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BIHAĆ, May 24 (FENA) - Implementation of the existing legislation, coordination between institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina and communication and exchange of data within BiH and at the regional level among all participants in the process of resolving the issue of asylum, refugees and migrants are key messages from the Conference on the human rights situation that was concluded today in Bihać.
At the 4th conference of this kind, organized by the Joint Committee for Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH, in cooperation with the OSCE Mission to BiH, the respect of the human rights of asylum seekers, refugees and migrants was one of the main topics discussed, with a special emphasis on respecting all domestic and international standards of human rights protection.
As it was pointed out, the institutions have an obligation to protect refugees and migrants from any form of discrimination, it is their duty to ensure full access to the asylum procedure, but also to provide them with unobstructed access to justice, timely, effective and gender-sensitive asylum procedures, as well as the right to information and legal remedy.
In this regard, as it has been said, particular protection of vulnerable groups, including children, elderly people, victims of torture, sexual violence or trafficking in human beings, LGBTI persons, traumatized persons or persons with mental or physical disabilities, must be particularly protected.
Recent developments in BiH have shown that it is not possible to separate the security aspect from the humanitarian one and that we must ensure respect for human rights, regardless of all the security, economic and social challenges of migration.
Participants of the conference said that in order to address the issue of respecting the human rights of asylum seekers, refugees and migrants, it is necessary to work on strengthening and increasing all available assets and logistics.
It is also important to make changes to the Emergency Plan for the provision of additional capacities, control and management of the influx of large number of migrants and refugees in BiH, including the Operational Action Plan in case of mass influx of migrants and refugees in BiH.
The conference was also a chance to emphasize the need to work on appropriate training of journalists and their need to report objectively and carefully about the situation on the ground, to publicly and vigorously oppose hate speech and attacks on migrants and refugees.
Also, it is necessary to work on continuous training of persons who meet or work with migrants and refugees in order to provide them with minimum living conditions during their stay in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
(FENA) S. R.
