Movimiento por la Paz

The UN representative visited Bosnia i Herzegovina to learn firsthand the situation of refugees, displaced persons and returnees.

The Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons, Walter Kälin, visited Bosnia and Herzegovina from 9 to June 13 in order to learn first-hand the situation of refugees, returnees and internally displaced persons in this Balkan country. During the visit, Kälin met, among others, members of the government and other entities that make up the country, such as international organizations and NGOs who work in the framework of legal assistance to refugees, IDPs and returnees .

Among those organizations was the Movement for Peace -MPDL- whose representatives in the area met Kälin, who was givern a document in which the Spanish organization reviews progress and future challenges in the area of the refugee situation and displaced persons in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Members of the Movement for Peace -MPDL- transferred to the Special Representative their satisfaction at the progress achieved in issues such as freedom of movement, property restitution or the issuance of personal identity documents.

However, despite the progress mentioned, the Spanish aid workers expressed to the Special Representative their concern about the need to establish and consolidate a sustainable system that ensures access and protection of economic and social rights of refugees and returnees, just as stated in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of 1966, ratified by Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In this sense, as pointed out the members of the Movement for Peace -MPDL-, IDPs and returnees still face considerable problems of discrimination that hinder their access to the labour market, health care or education, among others. A circumstance that causes the return of these people may not be sustainable nor has the basic guarantees in terms of respect for their fundamental rights, which prevents, ultimately, the construction of a solid peace and interethnic coexistence in a country socially broken after the war of 1.992-1.995.

After his visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Special Representative, Walter Kälin, will issue an official statement on the situation of refugees, internally displaced persons and returnees in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Movement for Peace-MPDL, through its network of 10 legal aid offices in the region, has offered for more than seven years free legal advice to refugees, IDPs and returnees in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo and Montenegro.