A united front against discrimination

Last Thursday, the Student Parliament (SP) agreed to present a united front for the Mostar Project. The project is a co-operation between SP and the student unions from the two universities in the city of Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The purpose is to find a common platform of student rights to fight for. Student Representative in SP, Signhild Stave Samuelsen, is very happy that they have come to an agreement.

– We wanted the two student unions to cooperate with us so that they in turn would cooperate with each other. Mostar is a city the size of Kristiansand, and yet there are two universities, Stave Samuelsen says.

She explains that originally, there was only one university in the city, but that it was divided in two during the war.

– Apparently, the explanation is that the university was divided in two due to language differences, but the result was one Catholic and one Muslim university, she adds.

The common platform has been passed by the student union at the University of Mostar and is being discussed at the student union at the Dzemal Bijedic University.

– The idea behind this process has been to gather forces so that the two sides don’t have to fight for the same rights on their own. The students in Bosnia and Herzegovina have very few rights. Things we take for granted are unheard of here, says Amina Storm, one of the delegates from SP.

Stave Samuelsen recounts some of the challenges they have met along the way.

– We agreed on most points, but it has been difficult to address sexual discrimination. Discrimination based on sexual orientation or physical disabilities is not uncommon and thus it was difficult for some to make it part of the platform. But for the most part, we agreed. It would have been impossible for us to take home a document where these rights had not been included.

The negotiation was also difficult on a personal level.

– We are talking about people who were opposing each other during the war. Working together with people who have been on the other side of the conflict is a great challenge. But it is already a lot easier now than it was only a year ago, Stave Samuelsen says.

She says that the student union at the University of Mostar aims to have the platform ratified at all the universities in Herzegovina. Among other things, the platform underlines the right to equal treatment, health services, systematic academic evaluation, work against corruption and the right to democratically elected representatives. It is still not clear whether or not SP is going to stay a part of this project.

– We will evaluate the project in the spring to see if it is sensible to spend our time and researches on it, Samuelsen concludes.