Thursday, April 5, 2012

HRW Group Slams Bosnian Ethnic Discrimination; Roma, Jews, Other Minorities Banned from Politics

The Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFERL) website reports today (April 5, 2012) that Human Rights Watch (HRW) says Roma, Jews and other minorities in Bosnia-Herzegovina remain excluded from participation in national politics.

In a report -- released on April 4 -- the New York-based HRW calls on Bosnian leaders to remove ethnic and religious discrimination against minorities from the country's constitution, laws, and public institutions.

HRW says much discrimination stems from Bosnia's postwar 1995 constitution, which "mandates a system of government based on ethnicity, and excludes these groups from high political office."

The constitution bars anyone who is not one of the country's three main ethnic groups -- Bosniaks, Croats, and Serbs -- from running for the tripartite national presidency or the House of Peoples, a parliamentary chamber.

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