they are based on the decades old anthropological critique of the consequences of the failed implementation of multicultural policies in Europe and on the global level. It is as though the messages we have been getting over the course of the last few years – that multicultural policies are contraindicated, that they weaken the contacts between cultures, rob individuals of the right to change and chose their identities and strengthen intra-cultural mediators of power, with patriarchy, violence against women and children, leaving school, religious fundamentalism and even terrorism as main consequences – are being read by politicians from anthropological analyses of abuses of collective "cultural" rights. The paper considers the nature of this similarity between the discourse of politicians and anthropologists with a special emphasis on the status of "Islam" in them, and discusses whether it is congruence or mere coincidence of stances toward minorities, immigrants and cultural differences, as toward the regulations which were tasked with protecting this diversity as a fundamental European value which today, at least at the rhetorical level, seems to be fading.

"MALE" MANJINE

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): Serbian / Publication Year: 0

Prerastanje nacionalizma u vladajuću ideologiju neizbežno je zaoštrilo problem manjina. Na etnički izmešanim teritorijama primena načela "jedna nacija jedna država" nije bila moguća bez nasilja nad pripadnicima manjina. Doduše, nasilje nije bilo jednako upereno prema svim manjinama – neke manjine su stavljane u "izlog" i služile su, pre svega, u legitimacijske svrhe režima, dok je protiv drugih mobilisana javnost, a primeri nasilja nad njima tolerisani. Smenom Miloševićevog režima nestalo je straha da će manjine biti ponovo podvrgnute represiji. Budući da su i same u velikoj meri doprinele krahu starog režima, manjine su od nove vlasti očekivale da, u skladu sa deklarisanim ciljevima – integracije zemlje u međunarodnu zajednicu i izgradnje društva gde manjine neće biti tretirane kao javni neprijatelji – stvori novi institucionalni poredak u kome bi na lakši i efikasniji način ostvarivale svoja prava i unapređivale svoje interese. Zakon o zaštiti prava i sloboda nacionalnih manjina, usvojen od strane Savezne skupštine krajem februara 2002. godine, tim zahtevima izlazi ususret, pre svega tako što inovira institucionalni poredak. Najvažnija institucija, Nacionalni saveti, pobudili su veliko interesovanje manjina, jer se preko njih ostvaruje manjinska samouprava u oblastima važnim za očuvanje nacionalnog identiteta manjina – obrazovanju, kulturi, informisanju i službenoj upotrebi jezika. Osim ove, Zakon predviđa stvaranje još dve institucije – Saveznog saveta za nacionalne manjine i Saveznog fonda za nacionalne manjine. Cilj osnivanja prve institucije je očuvanje, unapređenje i zaštira posebnosti manjina i njihovih prava, a druge podsticanje kulturnog, društvenog i opšteg razvoja nacionalnih manjina. Spomenuti zakon je, kao što je poznato, naišao na pohvalne ocene predstavnika međunarodne zajednice, kao i predstavnika manjina koji su učestvovali u njegovoj izradi. No, na račun ovoga zakona izrečene su i vrlo oštre kritike. Interesantno je da u kritikama i razgovorima o spomenutom zakonu nije posebno tematiziran položaj "malih" manjina. Po mišljenju Helsinškog odbora za ljudska prava u Srbiji, Zakon o manjinama više odgovara Bošnjacima i Mađarima, nego Česima ili Nemcima, dakle uticajnijim i velikim, nego malobrojnim manjinama, iako bi bilo posve logično da on više izlazi ususret manjinama koje su, upravo zbog malobrojnosti i oskudnih kapaciteta, daleko više podložne asimilaciji od manjina koje imaju snažnu elitu, izgrađenu infrastrukturu, organizacije, medije i političke partije. Uveren da od brojnosti neke manjine ne zavise i njena prava, Helsinški odbor je pažnju posvetio upravo "malim" manjinama, podrazumevajući pri tome Jevreje, Čehe, Ukrajince, Nemce, Aškalije i Makedonce. U Vojvodini, kao izrazito etnički i kulturno heterogenoj sredini, postoje i manjine koje su malobrojnije od spomenutih. Prema rezultatima prošlogodišnjeg popisa, u Vojvodini je, na primer, registrovan 101 pripadnik vlaške zajednice. No, za razliku od Vlaha ili, pak, Bošnjaka (na popisu je 417 građana deklarisalo svoju pripadnost bošnjačkoj zajednici), pripadnici manjina kojima se bavilo ovo istraživanje čine napore da očuvaju svoj identitet. Osim toga, većina pripadnika ovih manjina živi skoncentrisana upravo u Vojvodini, što se za Vlahe ili Bošnjake ne može reći, jer prvi u najvećem broju žive u istočnoj Srbiji, a drugi u Sandžaku. Izuzetak su Makedonci. Više pripadnika ove manjine živi u centralnoj Srbiji, nego u Vojvodini. Makedonci su interesantni zbog još jednog razloga. Oni su (11.785) najbrojnija od svih gore pomenutih manjina. Zapravo, makedonska zajednica u Vojvodini broji više pripadnika nego sve spomenute manjine zajedno (10.498). Njih smo uvrstili zato što je proces asmilacije pripadnika ove zajednice najdalje odmakao. Recimo, kada je reč o ostvarivanju nekih kolektivnih prava, kao što je pravo na informisanje, Makedonci se nalaze u najnezavidnijoj situaciji, jer nemaju čak ni interna glasila kakvi su, na primer, bilteni. Tek u poslednjih nekoliko godina oni čine stanovite napore da očuvaju svoju nacionalnu posebnost. Jedan od ciljeva ovog projekta je bio upravo to da skrene pažnju javnosti na položaj i probleme sa kojima su suočene "male" manjine, da o nekima od tih problema organizuje javnu debatu i, napokon, naznači određena rešenja. U tom pogledu razgovori sa pripadnicima "malih" manjina pokazali su se kao veoma dragoceni u identifikovanju problema, a rasprave na Helsinškom forumu kao značajne i korisne u sugerisanju određenih preporuka i rešenja. Projekat "Male manjine" elaboriran je u vidu Monitoring missions, Helsinškog foruma i tribina.

