The Republic of Srpska

Today, in Banja Luka, the Republic of Srpska Police Director, Mr Gojko Vasić, opened the workshop ‘Position of minors in legal system’, organized by the Ministry of the Interior in cooperation with the Technical Assistance and Information Exchange Instrument (TAIEX). In addition to representatives of institutions from the Republic of Srpska and Bosnia and Herzegovina, representatives of police agencies and judicial institutions from Italy, France, Slovenia and Croatia also attended the workshop. Director Vasić said that minors in the Republic of Srpska mostly commit criminal offences related to property, that is, serious thefts and thefts, and added that, in our country, juvenile delinquency degree was lower than in countries of the EU. On this occasion, he pointed out that the institutions in the Republic of Srpska were undertaking numerous prevention activities in order to decrease the number of juvenile delinquents, and that the Republic of Sprska had high quality institutions and staff to implement the programme of re-socialising minor delinquents. An expert on countering juvenile delinquency from Slovenia, Mr Anton Toni Klančnik, and a judge from Croatia, Ms Lana Kujundžić, agreed that it was necessary for institutions from the field of social protection, education and judiciary to be included in juvenile delinquency prevention, in addition to police agencies, since prevention was one of the best ways for a community to fight for its safer future.