INTERNATIONAL DAY OF YOUTH– A MESSAGE TO AUTHORITIES (12.08.2007.)

On International Youth Day, Youth information agency in BIH congratulated the youth of BiH, and it was decided by General Assembly of UN on 17th December 1999 to, in its resolution 54/120, support the proposal of the World conference of Ministers for youth (8.-12.08.1998, Lisbon) that this day should be celebrated on 12th August.

Also, this was an opportunity to remind the public on poor status of youth in BiH, and introduction speech of our Prime minister, Mr. Terzić, before the state parliament in January 2003, stating on the second page that youth in BiH are endangered, while his successor Mr. Špirić, in his expose at the beginning of 2007 clearly stated that “neglecting youth would be fatal for Bosnia and Herzegovina“.

YIA points out that nothing has changed since then. Lines of young people in front of embassies are not getting shorter, one third of unemployed people are still persons under 30, and in May 2007, BiH was put on 38th out of 40 European countries in reform of higher education (two years ago we were 39th, but Montenegro was not independent).

In May 2007, on Regional conference of the World Bank, the largest number of awards – with 4 out of 20 projects, went to delegation from Bosnia and Herzegovina ( there were 30 IE and Central Asia countries) – of course, state did not invest a penny in those projects. On the same conference YIA BiH was mentioned in World Bank report as one of top three organisations of 30 countries which offers good practice example in area of youth informing – it is recognised internationally, but not nationally.

However, over 300 youth organisations in BiH work on additional education of youth, try to involve them in different activities that would serve as an alternative to streets, bars, betting offices, they send them abroad to discover the world and help them to find jobs and be competitive on the market. Media statement says that this is their day – and congratulates youth workers, leaders, volunteers, activists who still have the energy and vision for better future of Bosnia and Herzegovina, wishing them even more motivation, determination and energy to work, make effort and create better, more developed and more modern society youth of this country deserves!

Finally, for the authorities, we added some statistics that appear as something they did not manage to process, understand, or even show interest in...

Who are young people in BiH?

• According to definition of Bosnia and Herzegovina, young people are aged between 15 and 29
• It is estimated that in 2000, there were around 850.000 young people in BiH, or 23 % of the total number of citizens
• As a result of war and post-war transition, thousands of young people have left the country. According to one source, in the period 1996 – 2001, 92.000 young people left Bosnia, and in 2004, that number reached 120.000 +
• In BiH young people form 22.5% of total number of people with the right to vote (616.883 persons).

Position and assessment of needs of youth in BiH

• 77% of young people want to leave BiH, where 24% wants to leave for good while 18% already made some steps to make it happen
  
• 45% of young people is unemployed, and young people make one third of all unemployed people in the state
  
• Unemployment rate for population aged 15 - 25 is 2.5 times higher than for population aged 25 - 50.
  
• The most common reasons for young people to leave: 1. poor education system, 2. unemployment, 3. poor chances in the future and 4. unstable political situation
  
• Only 1% of young people think they can influence political events
  
• 6% are members of political parties
  
• 47% of young people voted on general elections in 2006, i.e. 19% of total number of voting population.
  
• Over 400 municipal representatives in municipal boards are people under 30 (BiH has 142 municipalities)
  
• BiH has over 300 active youth organisations, and some data suggest that 9% of youth has membership and 8% volunteers in different organisations.
  
• 48% of young people in BiH regularly use contraception
  
• Their free time, young people spend:
  -> In bars - 78%,
  -> 29% does sport actively,
  -> 15% regularly uses internet ,
  -> 3% goes to movies,
  -> 50% reads books on regular basis
  
• More than half of young people in BiH (55%) declare as smokers, while 60% often consumes alcohol

Note: this data are presented on the basis of different researches by World Bank, UNDP, OIA, IBHI in the period between 2001 and 2007.

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