National minorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina

The legislation of Bosnia and Herzegovina recognises three constituent peoples and 17 national minorities (nacionalne manjine). These latter include 2.73% of the total population of the country,[1] i.e. 96,539 persons. The biggest community is the Romani people in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which are estimated at around 58,000 persons.

The first Italian immigrants to Štivor, 1883.
Ukrainians in Austro-Hungarian Monarchy 1890, modern Prnjavor.
Czech wedding guests in Nova Vesi, near Srbac, 1934.
Polish farmers in Bosnia at a procession
The Slovene Society Triglav, founded in Banja Luka in 1934.

Legislative framework

The state-level Law on the Protection of National Minorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina was adopted in 2003, followed by the Law on the Protection of National Minorities of the Republika Srpska in 2005, and the Law on the Protection of National Minorities in Federation of BiH in 2008. Similar laws were passed also by the Government of the Brcko District of BiH and three cantons of the Federation of BiH.[2] In June 2020 the Brcko District adopted a new Law on the rights of National Minorities.[3]

Bosnia and Herzegovina ratified the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in 2010.[2]

National Minority Councils

Since 2006, the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina established the Council of National Minorities, as a special advisory body to give opinions, advice and proposals to the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH on all matters concerning the law, position and interests of national minorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The BiH National Minority Council is composed of 17 representatives of national minorities, one representative on behalf of each ethnic minority.[2]

The National Minority Council of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina entity was established in March 2016.

The National Minority Council of the Republika Srpska entity was established in 2005.

The National Minority Council of Sarajevo Canton was established in 2012, with extended powers of legislative initiative.

Associations

In Bosnia and Herzegovina exists more than 100 national minority CSOs. Generally, associations operate individually or within the alliances. The Association of National Minorities of Republika Srpska (ANMRS) was established in 2003 as a voluntary and open non-partisan association of citizens. It gathers, as an umbrella organisations, 40 member associations of national minorities in Republika Srpska.[2]

Education in minority languages

The Italian and Ukrainian languages are taught in one and four schools respectively in the town of Prnjavor (15 and 24 pupils in total in 2015).[2]

German, Russian and Italian languages are taught as foreign languages in several high schools throughout the country.[2]

Associations and embassies also organise several elective courses of minority languages as foreign languages.[2]

Several newsletters and bulletins are published periodically in minority languages, including four in Slovenian language, and one each in Hungarian (Új dobos),[4] Macedonian (Vinozito), Italian (Stella d'Italia) and Czech language (Banjalucki Krajani)[2]

Demographics
Minority1991 census2013 censusAssociations
Albanians in Bosnia and Herzegovina4,9252,659 +150 self declared kosovars, siptari, bosnian-albanian etc.
Czechs in Bosnia and HerzegovinaČeská beseda
Germans in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Hungarians in Bosnia and HerzegovinaAssociation of Hungarians Sarajevo HUM
Italians in Bosnia and HerzegovinaAssociation of Italians of the City of Banja Luka; Association of Citizens of Italian Origin (Sarajevo); UGIP "Rino Zandonai" Tuzla
Jews in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Macedonians in Bosnia and Herzegovina1,596738Association of Macedonians of RS
Montenegrins of Bosnia and Herzegovina10,0711,883
Poles in Bosnia and Herzegovina526258Association of Poles "POLSA"
Romani people in Bosnia and Herzegovina8,86412,583 (est. 58,000)84 associations; BiH Roma Committee
Romanians in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Russians in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Ruthenians in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Slovaks in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Slovenians in Bosnia and Herzegovina937Slovenian Cultural Association "Cankar" Sarajevo
Turks in Bosnia and Herzegovina2671,108
Ukrainians in Bosnia and Herzegovina2,331
Population of Bosnia and Herzegovina according to ethnic group 1948–1996
Ethnic
group		 census 1948 census 1953 census 1961 census 1971 census 1981 census 1991 census UNHCR 1996 census 2013[5] popul.change 1991-2013
Number % Number % Number % Number % Number % Number % Number % Number % Number %
Bosniaks 788,403 30.7 891,800 31.3 842,248 25.7 1,482,430 39.6 1,629,924 39.5 1,902,956 43.5 1,805,910 46.1 1,769,592 50.11 -133,364 +6.64%
Serbs 1,136,116 44.3 1,264,372 44.4 1,406,057 42.9 1,393,148 37.2 1,320,644 32.0 1,366,104 31.2 1,484,530 37.9 1,086,733 30.78 -279,371 -0.43%
Croats 614,123 23.9 654,229 23.0 711,665 21.7 772,491 20.6 758,136 18.4 760,852 17.4 571,317 14.6 544,780 15.43 -216,072 -1.95%
Yugoslavs 275,883 8.4 43,796 1.2 326,280 7.9 242,682 5.5 2,570 0
Montenegrins 3,094 0.1 7,336 0.3 12,828 0.4 13,021 0.3 14,114 0.3 10,071 0.2 1,883 0
Roma 442 0.0 2,297 0.1 588 0.0 1,456 0.0 7,251 0.2 8,864 0.2 12,583 0,4
Albanians 3,642 0.1 3,764 0.1 4,396 0.1 4,925 0.1 2,569 0
Others/undeclared 23,099 0.9 27,756 1.0 28,679 0.8 36,005 1 63,263 1.5 80,579 1.9 58,196 1.5 110,449 3
Total 2,565,277 2,847,790 3,277,948 3,746,111 4,124,008 4,376,403 3,919,953 3,531,159

See also

Notes
  1. "Census of population, households and dwellings in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2013: Final results" (PDF). Agency for Statistics of Bosnia and Herzegovina. June 2016. Retrieved 1 July 2016.
  2. ACFC/SR/IV(2016)007
  3. Sarajevo Times
  4. https://epa.oszk.hu/html/vgi/kardexlap.phtml?id=3293
  5. "1. Stanovništvo prema etničkoj/nacionalnoj pripadnosti - detaljna klasifikacija". Popis.gov.ba. Retrieved 28 December 2017.
  • on the short-lived Polish/Ukrainian community of BIH, see Husnija Kamberovic's paper "Iseljavanje Poljaka iz Bosne i Hercegovine 1946. godine."
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