A/HRC/22/49/Add.1 Serb community near Mostar stated: ―We lost our jobs and now we can‘t get them back.‖ Residents of Kotor Varos described their heavy reliance on social benefits. 70. Communities visited conveyed a perception that their needs receive little attention in comparison to others. While they have access to schools and health services, residents of Derventa, Ortijes and Laksevine described their lack of access to running water as a longstanding problem. Serb returnees said that investment in water provision and irrigation systems had been made for other ethnic communities but not for their villages. A water supply system for Mostar reportedly runs through one village, yet residents of the village said that they are reliant on wells. Derventa residents also lack water and were informed by authorities and utility companies that they must wait for donations in order to establish a water supply. 71. The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance has stated that ―minority returnees continue to face discrimination in all areas of daily life, including difficulties in access to health care, pensions, and other forms of social protection‖22 and that ―the situation of returnees is compounded by discrimination in access to employment, in both public and private sectors‖.23 National NGOs have called for coordinated strategies to ensure self-sustainable returns, including essential elements of infrastructure development, sustainable economic options, cultural protection and promotion, and social cohesion and inclusion. 72. The Independent Expert met with representatives of associations working with victims of alleged war crimes whose cases have not come before the courts. The representatives reported that restrictions or administrative barriers were imposed on those who seek allowances as ―civilian victims‖ in their places of residence and that laws and treatment by the Federation and the Republika Srpska were inconsistent. Some alleged victims reportedly do not receive the financial or psychological support that they may be entitled to. Restrictions were reported on the rights to freedom of association and assembly, notably for Bosniaks in the Republika Srpska who wish to protest or publicly commemorate certain dates and events, while such restrictions are not imposed on the majority population. VII. Education issues of national minorities and returnee communities 73. Establishing integrated education remains a significant challenge and an important minority issue. Mono-ethnic schools and the ―two-schools-under-one-roof‖ system remain common and hamper efforts to promote integration and inter-ethnic understanding. Under the two-schools-under-one-roof system, operating in three cantons in the Federation, children from different ethnic groups attend school in the same building but are taught separately, have different curricula and entrances or teaching ―shifts‖ and rarely mix within the school environment. Separate school administrative bodies, school boards and parent bodies also operate. 74. Education remains a concern for some returnee communities, and language issues featured as a source of frustration. In the Bosniak community of Kotor Varos a high percentage of children in the local school are Bosniak, but they are taught in Serbian based on a Serbian curriculum. Community members stated that Bosniaks could not get jobs at the school. Following written requests to the school principal and the Ministry of Education 22 23 ECRI, ―ECRI Report on Bosnia and Herzegovina‖ (footnote 1 above), p. 8. Ibid., p. 32. 17

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