More Than Half of the Population in B&H Excluded from the Social Mainstream

05 April 2007

UNDP B&H presented the NHDR2007 report on social inclusion

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in BiH has presented today the National Human Development Report on Social Inclusion. According to this report, and the Index of Social Inclusion in BiH presented within, more than 50% of the population of BiH is, on one ore more bases, excluded from mainstream social processes.

More than 20% of the population faces extreme exclusion, while 47% of it has limited choices for improvement of the position, meaning they are being at risk of the long-term social exclusion. Among the most excluded groups the national minorities, women, people with disabilities, retired, homosexuals and youth stand as the most visible.

�Social exclusion is not related only to economic and social rights, but to all the rights relevant for expanding the social choice of individuals, in order to enable them for a life with dignity and purpose. The Social Inclusion concept, with the approach based on human rights shares an interest for equality, non-discrimination and importance of all groups� participation in relevant social processes�, said Mr. �arko Papić, the leader of the team of authors, on behalf of the International Bureau for Humanitarian Affairs that was responsible for writing the report. In this regard, the social inclusion is also related to the issues of the governance and citizens� rights, institutional dimension of the exclusion and the organizations, institutions and processes that exclude certain groups.

Except the Government, represented by the Minister of Civil Affairs of, Mr. Sredoje Nović, a number of representatives of the groups facing daily exclusion has participated today�s presentation. Among those, Mr. Fikret Zuko from the Canton Association of the Blind Citizens, and Ms. Svjetlana Đurković from the Q Association have shared their experiences.

The UNDP Resident Representative of UNDP in BiH, Ms. Christine McNab has emphasized the fact that the entire society, not only the NGO but the Government Sector and the international organizations, have the duty to tackle the issue of social exclusion and its effect on marginalized groups, but in the end it is up to the local government institutions to initiate follow up activities and use the Report for further development of initiatives and strategies of social inclusion.

The United Nations Development Programme does a regular Human Development Reporting in 177 countries around the world, among which in Bosnia and Herzegovina as well. The National Human Development Report for 2007 on Social Inclusion was made in partnership with the Independent Bureau for Humanitarian Affairs (IBHI).