"Malenkij robot" a plány o československom národnom štáte

Author(s): Attila Simon / Language(s): Slovak / Publication Year: 0

This study details how forced labour of Hungarians in the Soviet Union - also referred to as "málenkij robot" meaning "little work" in Russian - affected Hungarians in Slovakia. The author provides a short introduction to the historiography of the subject and outlines the history of abductions, but the study's core rests with the examination of what was the attitude of the Czechoslovak government toward the repatriation of Hungarians abducted from the territory of the then northern Hungary, currently southern Slovakia. The author observes that the Prague government pursued a selective repatriation policy and it made every effort to prelude their return to their homeland. That means the abducted Hungarian population of southern Slovakia became victim of the autocratic Soviet power and, at the same time, of the ambitions to build a Czechoslovak nation state.

"Vráťme si mesto!" Prejavy nespokojnosti "mestského občana" v politickom diskurze v Prešove 1918 - 1938

Author(s): Veronika Szeghy-Gayer / Language(s): Slovak / Issue: 2/2015

The paper aims to provide an analysis of the politics of two local interest groups of Prešov, the so-called city parties, as specific forms of middle class dissatisfaction in the interwar period. Based on contemporary election results and archival sources, the first part of the study examines the political behaviour of the inhabitants of Prešov between 1920 and 1935, which helps to determine to what extent the city parties were popular among the multilingual and multi-religious voters. The second part investigates the social composition and the political discourse of the city parties. These local political groups were supported by 10-12% of the voters. Most of their followers were organized among the liberal middle classes, who were not able to identity with the politics of the big parliamentary parties. Their members defined themselves mainly against the Communist and Catholic movement. However, they also criticized the measures of the Czechoslovak government. And at the level of discourse they expressed dissatisfaction with the domestic policy of Czechoslovakia in the form of a virtual community of city burghers, regardless of their ethnic backgrounds. It is argued that because of the high percentage of Hungarian and Jewish intellectuals and entrepreneurs among the leaders and supporters of the local parties, this type of local politics might have been an alternative to the Jewish and Hungarian national politics at a local level.

