People are the greatest capital of a society. Especially the highly educated who create and influence the environment in which they live and operate through the system. It is estimated that during and after the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) from 1992 to 1995, 2.2 million people were displaced. The trend of population emigration continued even after the war, due to citizens’ dissatisfaction not only with the economic standard but also with the complete socio-political system.
According to data from 2020, and proportional to the number of inhabitants, the second largest diaspora in the world is precisely from BiH. Their contribution to the GDP exceeds 14 percent and reaches the amount of about 2.5 billion euros per year. Gathered in need to help BiH, they also operate from abroad. This shows that attachment to the homeland is still present, but they leave BiH in need of safer living conditions.
Who’s leaving?
Expelled from their homes because of the war, they leave their homeland in peace because of existential problems. The Union for Sustainable Return and Integrations in BiH started the implementation of the project called “Civil Society in the Fight against Corruption”, which is financed by the Center for Civil Initiatives (CCI) within the framework of its project “Support to Citizens in the fight against corruption”.
In accordance with the numerous remarks, and proposals of returnees, displaced persons, and refugees, and through direct activities on the ground throughout BiH, the need for the adoption of a new law is obvious. Among other objections to the existing Law is that there is no single database on the total funds of all levels of government, which are set aside for local communities. Returnees often do not know who, and with how much money, financed a certain infrastructural project. The selection of the beneficiaries of the funds is usually made according to “party commitment” and for the sake of “buying votes”, said the president of the Union for Sustainable Return and Integrations in BiH, Mirhunisa Zukic.
According to her, the existential problems of returnees and displaced persons are numerous, from the right to employment, and education of returnee children in their native language to security challenges.
Moreover, according to Zukic, the reasons for the emigration of BiH citizens who go to European Union (EU) countries are as much for earnings as for the need to live with their families in a safe environment.
According to the results of research on a sample of 5 thousand people (18 to 30 years old) conducted by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), 47% of young people in BiH were thinking about leaving the country, 23% would like to leave the country temporarily, while 24% are thinking about leaving BiH permanently. Young people face an unsatisfactory standard of living and quality of life, they do not trust public institutions in BiH, nor do they believe that the authorities care about their interests.
They conclude that youth migration should be solved and treated as a complex issue because the decision to migrate is influenced by a complex set of economic, structural, psychological, and educational factors and their mutual relations with the person’s social background.
In the next ten years, if these trends continue, according to the predictions of demographic trends experts, more than eight thousand teaching staff will become redundant, because there will be no one to teach, with a negative natural increase. This trend creates numerous other social problems, because costs will rise, and we will need more money for development. The only question is, who will earn it?, Forbes reports.
E.Dz.
