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Coalition for Equality (Koalicija Jednakost) met with minister Hadžić

Koalicija Jednakost i ministar Hadžić
Coalition Jednakost and minister Hadžić

Representatives of Coalition for Equality (Koalicija Jednakost), including C.A. Why not (UG Zašto ne), met today with BiH Minister of Civil Affairs Damir Hadžić, who’s ministry is responsible for coordinating activities for conducting the upcoming population census. Representatives of the Coalition talked with minister Hadžić about concerns and issues regarding the census. The meeting was also attended by director of BiH Agency for Statistics, mr. Zvonko Milinović.

Minister Hadžić and representatives of the Coalition for Equality agreed that everything necessary must be done to conduct the census in October 2013, and that further delays of the census is not a option, and also spoke about implementing the action plan and other activities in order to ensure that the census takes place as scheduled.

The main topic included issues regarding formulation of questions on the census list regarding ethnic/national, language and religious identification. Representative of the Coalition for Equality (Koalicija Jednakost) emphasized that it is in the interest of all citizens that the form questions  remain open.

Minister Hadzic introduced the representatives of the Coalition with dilemmas regarding census forms and options that are currently being considered. Representatives of the coalition emphasized that only the open form for census lists satisfies democratic standards and international recommendations and practices.

Minister Hadžić and representatives of the Coalition stated a common intrest in securing free identification during the census for all citizens in BiH, and also stated concerns regarding politization of the census and options that would take away freedom of identification. Special attention was given to the statement made by  mr.Tokić from the campaign Important to be Bosniak (Bitno je biti Bošnjak) who stated that identifying as a Bosnian and Herzegovinian during the census would be accomplishing war aims of Milošević and Tuđman. The meeting talks emphasized that no direct influence on citizens will be allowed during the census process which mr.Tokić announced would be the aim of his campaign.

The meeting concluded with all agreeing that the census should take place as scheduled in a professional and democratic way without politicizing the process.