After their visit to Mostar the representatives of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BiH have concluded that all should tackle more seriously the escalated violence in Mostar, in order to avoid even more dramatic situations. They believe that the international community has supported the division of Mostar over the past years. (03-JUL-06)

This article is based on the Helsinki Committee press release, which has republicated here by HRH / Mirsad Pandzic.

Srdjan SmallAccording to Srdjan Dizdarevic (right), the president of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BiH, the messages that could lately be heard demonstrate the wishes for homogenisation of peoples on national and nationalist bases in the forthcoming election campaign. He regretted the relations between the two dominant religious communities in the city, “whose rhetoric in the media resembles hate speech, which reflects the disturbed inter-ethnic relations and insufficient curative efforts”.

Representatives of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BiH had a numerous meetings with representatives of NGOs, political parties, religious communities and educational institutions in Mostar.

Mostar – a colony of the international community
The Helsinki Committee for Human Rights also believes that the international community, which has been actively engaged in the processes of unification and restructuring of Mostar, has supported over the past years the nationalistic political forces in preserving of the current situation.

“The international community thinks that this issue can be resolved by giving Republika Srpska to the Serbs, meaning that Mostar can do without them, while they believe that the relationship between Bosniaks and Croats can be preserved by feeding the parallelisms and parallel institutions in two parts of the city. Millions were spent for the wrong assessment and analysis with wrong conclusions. The international community has never correctly understood the multiethnic character of BiH, Mostar included. They have rather chosen the colonial approach and the separation approach, instead of reintegration”, Dizdarevic said.

Progress in education
Although the situation in the education sector is still difficult, and although divisions are still prevailing, significant steps forward were noted, especially in the Mostar Grammar School, which shows that shared work and progress are possible.

“By introduction of the international baccalaureate and by students coming from abroad, a message will be sent once again that there is a way forward and a way for achieving good results. I hope that such situation will lead to elimination of all forms of segregation and discrimination, and that Mostar will finally move on”, Dizdarevic stressed.

Mostar Serbs discriminated
Apart from discussions on the security situation and related issues, the return of people was discussed in Mostar over the past days, as well as the inter-ethnic relations and education in Mostar. “I have to regretfully note that there has been no significant progress when issues of return are concerned, or inclusion of the third constituent ethnic group in government bodies in the Mostar region. I think it is not necessary to stress that only two Serbs in Mostar hold managerial positions, and that only a small portion of the pre-war population of 25,000 has in fact returned”, Dizdarevic said.