Bosnia and Herzegovina must now more than ever ensure the implementation of Resolution 2533 of the Council of Europe, which calls on member states to establish responsibility for child abuse and provide adequate legal and emotional support to victims.
The latest case of pimping minor girls from Tuzla shows the urgent need to adopt a program of prevention, supervision and quick response in cases of child abuse.
Decline of security and moral order
After learning that two girls from Tuzla, wards of the Home for Children Without Parental Care, were victims of human trafficking, and the suspects were persons who should protect citizens, the security and moral order of society collapsed.
Malik Garibija, director of SOS Children’s Villages in Bosnia and Herzegovina, says that the state did not invest enough in the care of the children entrusted to its protection: “If we are surprised, it means that we thought it could not happen. And if we thought it was impossible, then we did not do enough to take care of those we had to take care of, which are the children entrusted to the state. Such care is impossible without adequate mechanisms that face every, even the slightest doubt.”
The law on social services is awaiting an immediate response
The Law on Social Services in the Federation of BiH is still awaiting the opinion of the Ministry of Justice. Federal Minister of Labor and Social Policy Adnan Delić points out:
“It is high time that we be honest with ourselves and start a path where we are not only looking for the guilty, but also for solutions. I hope that the Ministry of Justice, especially after these events, will submit an opinion because it is a condition for us to submit the Law to the Government, and then to the parliamentary procedure.”
A call to social and moral responsibility
Resolution 2533 of the Council of Europe is not only a document, it is also an appeal for moral and social responsibility. Gabriël Derigeti, Ambassador of Switzerland to Bosnia and Herzegovina, says that Bosnia and Herzegovina should, following the example of Switzerland, create a modern, humane and sustainable system of social protection:
“We must look, speak and break the wall of silence about such cases in order to prevent violence in the future. It is the responsibility of all of us – not only politicians, but also civil society organizations and citizens not to turn our heads when it comes to cases of violence.”
Resolution 2533, adopted in 2024, calls on member states, including BiH, to analyze cases of violence against children in public care. All our interlocutors point out that it is high time for society to stop being passive and become a society of action, he writes BHRT.
