Widespread Discrimination Blocking Bosnian Refugee Return
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By United Press International
Published: January 26, 2006

Paris--Employment discrimination is blocking the return of Muslim refugees and displaced people to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Amnest International said Thursday.

"Ten years after the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement, the authorities of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and of the Republika Srpska have failed to address violations of workers' human rights," Omer Fisher, the human rights organizations researcher on Bosnia and Herzegovina said in a statement.

The statement coincides with the publication of a report by Amnesty that allegedly documents discrimination against ethnic minority workers on issues such as equal access to work, compensation, and reparation for unfair dismissal.

Employment discrimination helped fuel the country's civil war of a decade ago pitting Bosnian Serbs, Croats and Muslims against each other.

"Discriminatory dismissals were in many cases the first step in aggressive campaigns of
'ethnic cleansing'" the organization said in its statement, "which included killings, forcible transfers and deportations."

Bosnia's war ended in 1995, with the Dayton Peace Agreement. Roughly two million displaced people have returned to their homes.

But even so, Amnesty argues, they continue to face widespread employment discrimination.

The human rights group says the right to work and be free from discrimination are basic human rights.