Press statement | 21.11.2013

Presentation of Special Report "Children in conflict divorces"

Presentation of Special Report "Children in conflict divorces" Presentation of Special Report "Children in conflict divorces"

Ombudsmen for Human Rights of BiH at the press conference held in Sarajevo on Tuesday, 19 November 2013, on the occasion of presentation of Special Report "Children in conflict divorces”, ascertained that "For every child the divorce of its parents is a very stressful experience, which undoubtedly causes severe emotional reactions, and, unfortunately, we often witness that parents, through their behavior, additionally aggravate child’s experiencing of this situation due to their inability to cope with the situation in which they find themselves and unwillingness to take responsibility for developing relationships with a child and ex-partner ."



Representative of Save the Children, Pjano Ahmed, in his addressing said that, according to official statistics, in BiH is recorded increase of divorces, and that the 2012 every ten marriage in the Federation and every six marriage in RS ended in divorce.



Presented results of the research indicate that existing legal and professional solutions do not ensure protection of the child and his or her rights, e.g. where one parent persists to exclude the other parent from the child's life or interferes with the performance of parental duties and the like.



Working on this report, BiH Ombudsmen sought to ensure maximum protection for children, and encouraged institutions and experts involved in the procedure on protection of children's rights in cases of divorce, to greater connectivity and cooperation, and to think of and find out effective mechanisms to protect the rights of children. To this end, the report specifically elaborated the following topics: the problem of issuing travel documents for the child, international child kidnapping by one parent and payments for child’s support, maintenance of direct/personal contacts between parents and children, and alimony claims.