Ukrainians in Austro-Hungarian Monarchy 1890 Prnjavor Bosnia

The legislation of

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

recognises three constituent peoples and 17 national minorities (''nacionalne manjine''). These latter include 2.73% of the total population of the country, i.e. 96,539 persons. The biggest community is the

Romani people in Bosnia and Herzegovina The Xoraxane in Bosnia and Herzegovina are the largest of the 17 national minorities in the country, although—due to the stigma attached to the label—this is often not reflected in statistics and censuses. Demographics The exact number ...

, which are estimated at around 58,000 persons.

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. In June 2020 the Brcko District adopted a new Law on the rights of National Minorities. Bosnia and Herzegovina ratified the

European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ECRML) is a European treaty (CETS 148) adopted in 1992 under the auspices of the Council of Europe to protect and promote historical regional and minority languages in Europe. However, th ...

in 2010.

National Minority Councils

Since 2006, the

Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina The Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Parlamentarna skupština Bosne i Hercegovine, Парламентарна скупштина Босне и Херцеговине, separator=" / ") is the bicameral legislative ...

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.ACFC/SR/IV(2016)007
/ref> 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 Republika Srpska ( sr-Cyrl, Република Српска, lit=Serb Republic, also known as Republic of Srpska, ) is one of the two entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is locat ...

entity was established in 2005. The National Minority Council of Sarajevo Canton was established in 2012, with extended powers of legislative initiative. The National Minority Council of the Brcko District was established in May 2022, on the basis of the new district law on national minorities adopted in October 2020

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.

Education in minority languages

Italian and Ukrainian are taught in one and four schools respectively in the town of Prnjavor (15 and 24 pupils in total in 2015). German, Russian, and Italian are taught as foreign languages in several high schools throughout the country. Associations and embassies also organise several elective courses of minority languages as foreign languages. Several newsletters and bulletins are published periodically in minority languages, including four in Slovene, and one each in Hungarian (''Új dobos''), Macedonian (''Vinozito''), Italian (''Stella d'Italia'') and Czech (''Banjalucki Krajani'')

Demographics

Notes