"Немачко удружење Адам Беренц" и ревитализација етничког идентитета Немаца у Апатину

Author(s): Aleksandar Krel / Language(s): Serbian / Issue: 3/2010

At the time of the violent interethnic conflict in the former Yugoslavia, ethnic Germans in Serbia became publicly active for the first time after decades of "ethnic mimicry", founding ethnic German societies. It is through these societies that the process of revitalization and (re)construction of their ethnic and cultural identity has been taking place. There are about a dozen such societies active in Vojvodina today, one of them being the Adam Berenz German Society in the town of Apatin. The paper looks at the conceptualization and symbolization, analysis of ethnic strategies and presentation of modalities by means of which the Apatin association seeks to preserve and revive certain specific ethnic and cultural elements of the German ethnic community.

"Ханска Украйна - Мукатаа Томбасар" (края на XVII-XVIII век)

Author(s): Alexander Sereda / Language(s): English,Bulgarian / Publication Year: 0

The aim of the paper is to explore the region of Northwest Black Sea lands in the early 17th-18th centuries, in the context of the Ottoman and Crimean administrative and territorial structure; the political preconditions for the formation of Khan Ukraine - special administrative and territorial unit with the Ukrainian-Kazakh population under Crimean governance; the organization of the economical and fiscal district "Muqataa Tombasar" in the framework of Khan Ukraine. It presents the defter (register) of the revenues and expanses in Muqataa Tombasar and localizes the settlements and their population in the Northwest Black Sea region.

(In)visible spaces and tactics of transnational engagement: A multi-dimensional approach to the Kurdish diaspora

Author(s): Bahar Baser,Ann-Catrin Emanuelsson,Mari Toivanen / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2015

The Kurdish diaspora has been transnationally active and efficient in terms of raising awareness of the plight of the Kurds in Europe and elsewhere. However, there is a clear need to situate the current analysis of the diaspora in the context of rapidly changing political landscapes that includes both local and global power relations conditioning the diaspora’s transnational participation, political mobilisation and action. This special issue contributes to the abundant stream of research by including articles that touch upon various issues regarding Kurdish diasporic behaviour. We hope this will provide new openings for scholars working on the Kurdish diaspora. We present articles from diverse disciplines in social sciences including sociology, anthropology, and political science. This interdisciplinary approach not only enriches the analysis related to Kurdish diaspora mobilisation, but also highlights new perspectives emerging from this initiative.

