OPINION

The opinion was issued in the proceedings regarding the complaint of AA against BB. In the complaint, it was stated that AA and members of the Bosniak nationality in the Republic of Serbia who stated that they speak Bosnian at the 2011 Census had their rights violated by the act of the Program Council. Namely, in the complaint, it was stated that the proposal for establishing a Bosnian-language editorial office was formally rejected by Conclusion BB No. 1041 of June 21, 2019. It was further stated that on that occasion, a meeting was held in the Program Council, where the chairman encouraged and initiated the rejection of the complainant’s proposal, denying the existence of the Bosnian language, as well as the need to establish the Bosnian-language editorial office at VV. The complainants believe that the rights of the Bosniak national minority guaranteed by the Constitution and laws were violated in the above-mentioned way, and discrimination was carried out based on nationality and language. In their statement on the allegations in the complaint, BB asserted that after the meeting with the representatives of the National Council, it was necessary to conduct additional consultations with the relevant institutions. In letters dated May 21, 2019, BB addressed the Committee for the Standardization of the Serbian Language, the Matica Srpska, the Department of Literature at SASA, the Department of Serbian Language and South Slavic Languages ​​of the Faculty of Philology at the University of Belgrade, the Serbian Literary Cooperative and Vuk’s Endowment. After receiving the answers of the mentioned institutions, BB adopted a conclusion upon which the request to BB was rejected based on the linguistic criteria according to which the local speech of Bosniaks in that area cannot be considered a separate language. In the statement, it was specifically stated that the program “Citizen” and other programs deal with topics dedicated to national minorities, in which cultural and other values ​​of national communities are regularly promoted. It was further stated that from the Charter on European Languages ​​it can be concluded that two language idioms or two local dialects cannot be considered separate languages ​​if they do not differ from each other linguistically. During the procedure, the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality established that the Conclusion of BB, which is an advisory body whose competence and position are determined by the Law on Public Services, proposed not to accept the proposal for the establishment of an editorial office in the Bosnian language, as well as that the views were expressed in the Conclusion that challenge the existence of the Bosnian language as the language of the Bosniak national minority. Furthermore, it was established that the said conclusion is not final. It was also established that content intended for national minorities is broadcasted on VV programs, as well as that no editorial offices were formed at the level of VV to broadcast programs for other national minorities. Bearing in mind the established factual situation, the Commissioner evaluated whether BB violated the provisions of the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination by 1) proposing not to accept the proposal to establish an editorial office for the Bosnian language and 2) contesting the Bosnian language as the language of the Bosniak national minority. In this regard, the Commissioner assessed the domestic and international regulations on the position of national minorities and the right to use of language and script. Namely, the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia stipulates that members of national minorities have the right to complete, timely and impartial information in their own language, including the right to express, receive, send, and exchange information and ideas, as well as to the establishment of their own means of public information, in accordance with the law. The European Charter on European and Minority Languages, ratified by Serbia, stipulates, among other things, that member states assume the obligation to ensure, in accordance with the situation of each language, to the extent the public authorities directly or indirectly have jurisdiction or power or play an appropriate role in this area, the creation of at least one radio station and one television channel in regional and minority languages, or enable appropriate provisions thanks to which program presenters would offer contents in regional and minority languages, encourage or facilitate the creation of at least one television channel in regional or minority languages, to encourage or facilitate the production and distribution of audio and audiovisual material in regional or minority languages. Furthermore, Article 3 of the Law on the Ratification of the Charter stipulates that during the handover of the ratification instrument, the then signatory Serbia and Montenegro made a statement that 1) In accordance with Article 2, Paragraph 2 of the European Charter on Regional and Minority Languages, Serbia and Montenegro accept that in the Republic of Serbia the provisions of this Charter apply to the Albanian, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Hungarian, Roma, Romanian, Ruthenian, Slovak, Ukrainian and Croatian languages. In the Decision on the obligations of state bodies of the Republic of Serbia in exercising the competencies of the Republic of Serbia as a successor of the state union of Serbia and Montenegro, it was stated, among other things, that the Republic of Serbia, in accordance with the Initial Foundations for the Reorganization of Relations between Serbia and Montenegro and Article 60 of the Constitutional charter of the state union of Serbia and Montenegro, became a successor of the state union of Serbia and Montenegro and fully inherited its international legal subjectivity and international documents. Therefore, by the said law it was accepted that the provisions of the Convention apply to the Bosnian language as well, including the provisions related to rights in terms of public information. The aforementioned regulations do not stipulate an obligation to establish a special editorial office in the language of national minorities, but rather an obligation to enable that the information needs of all parts of society are met, without discrimination, paying particular attention to socially sensitive groups such as children, youth and the elderly, minority groups, persons with disability, socially and healthwise endangered, etc. as well as to meet the needs of citizens for program content that ensures the preservation and expression of the cultural identity of both the Serbian nation and national minorities. Bearing in mind all the above and, first of all, that there is no legal obligation to form a special editorial office in the language of national minorities, as well as that there are no special editorial offices for any other national minority in the Republic of Serbia, that is, that there is no unequal treatment of different national minorities in that sense, the Commissioner issued the Opinion

• By proposing not to accept the proposal for the establishment of a Bosnian-language editorial office, BB did not violate the provisions of Art. 6 and 24 of the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination.

Furthermore, the Commissioner also analyzed the allegations that BB, in the conclusion, presented views that contested the Bosnian language. In this regard, the Commissioner considered this specific case from a legal point of view, that is, from the point of view of domestic and international regulations that are binding for everyone, without going into the analysis of the views of linguistics on the issue of differences in languages ​​and the standards that a language must meet to be considered a specific language. In doing so, the Commissioner particularly had in mind the provisions of the Law on the Ratification of the European Charter on Regional and Minority Languages, according to which the state assumed the obligation to specify each of the regional and minority languages ​​to which the provisions will apply during the ratification of the Charter, and that when submitting the ratification instrument, Serbia and Montenegro made a statement that the provisions will also be applied to the Bosnian language, and given that Serbia is the legal successor of the state union of Serbia and Montenegro, the Commissioner issued the Opinion:

• Contesting the Bosnian language as the language of the Bosniak national minority in the Conclusion of BB, this Council violated the provisions of Art. 6 and 24 of the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination, in connection with Article 3 of the Law on the Ratification of the European Charter on Regional and Minority Languages, by which Serbia accepted that the provisions of the Convention apply to the Bosnian language as well.

Therefore, the BB of VV was given a recommendation to respect in the future, when making decisions, the provisions of the Law on the Ratification of the European Charter on Minority and Regional Languages, as well as to inform the Board of Directors of VV, the General Director of VV, the chief and responsible editors of radio and television programs with the opinion of the Commissioner for Protection of Equality.

COMMISSIONER FOR THE PROTECTION OF EQUALITY

Brankica Janković