The Embassy of BiH in Serbia has informed citizens, businesses and other parties using the services of its Consular Department that Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Council of Ministers Elmedin Konaković has prevented the diplomatic mission from performing its legally prescribed duties in the field of consular services.
The Embassy stated that Konaković’s move had deliberately prevented the collection of biometric data. As a result, as of today, the Embassy is unable to accept visa applications from foreign nationals, passport applications from BiH citizens or applications for temporary residence permits from foreign nationals.
“The largest number of visa applications received by the Consular Department of the BiH Embassy in Belgrade were related to the implementation of strategic projects that the Government of Republika Srpska and the Government of the Federation of BiH had declared projects of general interest through their respective decisions,” the Embassy said in a statement.
According to the Embassy, Konaković’s action has jeopardized numerous infrastructure projects being carried out by Autoputevi Republike Srpske and JP Autoceste FBiH, as well as energy projects and other economic and business activities across BiH that depend on foreign workers who submit their visa or residence permit applications through the BiH Embassy in Belgrade.
The Embassy recalled that Konaković, for what it described as political reasons and as he had previously announced, summoned exclusively employees of Serb nationality to the Ministry’s headquarters in Sarajevo for consultations that, according to the Embassy, are not envisaged by applicable laws and bylaws.
“For the first time since the civil war in BiH, a senior Bosniak official in the joint institutions of BiH has segregated civil servants on the basis of ethnicity and summoned them as a group to a meeting, thereby singling them out, causing distress and violating their human dignity,” the Embassy stated.
According to the Embassy, through what it described as Konaković’s unlawful and discriminatory actions aimed at preventing employees of exclusively Serb nationality from performing their duties, the minister also prevented the work of the first secretary and the only remaining civil servant at the BiH Embassy in Belgrade authorized to collect biometric data in the Consular Department.
“For this reason, the Consular Department will not be able to perform the aforementioned duties until the first secretary returns from the ‘consultations’ in Sarajevo,” the BiH Embassy in Belgrade said.
Source: RTRS
