The Ombudsperson for Children of Republic of Srpska acted in accordance with the report/appellation of the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Banja Luka regarding the closure of the list of protected characteristics in the anti-discrimination clause of the Protocol for the Protection of Children from Violence, Neglect and Abuse (“Official Gazette of the Republic of Srpska”, No. 38/ 24 and 47/24 – correction), which is contrary to Article 2, Paragraph 1 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Article 1 of Protocol No. 12 with the European Convention.
The Ombudsman for Children of Republic of Srpska acted in accordance with its powers from Article 7 of the Law on the Ombudsman for Children of Republic of Srpska (“Official Gazette of the Republic of Srpska”, no. 103/08 and 70/12), and referred the Initiative to the Ministry of Education and Culture of the Republic of Srpska for the purpose of harmonizing the Protocol for the Protection of Children from Violence, Neglect and Abuse with current legal regulations and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
We remind you that on June 12, 2024, the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Banja Luka submitted an appellation to the Ombudsman for Children of Republic of Srpska and the Institution of Ombudsman/ Human Rights Ombudsman of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which were requested to intervene because we believe that there has been a gross violation of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the European Convention on Human Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination, by limiting the list of protected characteristics from point 2.3. of the Protocol for the Protection of Children from Violence, Neglect and Abuse and by eliminating the so-called general clause “and other status”.
In this way, as stated in the appellation, the constant narrowing of human rights and fundamental freedoms was continued, and this time children in Republic of Srpska were not spared either.
Read the complete notice from the Ombudsman for Children of Republic of Srpska in the attached document:
