FBiH veterans threaten with blockades of entity

N1

Several war veterans gathered in front of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) to see whether the Draft Law on War Veterans and their Family Members arrived at the FBiH House of Representatives.

The FBiH Government adopted, on Thursday, the Draft Law on War Veterans and their Family Members and submitted it to the urgent parliamentary procedure. The FBIH House of Representatives’ session at which the Draft should be discusses was scheduled for July 10.

“We came to see what the submitted Draft Law looks like. That Law does not suit us,” one of the veterans told N1.

They said they wish to submit amendments to the Draft Law but add they will probably not be allowed to do so.

“If they don’t allow us to submit our amendments during the session, we can openly say we will block the FBiH entity. This Law is invalid for us. None of our demands was included,” said one of the veterans. “The FBiH Veterans’ Affairs Minister dismissed us and the Government isn’t even willing to hear us out. We want to include our three demands in the Draft.”

Veterans demand the publication of a single war veterans’ registry, the abolition of the financing of veterans’ associations, and veterans’ allowance.

The gathered group once again expressed their criticism with cantonal veterans’ associations saying they are to blame for the difficult position the veterans population is in.

This law regulates the rights, conditions and procedures for exercising the rights of war veterans and members of their families.  

The implementation of this Law would require BAM 14,000,000 annually, provided in accordance with the Agreement on the level of funds from the FBiH Budget for every consecutive year, signed between the FBiH Government and representatives of veterans’ federations, organizations and associations.  

In April this year, veterans of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Croat Defence Council protested in Sarajevo, demanding that their demands be fulfilled.