Analysis:Volunteers in Bosnia and Herzegovina

In the Republic of Srpska, a volunteer is a person that works with an employer in order to complete the training period, without the necessary Employment Contract, to be able to later pass the professional exams. After the completion of the �volunteering period�, the �volunteer� gets a certificate which can be used as proof that should help with the application for the professional exam.

Volunteering opportunities have improved

It is obvious, then, that we deal here with an institute from the field of Labour Law, which has little in common with the term �volunteer� as understood by this survey.

The fact is that the volunteers, in the sense of the previous paragraphs, although without a valid Employment Contract, do enjoy some rights pertaining to the employed persons. Namely, they have the rights:

to protection at the working place;
to daily break (recess) during the work and to a time of rest between two consecutive work days; and
the right to health, pension and disability insurance in cases of accidents in the workplace and professional illnesses and conditions.

The definition of �volunteers� in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is identical, as well as the rights that a person has on the basis of �volunteering�, with the exception that it prohibits the possibility of �volunteering� without a Contract on Volunteering.

Accordingly, volunteering as an activity of the youth based, above all, on the good will and personal choice, is not directly regulated by the legislation.

Indirectly, this legislative could apply to the volunteers, having in mind that it is rather competent in providing for the right of the persons that decided to get involved in voluntary work and activities. In fact, the volunteers have both health and social insurance and allowances during the volunteering period.

We believe that all other issues arising from volunteering, in the sense of this paper, could be easily regulated by contractual provisions, and the contract itself could be produced as a template form. Such a Contract would list as the parties of the Contract the legal entity (organization) which engages the work of a volunteer for a set period of time and, on the other hand, the volunteer who accepts the obligation to fulfill certain activities and tasks. The contract should regulate all issues of importance to the volunteers and the organizations that engage them that are ommitted from the existing legislation.

The very form of template contract would imply that, during the process of negotiating the contract, only the personal data of the contractual parties should change. Bosnian legal system knows of many instances of similar template contracts, which makes that solution simple and acceptable.

Naturally, it is always the best to regulate a situation that will not change a lot through time, to have a specific legislation to regulate it. However, such a law on volunteering is still missing from our legislation. The procedure to adopt a law is long and complex, and is very difficult to estimate the time that might be necessary to complete it. First of all, we should determine whether there is a real interest on the behalf of the community and the bodies of the state to adopt such a law. In that regard, tests should be conducted at the appropriate levels of government, as well as among the organizations that might be interested in the adoption of such legislation.

Nothing of that kind can be directly incorporated in the current Labour Law.

We also should mention here that the local self-government didn't demonstrate any real interest to regulate this field with by-laws and local acts. Locally, the situation is similar to the national level.

Therefore, we need to conduct a survey among the similar organizations. Then, if there is some common interest, we should test the local authorities and their positions, and finally, move to the legislative level. We should remind you that 3,000 signatures are necessary to start an initiative for adoption of new legislation.

Residency of Foreign Volunteers in B&H

The sojourn and residence of foreigners in Bosnia and Herzegovina is regulated by the Rules on the Conditions and Manner of Entry of Foreigners in B&H (Official Journal of B&H, 29/01).

First of all, we should be aware of the obligation to acquire a visa for the citizens of the states that have established visa regime with B&H. The visa is the basic requirement for such a person to enter Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In order to get a visa, a foreigner should supply, together with the application form, all the papers and documents related to the purpose of his/her entry and sojourn, as well as proof of means of sustenance and guarantee of repatriation, i.e. he/she should prove that he/she plans to return home after the end of the volunteering period (for instance, a return travel ticket). Furthermore, once the visa is issued, the Rules provide that volunteering should be considered as basis for granting residence permit.

�Temporary residence may be approved to a foreign citizen who wants to stay in Bosnia and Herzegovina for reasons of education, medical treatment, employment, to conduct business on the basis of a valid working permit, on the basis of marriage to a Bosnian citizen or other justified reason, for a period of up to one year.� (Article 50 of the Rules).

�Justified reasons. Voluntary work with humanitarian, religious and other organizations (Article 58). Temporary residence may be approved for foreigners visiting Bosnia and Herzegovina for reasons of voluntary work in humanitarian or religious organizations.�

Together with the request for temporary residence on the basis of voluntary work at humanitarian or religious organizations, a foreigner is obligated to submit:

Certificate for the registration of humanitarian or religious organization issued by the competent authorities;
A permit to implement a project issued by a competent B&H authority and certified copy of the project of humanitarian or religious organization, approved by a competent authority, on which implementation the foreigner will be engaged;
Certificate of the carrier of the project about the need to engage the foreign citizen in the implementation of the project, together with the period of time his/her engagement will be required; and
Letter of Waranty by the humanitarian/religious organization which will cover any unforseen expences during a foreigner's stay in B&H, including the costs of medical treatment and transportation to a third country.�

Finally, the maximum period of time for this a permanent resident permit may be issued is one year.

Recommendations for Bosnia and Herzegovina:

Initiate a systematic education on voluntarism, the use and need for voluntary work in B&H, for representatives of all levels of government;

Define the term voluntary work and separate it with a clear distinction from the current meaning of volunteering in the sense of �training period� or �internship.�

Define the term �volunteer� in a way to make a distinction from the current meaning of the term as �trainee� or �intern�.

Although the procedures for adoption of new legislation are rather complex and long, start an initiative for adoption of a Law on Volunteering. Also, prepare recommendations for regulation of the issues of volunteering and volunteer activities by the local self-government, through adoption of statutes and by-laws.

Regulate the relationship of the volunteer and the organization that engaged his/her services through a Volunteering Contract, which would list the rights and responsibilities of both the volunteer and the legal entity (organization).

Regulate the responsibilities regarding the health and social insurance, and provide protection for the volunteers during the pursuit of volunteer activities, in cooperation with government representatives at all levels.

Issue recommendations to all levels of government to establish dedicated funds for financing of volunteer activities; emphasize the positive values of volunteer work and volunteers as useful and active members of a community; and promote and stimulate volunteer activities at the earliest age.

This text is was originally published at the web site of the NVO Foundation (In Bosnian).