Disputes Delay Publication of Bosnia Census

A Bosnian minister has admitted that the elaboration of data collected for the census in 2013 "is not proceeding according to plan.

"We can be sure that we won't be able to publish the results before the end of this year," Adil Osmanovic, the Minister for Civil Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, said.

Twenty years after the end of the war, Bosnia still lacks a complete census of its population. The first one was held from October 1 to 15, 2013.

The final data were due to be released in February 2015. However, so far the authorities have only been able to share some preliminary results, which show the geographical distribution of the population.

The elaboration process is being delayed because of a methodological disagreement between the statistical agencies of Republika Srpska and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the two entities of the country.

As Balkan Insight wrote last May, the two agencies cannot agree on the criteria to be used to calculate the number of residents.

The statistic bureau of RS insists on determining residence by place of work or education. This view is controversial, since it might led to the elimination of some 430,000 individuals from the database, including many Bosniak and Croat returnees to the Serbian-dominated entity.

"From the very beginning, this census has been the victim of great political manipulation", Daljo Sijah, an activist of the Bosnian NGO Zasto Ne, told BIRN. "The current situation is unfortunately no surprise for us.

"In the next two years, others European countries will start to organize new censuses, while we might still be waiting for the results of the one we organized back in 2013", Sijah said.

"A hundred years ago, when Austria-Hungary organized...