Children in Bosnia Exploited in Election Campaign

They might not be eligible to take part, but the smiling faces of Bosnian children are clearly seen as vote-winners by politicians in the run-up to the country's October 7 election.

The misuse of minors in political party campaigning is not explicitly outlawed under Bosnian law, but experts say it is a matter of ethics.

"This issue, where self-regulation is important, requires a high level of ethical standards, and we can see there is a problem with that in Bosnia," said Zlatiborka Popov Momcinovic, a sociology professor in East Sarajevo.

"Unfortunately, children are used as props in a show while after the elections they are in most cases neglected."

Pictures of smiling schoolchildren waving to politicians is just one example of the misuse of minors in the run-up to the closely-fought election.

Last week, Zeljka Cvijanovic, prime minister of Bosnia's predominantly ethnic Serb entity, Republika Srpska, and candidate for president, attended a ceremony to open a new gym in a primary school in the eastern Bosnian town of Zvornik, where a group of children greeted her.

BIRN contacted Cvijanovic's SNDS party and a several other parties to ask about their views on the involvement of children in election campaigning but had not received any responses by the time of publication.

Nada Grahovac, ombudswoman for children in Republika Srpska, told BIRN the misuse of children in campaigning was a recurring problem.

"Without a law or amended electoral law, we can only send a note to the Central Electoral Committee of Bosnia to influence political parties to be careful with this matter," said Grahovac.

Bosnia's Electoral Law provides no sanction for the misuse of children in campaigning and the national parliament has not yet...