(Ne) budi ovca

O etničkoj diskriminaciji u BiH

Author(s): / Language(s): Bosnian / Publication Year: 2013

(Ne) budi ovca: o etničkoj diskriminaciji predstavlja izabrane analize objavljene na web portalu koalicije Jednakost (www.jednakost.ba), u okviru koje organizacije koje su njen dio imaju za cilj ukidanje etničke diskriminacije konstitutivnih naroda i Ostalih na cijelom prostoru Bosne i Hercegovine. Formalna i faktička diskriminacija u ostvarivanju ličnih i političkih prava, a dalje i kulturnih, ekonomskih i socijalnih, utječe na samorealizaciju i samostalnost svih individua koje žive na prostoru Bosne i Hercegovine. Sloboda i jednakost, bez obzira da li se one ostvaruju individalno ili kroz kolektiv, neotuđiva su ljudska prava i ne trebaju biti ovisna od drugog kolektiva ili pojedinaca_ki. U prvom dijelu brošure predstavljene su analize pozicije Ostalih u dijelovima pravnog i političkog sistema Bosne i Hercegovine, dok je drugi dio fokusiran na široke posljedice etničke diskriminacije u Bosni i Hercegovini. Tekstovi naglašavaju potrebu uvođenja principa jednakosti kako za konstitutivne narode, tako i za pripadnike_ice koji_e se ne izjašnjavaju kao konstitutivni narodi, odnosno pripadaju grupi Ostalih; moguće modele njihove reprezentacije u političkom sistemu Bosne i Hercegovine; oblastima u kojima i dalje na normativnom nivou postoji etnička diskriminacija, te model Brčko distrikta Bosne i Hercegovine kao potencijalno dobrog modela političke participacije i uključivanja svih segmenata društva u proces odlučivanja. Drugi dio brošure fokusiran je na primjere etničke diskriminacije na pojedinim nivoima vlasti; potrebi suočavanja sa prošlošću kao osnovi za gradnju povjerenja; etničkim podjelama u obrazovanju i njihovim posljedicama na etničke manjine; diskriminaciji u medijima, ekonomiji, kao i drugim oblastima života. Analize, iako obrađuju kompleksne pravne i društvene probleme Bosne i Hercegovine, razumljive su i osobama kojima pitanje etničke diskriminacije Ostalih i nije oblast posebnog interesovanja, ali je njen cilj da na jedan inovativan i provokativan način aktualizira sveprisutnu etničku diskriminaciju u Bosni i Hercegovini.

(Ne)konzistentnost „diferenciranog građanstva“ u Preporukama za promjenu Ustava Federacije BiH

Author(s): Nedim Kulenovic / Language(s): Bosnian / Publication Year: 2013

U ovom veoma kratkom osvrtu razmotrene su posljedice koje dalja institucionalizacija „diferenciranog građanstva“ ima po prava pripadnika grupe koja se prethodno imenovala kao „Ostali“. Iako nisu provedena dublja teorijska razmatranja samog koncepta „diferenciranog građanstva“, i njegove opravdanosti u bosanskohercegovačkom kontekstu, uočen je značajan stepen nekonzistentnosti u njegovom modeliranju u Preporukama ekspertne grupe. Naime, ovakvo rješenje može rezultirati daljim različitim postupanjem, sada između dvije kategorije „Ostalih“, odnosno pripadnika nacionalnih manjina i etnički neopredijeljenih, a čije je barem pravno opravdanje veoma upitno. Ako je ovo zaista bila namjera Ekspertne grupe takva vrsta sistematskog isključivanja jedne kategorije građana iz participacije u strukturama vlasti FBiH zahtijevala bi naročitu vrstu opravdanja – kako s aspekta prava, tako i političke teorije – a koja ni u Preporukama, ni u Analizi, nije ponuđena. Ukoliko je, međutim, ovo posljedica omaške u formulisanju preporuka, nužno je pristupiti njihovom temeljitom usklađivanju, od definicije Federacije pa na dalje, s obzirom da se ova „greška“ spominje u više od dvadeset preporuka. Mora se na kraju upozoriti da još uvijek postoji teorijsko neslaganje u pogledu izvršenja balansiranja između etničkog i građanskog elementa u ustavnopravnom uređenju BiH. To je rezultiralo različitim institucionalnim modelima, od onog na nivou države i entiteta, do Brčko Distrikta BiH, odnosno Kantona Sarajevo, koji se karakterišu različitim intenzitetom etniziranja prava, odnosno diferenciranja građanstva. Nužno je biti pažljiv kako se u daljim pokušajima pluralizacije postojećih etnokratskih aranžmana na nivou entiteta ne bi prekludirala mogućnost da se naročito u kantonima – koji će sada postojati kao pojedinačne „laboratorije etničkog upravljanja“ – osigura veći spektar prava pripadnicima nacionalnih manjina i etnički neopredijeljenim od onoga što je moguće ostvariti na Federalnom i višim nivoima vlasti.

