The Head of the OSCE Mission to BiH Jonathan Moore said yesterday in Banja Luka that there must be no discrimination against Bosniak children in Republika Srpska (RS) regarding the use of Bosnian language.
It is the practice of calling the language of Bosniaks as the Bosnian language. The Franciscan monastery in Fojnica has a Bosnian dictionary that is dating from the 18th century. The Bosnian language is not some kind of “invention’ after the war, it is something that has existed for centuries,” stated Moore.
“The international principle is that the people have the right to call their language as they want,” emphasized Moore.
“The Bosniaks say that their language is the Bosnian language. This is an international principle and we are defending it as such” said Moore, and noted that the OSCE Mission wants to see quality education in BiH.
In the former Government of the RS was a practice to write the Bosnian language in the school booklet.
“For some unclear reasons, this ruling coalition in the RS and the Pedagogical Institute of the RS decided to introduce a new policy and rename it into the language of the Bosniak people two years ago. It is a form in the Constitution of the RS, but it represents the problem of discrimination because in the booklets is not written the language of the Serbian people and the language of the Croatian people, but only Serbian language or only Croatian language, while for the Bosniaks they wrote the language of the Bosniak people. This is a pure discrimination,” said the Head of OSCE Mission in a statement to reporters after a conversation with Branislav Borenovic, the President of the Party of Democratic Progress (PDP).
The Head of the OSCE Mission to BiH also added that the parliamentary elections in BiH will be held next year and that the amendments to the Election Law can only take place on the basis of compromise and consensus, and that, according to him, that should be done as soon as possible.
(Source: fokus.ba)
