OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina supports first mobile ‘Youth and Security’ Summer School

SARAJEVO, 26 June 2015 – The first mobile “Youth and Security” Summer School, held in Banja Luka, Sarajevo and Konjic from 22 to 26 June, concluded today.

More than 30 students including, young security experts from the universities of Sarajevo, Mostar and Banja Luka, had an insight into how the security policies are making an impact. The school was organized by the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) in partnership with Council of Minister’s Inter-ministerial Working Group for Monitoring Security Policy Implementation and Training (IMWG) and the Hungarian Embassy in BiH.

The school enabled emerging security experts to meaningfully contribute to dialogue on security policy issues. During the intense programme, the students visited a number of state agencies including entity-level security and law enforcement bodies to learn more about their work, and were provided with an opportunity to ask detailed questions about security challenges and policy issues in BiH.

“The aim of the school was to introduce the Security Policy document to youth and to provide them with an opportunity to see its implementation works and who are the relevant persons and institutions on the ground in charge of it,” said Deputy BiH Minister of Security and Chair of the IMWG Mijo Krešić. “This was a chance for students to learn about structure and functioning of the number of security agencies in BiH.”

The Head of the OSCE Mission to BiH Politico-Military Unit, John Martin, said: “The school underlines our organization’s priority for engaging youth in the security sector governance in BiH.”

At the completion of the school, the students agreed on a set of conclusions on the security policy from the youth perspective, which will be presented to the BiH security policy decision-makers.