(NE)NAMJERNA NEOBAVIJEŠTENOST O NEKIM NEUTEMELJENIM ETNIČKIM RAZVRSTAVANJIMA STANOVNIŠTVA STAROG BARA U NOVIJOJ ISTOGRAFSKOJ I ETNOGRAFSKOJ PUBLIKACIJI

Author(s): Suljo Mustafic / Language(s): Bosnian / Issue: 37-38/2007

Stari Bar, sve do početka 20. stoljeća, jedino urbano gradsko jezgro na ovom području, kroz svoju burnu i bogatu prošlost mijenjao je i svoju etničku strukturu. Teško je danas pouzdano utvrditi ko su bili njegovi prastanovnici, o kojima se tek ponešto saznaje na osnovu arheoloških nalaza i iskopina; malo se zna o tome ko su bili njegovi prvi graditelji, a ko rušitelji ili osvajači. Sigurno je da je dominantno ilirsko i romansko stanovništvo preplavljeno slovenskim osvajanjima, te da je u simbiozi tih skupina nastajao i prvi grad, kakvih ga, makar u razvalinama, danas zatičemo. Kasnije je to je bio jedan od centara prve slovenske države Duklje. Vladala je njime i Vizantija i Raška, pa kroz veoma dug period i Mletačka republika. Više od tri stoljeća Barom dominira Osmanska imeprija, da bi se od 1878. godine našao u granicama Crne Gore.

(Н)и овде (н)и тамо: Етнички идентитет Срба у Мађарској на крају XX века

Author(s): Mladena Prelic / Language(s): Serbian / Publication Year: 2008

(Не)видљиви мигранти: миграције назарена у Северну Америку током комунизма у Југославији

Author(s): Aleksandra Ðuric Milovanovic / Language(s): Serbian / Issue: 3/2017

The migration of religious minorities from the region of Southeast Europe to North America was not in the focus of ethno-anthropological, sociological and historiographical research until recently. In the last two decades, the main focus in migration studies was on labor and economic migration, and only indirectly to the religious identity of migrants. This paper discusses the migration of one neo-Protestant religious minority – the Nazarenes, who emigrated massively from Yugoslavia to North America after the Second World War. The Nazarenes were pacifists, refusing to bear arms, take an oath, or to be members of political organizations. By adhering to their strict religious beliefs, the Nazarenes came into conflict with the state authorities. After the Second World War, the communist state considered Nazarenes as disloyal citizens and a threat to the government. From 1949, the Nazarenes were condemned to severe prison sentences in the worst prisons such as Goli оtok. In this period, the illegal emigration of Nazarenes to North America started. The material collected for the purposes of this paper came to be the result of empirical research, conducted in the United States (March-June 2015) with members of the Nazarene community who emigrated from Yugoslavia between 1950 and 1975. Emphasizing the role of religion in the process of migration, as well as the transformation of the community after several decades in their new setting, this paper analyzes the oral history of emigration of the Nazarenes during communism, where emigration is seen as 'survival strategy' for this religious minority.

(С)поделена природа? Природно наследство и местно развитие в един регион от българо-сръбското пограничие

Author(s): Ivaylo Markov / Language(s): Bulgarian / Issue: 1/2017

The article is focused on a border region between Bulgaria and Serbia which is geographically dominated by Ruy Mountain (whose ridge is the boundary between Bulgaria and Serbia) and the valley of Erma river forming two huge defiles along its way in this mountainous region – the Lomnishko defile (in Bulgaria) and the Poganovsko defile (in Serbia). The micro region (from natural and geographical point of view) shared until 1919 several cultural, social and economic characteristics (from an anthropological point of view), thus forming a common historical and geographical entity. The demarcation of the boundary between Bulgaria and Serbia as a result of the Treaty of Neuilly split the region between the two countries. The border regime, which was rigid and impermeable through the whole second half of the 20th century, made the zones on the both sides of the border well guarded, but industrially underdeveloped periphery. With the opening of the border in the period after 1989 and especially with the intensification of the European integration processes the character of the Bulgarian-Serbian border is undergoing changes and is gradually turning into a bridge for diverse trans-border initiatives. A great deal of these initiatives are connected with the well preserved ecology of the region, which is evaluated at present as a treasure by the local authorities and communities who believe it to be an important resource and instrument for the overcoming of the peripheral position of the region.

