Press statement | 28.01.2019

To take into account the Ombudsmen's opinion when passing the Criteria and the method of awarding scholarships to regular students in the first cycle of studies in the Brčko District

On 2 October 2018 the Ombudsman of Bosnia and Herzegovina received a complaint of N.N. from Brčko. The case was registered under the number Ž-BR-06-231/18.

As the responsible party, the complainant marked the Government of the Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Department of Education.

In a complaint, the complainant states that the Brčko District Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina has made a decision on the criteria and method of awarding scholarships to regular students in the first study cycle for the period from 01 January 2018 until 31 December 2018 and that she applied for the scholarship. However, on 24 September 2018, the proposal of the preliminary ranking list was published, on which she as a Croat candidate was not included, not even under Article 13 of the said Decision. The complainant states that the scholarship list includes people who declared themselves as "the Croats" but that it was abused for the purpose of exercising the right to a scholarship, while these candidates stated other languages as their mother tongue instead of Croatian language.

Furthermore, the stated allegations indicate that the possibility of giving a written statement to the Registrar in the Registry Office is abused and that everyone frequently changes the nationality/ethnicity, and abuse in the exercise of that right in the Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

On 14 December 2018, the Ombudsman of Bosnia and Herzegovina issued a recommendation number: P-8/19, by which the Ombudsmen recommended the Government of the Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina to consult the Ombudsman and take its opinion in consideration in the future in adopting a Decision on the criteria and method of awarding scholarships to regular students of the first study cycle, and, within ninety (90) days from the date of receipt of the recommendation, inform the Ombudsman for Human Rights of Bosnia and Herzegovina on the implementation of the Recommendation.

Therefore, in view of the possibility of changing nationality in accordance with the provision of Article 10 of the Law on Registers of the Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Ombudsmen of Bosnia and Herzegovina are of the opinion that when applying the provisions of Articles 10 and 13 of the Decision and in particular while presenting the evidence of the ethnicity it is necessary to require that a student for at least five (5) years prior the closing of the public invitation to apply for scholarships has not changed the ethnicity data and that the data on ethnicity in the application for scholarships should be checked at the Birth Registration Office in order to prevent the abuse.

The Ombudsman is following-up the implementation of the recommendation P-8/19.

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