Introduction

Introduction

Issues

Issues

Action

Action

Impact

Impact

 

Introduction

© UNICEF/Bosnia and Herzegovina/2005

Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH) ratified the Convention on the Right of the Child in 1993 and submitted its initial report to the Committee on Child Rights in Geneva in 2005. BIH reconfirmed its commitment to the obligations as embodied in the CRC by developing and endorsing a State Plan of Action for Children in July 2002, and appointing a Council for Children as a body to monitor the status of children’s rights and to advise the State through the Council of Ministers.

Despite early ratification of the CRC and expressions of political will to implement the rights stipulated in the Convention, BIH is facing the increasing violations of the rights of children emerging from political and ethnic biases, from the socio-economic transition and inadequacies in the social services system. BIH has not as of yet harmonized its laws with the CRC and is currently struggling to develop policies and standards that will ensure better protection of the rights of children.