Press statement | 05.04.2017

Request of Jehovah's Witnesses for revision of textbooks accepted following the intervention of the Ombudsman

Acting on complaint of the religion group Jehovah’s Witnesses the Institution of Human Rights Ombudsman of Bosnia and Herzegovina asked the Ministry of Education and Culture of Republika Srpska to establish legality of a part of the contents of the Orthodox religious education textbook for primary school VIII grade by the author Veljko Stojanović . Namely, this religious group claimed that the contents of this textbook, in a part related to Jehovah’s Witnesses, is offensive for pupils adherent to this group and, as such, contrary to the Constitution of Republika Srpska and the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Therefore they asked the relevant Ministry to render its decision endorsing the disputed textbook no.: 6-01-1831/2001 dated 20 July 2001 null and void in part related to Jehovah’s Witnesses. In the course of the proceedings it was established that the competent Ministry informed the religious group Jehovah’s Witnesses that their request was forwarded to the Serbian Orthodox Church Catechetical Committee, which replied that they are unable to approve this request after which they advised the religious group Jehovah’s Witnesses to address the Joint Committee for religious education textbooks within the Inter-Religious Council. But, the Inter-Religious Council informed the Jehovah’s Witnesses that the Joint Committee for religious education textbooks within the Inter-Religious Council had existed in 1997/98 when the confessional religious education was to be introduced as a part of teaching process in regular schools, and after that it seized functioning. Since the Inter-Religious Council proclaimed itself as not having the authority in this issue, the Ministry of Education and Culture in its document no.: 07.010/052-831-3/12 asked the Republic Pedagogic Institute in capacity of a professional body to make an analysis of the challenged text in this textbook and suggest the appropriate measures.

In an earlier registered case, Ombudspersons identified the practice of playing “ping-pong” with the parties, that is, transfer of responsibility from one authority to another, where each of these authorities pronounces itself as not having the mandate to decide on the issue at hand. Ombudspersons have stated that this practice puts the religious group Jehovah’s Witnesses into an unpleasant situation since nobody decides on the disputed issue as it is not under anybody’s jurisdiction. Therefore, Ombudspersons issued their Recommendation dated 15 July 2014 to warn the involved authorities that an individual or a group must not suffer consequences of poor organization of the official authorities. Decisions of the authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina cannot be in collision with the rule of law thus creating the feeling of insecurity within the citizens as such actions lead to the violation of individual’s rights and freedoms. In addition to that, Ombudspersons turned the attention of the involved authorities that they are all legally bound to co-operate with the Ombudsman, but also to co-operate with each other and improve this co-operation in order to protect the rights of the citizens. According the provisions of Article 32 of the Law on Human Rights Ombudsman of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ombudspersons recommended the the Ministry of Education and Culture of Republika Srpska, the Serbian Orthodox Church Catechetical Committee and Inter-Religious Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina to jointly consider taking measures falling within their mandate to make revision of the disputed part of the mentioned textbook. The case was closed with a clear statement of the Ombudsman that the competent authorities established a successful co-operation with the Ombudsman, but the case had not been resolved. Finally, on 10 February 2017 Ombudspersons received a letter from the religious group Jehovah’s Witnesses no. E: LSD 110/17 dated 31 January 2017 informing the Ombudsman that the Ministry of Education and Culture of Republika Srpska by its letter dated 02 March 2015 had informed them that the revision of the challenged textbook is expected and that they recently have received a new edition of the Orthodox religious education textbook for primary school VIII grade by the author Zoran Pajkanović where disputed part is not present. Ombudspersons express their satisfaction for such a course of events claiming that this represents an example of good practice and good co-operation, adding that they are concerned that this revision lasted so long.

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