...Pâinea noastră cea de toate zilele... (grâul şi pâinea rituală la sârbii mureşeni)

Author(s): Iavorca MARCOV IORGOVAN / Language(s): Romanian / Issue: 27/2013

Код Срба из Поморишја (Румунија) жито и хлеб прате човека током целог живота, а њихово присуство у најразноврснијим ритуалима, магијским обредима и народним веровањима просто фасцинира.Цео наш живот, заправо, и тече између два хлеба – слатке погаче за новорођенче и погаче, исто слатке, за покој душе…а између њих: погача “поступовница”, која се прекрје на детињој глави, када дете прохода, колач за кућни светац, велики божићни колач, колачићи за коринђаше, “здравље”, “сунце”,”месец”, “волови у јарам”, “гувно” (“авлија”), поскурице за задушнице, младина погача, колач за кума, колач за скоро удату кћер, колачићи за парастос, погача за привеђе (даћу),...Жито, то зрно на чијем је телу исклесан човечији лик (богочовека) – као носиоц жртвене, магијске и апотропејске улоге.У нашој етнологији, хлеб је један од најприсутнијих симбола.Хлеб (колач, погача, зрно) центар свих знаменитих догађаја, хлеб се преплиће са животом и уплиће у живот нашег Банаћанина.Мало је прича тако фантастичних и свеобухватних као што је она о хлебу.Јер, то није само прича о храни насушној, већ и прича о човеку кроз сво ово време.

1.5-generation immigrant adolescents’ autonomy negotiations in transnational family contexts

Author(s): Elina Turjanmaa,Anne Alitolppa-Niitamo,Inga Jasinskaja-Lahti / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2017

This study explored how 1.5-generation immigrant adolescents negotiate their autonomy with their parents in a new cultural context. The studied adolescents are immigrants with African, Middle Eastern, Southern Asian, and EU/FSU background in Finland. The study is built on the ecological framework, which looks at development within the context of social systems. The study combines perspectives of cross-cultural psychology, acculturation research, and developmental psychology to explore autonomy in a transnational developmental context. The data consists of 80 semi-structured interviews with immigrant adolescents aged 13 to 18. Our results suggest that adolescents’ autonomy is negotiated within local family circumstances, while the transnational context becomes particularly crucial in the negotiation categories of peer relations and cultural continuity. Cultural differences in using different negotiation categories are discussed.

1923 Nüfus Mübadelesine Mizah Penceresinden Bakmak: Zümrüdüanka

Author(s): Nuray Firindioglu Yilmaz / Language(s): Turkish / Issue: 2/2017

The Greek- Turkish 1923 population exchange has played an important role in Turkish history both politically and socially. Since about 2 million Greeks and Turks were ousted from their homelands, this issue has quickly become problematic due to some main concerns and conflicts over its form and instruments, the definition and the scale of the refugees, and the legal status of their left property. These problems led the refugees to experience a number of tragic incidents from the start of the implementation of the exchange almost until it is completed. This study reviews the Greek- Turkish population exchange that has been engraved in collective memory in every respect by analyzing the texts and caricatures in the comic book, Zümrüdüanka, that reflect its idiosyncratic sense of humor.

1989 göçü sonrası Bulgaristan göçmenlerinin yemek kültüründeki değişim

Author(s): Cahit Kahraman,Ilhan Gunes,Nanae Kahraman / Language(s): Turkish / Issue: 2/2017

