OSCE hosts co-ordination meeting on implementation of Law on Youth in Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Progress on implementing the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) Law on Youth in the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton was the main topic of a co-ordination meeting organized by the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina on 29 March 2019 in Mostar.

The meeting gathered local government and youth council representatives from the municipalities of Citluk, Jablanica, Konjic and the City of Mostar as well as members of youth associations from the municipalities of Ravno, Stolac, Capljina, Neum and Prozor-Rana where youth councils have not been established yet. Representatives of the executive and legal branches of the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton government and the FBiH Youth Council were also present at the meeting.

The participants expressed their commitment to investing more efforts in applying the Law across the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton because it has been recognized as one of the mechanisms that can help address some of the negative trends related to youth such as unemployment and lack of mobility.

Since its adoption in 2010 only four of the nine units of local self-governance have established a youth council in the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton while there is no council at the cantonal level. This has made it difficult for young people living in the Canton to reap the benefits guaranteed by the Law and network with their peers within similar youth structures in other parts of the FBiH.