The draft law on material support to families with children in the FBiH should be considered on Monday at the session of the House of Representatives, and on Thursday at the session of the House of Peoples of the FBiH Parliament.
Federal Minister of Labor and Social Policy Vesko Drljaca told Vijesti.ba that the existing social protection system is not fair and is financially unsustainable. The new proposal increased the amount of the monthly child allowance by as much as three times from the current one. With this, more than 80,000 children will receive a monthly allowance of 103 BAm, Avaz writes.
What does this mean in practice and what is the ultimate goal?
“It should be pointed out that these are program goals that are part of the social policy I represent. This is really a great success because for the first time in post-war BiH we raised the child allowance by as much as three times more than in the previous fiscal year. That is not enough, but we are really investing maximum forces so that this amount will be significantly increased again next year” he explained.
Higher social benefits
We are aware of the fact that these funds are insufficient for some final goal, and that is that it can no longer happen in the future that for any reason this amount is not increased – says Drljaca.
He adds that this solution enables that, as the lowest salary grows, it is obligatory to adjust the amounts, ie increase social benefits.
“Although this is a significant success of this ministry, I would like to point out that regardless of this new framework, we will certainly continue activities that would enable new extraordinary increases in social benefits for our categories. With this Law, we have corrected the long-standing discrimination that existed among children, depending on the canton in which they live, and that as a result we will mitigate the consequences of poverty and reduce the socio-economic gap between rich and poor families. For these reasons, instead of the average net salary in the Federation, the lowest salary in the Federation is determined as a basis in accordance with the Labor Law, which is adjusted once a year taking into account the increase in consumer prices and gross domestic product in the Federation, says Drljaca,” adding that in the budget of the Federation of BiH, for these purposes, it is planned 50 million BAM to be allocated.
Equal rights for all mothers
The law equalizes the rights of all mothers. The law stipulates that this compensation cannot be lower than 55% of the minimum wage.
“Due to the extremely social character of the Law, it should be emphasized that the Law on Material Support to Families with Children regulates the exclusive right to financial assistance to unemployed mothers, whereby the conditions for exercising this right are standardized and simplified for the entire Federation. In this way, legal preconditions are created for the elimination of current discrimination based on place of residence, and every unemployed mother is provided with material support in the amount of 55% of the minimum wage (about 298 BAM per month) for up to 12 months from the child’s birth,” explains Drljaca.
It is estimated that there will be slightly more than 9,000 beneficiaries of this right, and the cantons may determine higher amounts of fees for financing this right, in accordance with their capabilities.