The Cuisine culture that has been developing and getting rich day by day contemporaneously in the world before 1989 migration has also had an impact on Bulgarian Turks. By the increase in diversity in the market, eating habits have changed. While producing a limited number of food types with limited opportunities just some 30 or 40 years before the ‘Big Migration’, there has been a rapid progress in food culture by the help of the increase in purchase power. Enhancing product range has been reflected in food, and different tastes have entered the cuisines. When we say immigrant, the first things that come to our mind are pastry, flan and pitta bread. Moreover, it is also known that immigrants have a very rich cuisine culture of pickle, stewed fruit, and canned food. This study aims both to disclose the eating habits of Turks living in different regions of Bulgaria before 1989 and to determine whether there has been a difference in immigrant cuisine culture before and after the migration. For this purpose, a questionnaire consisting of 8 questions has been administered to 50 people who migrated to Turkey in 1989. The results gathered from these data have been compiled and new determinations have been made. In addition, immigrants that settled in different regions of Turkey have set their own immigrant markets. The fact that the products brought from Bulgaria are being sold in these markets shows that this kind of supply and demand still continues

20 000 Molisini di origine Slava (Prilog boljem poznavanju moliških Hrvata)

Author(s): Agostina Piccoli / Language(s): Croatian / Issue: 5/1993

The author of the text, herself the member of the Molisini Croats, while studying the language and history of the Croats in the Italian region of Molise has noticed a number of inconsistencies and in exact data in the existing literature, the wrong number of the inhabitants of the villages of Croats in the Molise region being one of them. The Molisine Croatian language is still spoken in three Molise villages: Montemitro (Mundimitar), San Felice (Stifilić) and Aquaviva Collecroce (Živavoda Kruć). The basis of the language is the stokavsko ikavski accent. The inhabitants themselves are describing.

2014 ALTERNATIVE PROGRESS REPORT: POLITICAL CRITERIA

Author(s): / Language(s): English / Issue: 3/2014

This is the second Alternative Progress Report on Bosnia and Herzegovina’s path towards the EU membership. The report is a joint effort of dozens of individuals and organizations whose common goal was to show the current state of integration of Bosnia and Herzegovina from the perspective of civil society organizations. Having in mind that the official Progress Report on Bosnia and Herzegovina is a political report of the European Commission, we believe that the publication of the Alternative report can affect its content. Because of this, we are publishing this Alternative Progress Report nearly three months before the publication of the official one, hoping that it will have an impact on the formulation of the formal report. The report completely relies on the so-called political criteria, focusing on the following questions: - Democracy and the functionality of the State, - Rule of law and corruption, - Human rights, especially the rights of minorities and vulnerable groups, and - Transitional Justice During the 2013 and 2014, we have witnessed that no relevant progress has been achieved. The process of implementation of the Sejdić and Finci v. Bosnia and Herzegovina ruling is completely displaced from the Parliament. Performance of the democratic parliaments and governments on state, entity and cantonal levels is extremely low. The work of the institutions is characterized as unstable, inefficient and with notable lack of transparency. The decisions of the constitutional courts are still not implemented. No significant and systematic policies to combat human rights violations have been adopted. Judicial reform has been stopped and Structured Dialogue on Justice between B&H and the EU does not show any progress. Not a single significant case of corruption has been processed. Minority and vulnerable groups still live in difficult conditions. Discrimination and violence are all-present, and the law on prohibition of discrimination did not show the expected results, having in mind that five years after the enactment of the law, only two final judgments were passed. Comprehensive anti-discrimination policies for social integration either do not exist, or are almost never applied. Floods additionally hit the most vulnerable groups in society. Furthermore, the most vulnerable groups in society have been affected by the recent floods. The prosecution of war crimes and dealing with the past, as prerequisites for creating a healthy environment and building a common state, represent an additional problem. Political support for war criminals by the leaders of political parties only further divide the already highly fragmented society. We hope that the general elections in October of 2014 (although held by discriminatory rules) will bring more stable political structure, ready to face different problems. Initiative for the Monitoring of the European Integration of Bosnia and Herzegovina will certainly advocate change, in terms of adopting new laws and policies, and the implementation thereof. We also hope that the BiH authorities and the EU institutions will support a stronger representation of civil society within the various forums within the EU integration. Civil society must become the third actor in this process along with the State and EU institutions.