Students learn about security sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina at OSCE-supported course

More than 20 students of law, political, and security studies from universities in Banja Luka, Sarajevo, Mostar, Tuzla and Zenica learnt about the security sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) at a five-day OSCE-supported Youth and Security School, which concluded on 25 October 2019 in Sarajevo.

“The Youth and Security School is envisaged to complement the education of young persons from all over BiH and inspire their leadership in the area of security reform, since we recognize them as important partners in the process of this systemic and societal change“, said Susan Penksa, Head of the Department of Security Co-operation of the OSCE Mission to BiH. “The goal of the School is to introduce youth to the concept of good governance in the security sector, allow them to examine the security challenges of BiH and discuss possible solutions, while promoting the OSCE’s interdisciplinary approach to ensuring a safe, secure and stable society.“

The students visited the BiH Parliamentary Assembly, the Foreign Affairs Ministry, the Ministry of Security, the Armed Forces of BiH, as well as police agencies and media outlets. Meeting different government officials and security professionals helped the participants to gain knowledge about these institutions and gave them an insight into the complexity of the overall security system of BiH.

“We had an opportunity to learn about the practical work of institutions dealing with security and see how the system functions in practice. Now we have a more complete picture of the security challenges facing Bosnia and Herzegovina and how to combat them,” said Ajdin Zametica, a master studies student at the Faculty of Political Sciences of the University of Sarajevo.  

The School is designed as an instrument of security and confidence-building measures as well as building trust in the security and defence institutions in BiH.

“We live in a rather complex country and the very exchange of opinions between students from universities from across BiH gave me an insight into what young people need, what they perceive as a problem in this country and what they would like to improve,” stated Ana Bašić, a student of master studies at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University in Mostar. “The school also opens possibilities for our future joint engagement and co-operation.”

This is the fifth Youth and Security School organized by the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina in co-operation with the BiH Council of Ministers’ Inter-Ministerial Working Group for Monitoring the Implementation of BiH Security Policy.