As part of the Citizens for Europe initiative, a public discussion on labour and employment in the European integration process was held on Thursday, 3 October 2013 at the EU House in Sarajevo. About 50 representatives of relevant government institutions, agencies and civil society organisations from across Bosnia and Herzegovina attended the discussion.
The discussion was focused on assessing progress in the field of labour and employment in BiH, as well as on the key issues to be addressed to ensure respect of the right to work. Participants also discussed how to significantly increase the number of employees in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“In June 2013 the number of registered unemployed in BiH amounted to 548.300. The unemployment rate in Bosnia and Herzegovina is rising. The labour market situation did not improve. One of key priorities for the EU is employment policy, and it will remain so in the future, as indicated in the EU 2020 Strategy. In order to make the labour market work more effectively, the institutional capacities of labour market management needs to be improved”, said Dr. Renzo Daviddi, Deputy Head of the EU delegation to BiH.
“We believe it is extremely important that as many citizens as possible participate in decision-making. Labour and employment are the backbone of the Citizens for Europe initiative, and it is certainly one of the problems which the citizens of BiH face in the hardest possible way. Our goal is to talk about employment, improvement of employment services in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as the modalities for increasing of employment. Also, our goal is to initiate and promote the recent changes in the law-making to the Adult Education in the FBiH, the promotion of self-employment, local economic development, and so on”, said Amra Selesković, coordinator of Citizens for Europe initiative.
The Citizens for Europe initiative is being implemented under the auspices of the EU Special Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ambassador Peter Sorensen and with the financial support of the Embassy of the Kingdom of Sweden and SIDA. The initiative is led by an expert team from Tuzla based NGO Vesta.
This year, in the sector of labour and employment, Citizens for Europe are aiming their activities at achieving the three priority goals, by the end of 2013, asking the relevant institutions to:
• Adopt new employment policies, which would ensure more efficient mediation and advisory work of the employment services,
• Adoption of the Law on adult education in FBiH, aimed at the opening of new employment opportunities, and
• Adoption of more efficient measures for protection and security at work.
The Citizens for Europe initiative is a unique network of the CSOs in BiH, aimed at improvement of the process of European integration and intensifying activities of the government officials in implementation of required reforms. After three years of action, the initiative has grown into a network of 67 members, civil society organisations from the whole of BiH which, through their work, contribute to the BiH’s path to the European Union.
To learn more about the Citizens for Europe initiative click here (only BHS)
