The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in BiH assists authority in fulfilling commitments BiH has as OSCE member. Those commitments, among other things, are present in different areas, from human rights, gender equality and weapon control. In that sense, we continue to play an important role in promoting stability and reconciliation, said Deputy Head of OSCE Mission to BiH Nina Suomalainen in an interview with FENA.
She explained that the OSCE Mission to BiH works with its partners in BiH, which includes state institutions, civil society and sector of non-governmental organizations (NGO), in order to develop systems of administrative bodies, judiciary and education which resist pressures and protect human rights and rule of law.
Suomalainen said there are many social problems in BiH and that it is the matter of structure, laws and their enforcement, but also the available public funds.
‘’When it comes to social benefits, OSCE Mission to BiH finds that assistance should be based on needs of the beneficiaries instead of their status. We work with social work centers and many municipalities on strengthening their capacity and on helping them react better to needs of the citizens’’, explained Suomalainen.
Suomalainen said there are many organizations that can give advice to BiH on different social issues, and ‘’OSCE is one of them, in those areas it has expertise in’’, but she emphasized that the ultimate responsibility for laws and policies lies in hands of elected and appointed authorities.
Asked to comment on the problem of ‘’two schools under one roof’’, which refers to certain schools in BiH and if OSCE is able to help solve that problem, she said that this problem is an example of a temporary measure that was originally designed to encourage return and enable access to school to all students when they return to their prewar communities.
‘’However, more than a decade later, unfortunately there has not been great progress in terms of replacing those temporary measures with a long-term permanent solutions which would create assumptions for equal education for all children, without discrimination’’, said Suomalainen and emphasized that stronger advocacy of all education ministries and political parties is pre-condition to find such long-term solutions.
‘’We believe that conference of education ministers is an appropriate forum for the overall engagement in solving this issue. OSCE has been advocating such solutions for some time now, and we hope we will be able to successfully engage political actors in this issue in the next few months, and encourage further progress right after government is formed after the elections’’, Deputy Head of OSCE Mission to BiH Nina Suomalainen told FENA.
Asked if OSCE Mission to BiH can do anything to help solve problems of false university and secondary diplomas in BiH and if they have any powers in this area, Suomalainen answered that center of interest of the OSCE Mission is elementary and secondary education, whereas the European Union (EU) and Council of Europe deal with higher education.
‘’As far as the problem of false degrees on completed secondary school is concerned, the OSCE Mission to BiH, thanks to its regular contacts with education inspectors from the entire BiH, is aware of that problem. Education inspectors are a control mechanism in first instance in this area’’, explained Suomalainen.
She emphasized that the OSCE Mission to BiH ‘’supports work of education inspectors, and advocates improving their efficiency, mutual cooperation and networking in BiH and the region’’ and she hopes that such engagement of OSCE in BiH will help the education inspectors to play more effective role in solving the problem of false diplomas.
‘’Thanks to our 12 offices across BiH, we work closely with citizens and officials in municipalities, cantons, entities in the capital city of BiH, in state institutions and we work together on solving series of different issues. That approach has been additionally enhanced by opening temporary offices in Maglaj, Prijedor, Bijeljina, Orašje and Šamac in July this year, when we decided to be present in flooded areas’’, said Suomalainen.
(Source: Fena/photo OSCEbih)
