Bosnia’s First Ever Census Sparks Heated Debate Over National Identity

[Time]

Nearly 18 years after the war ended, the scars of war are visible in Bosnia, whose 4 million-strong population still live in a society shaped by the bloody conflict that sundered the former Yugoslavia. There's the bullet-marked buildings that litter its landscape, the land mines that contaminate its mountainous terrain and the mass graves that are still being uncovered today. And then there are Bosnia's ethnic divisions into three 'constituent peoples' — Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats. Still jarringly present, these divisions emerged at their rawest amid the country's very first census as an independent state. The 15-day population count — which ends on Oct. 15 — is heavily politicized. Bosnia is split into two entities — the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (which is mostly Bosniak and Croat) and then the Republika Srpska (which is majority Serb). The census, with its up-to-date population data, is required by the E.U. before Bosnia can begin serious talks to join its ranks. However, the inclusion of a non-mandatory ethnicity question has threatened to upset the country's delicate power share. While many political and religious leaders in Bosnia fear being weakened in the ethnic quota system, some Bosnians have heralded the census as an opportunity to challenge Bosnia's ethnic politics and put the country on a new, united path. Bosnia's internal politics are notoriously complex. Its fragmented political system, divided on ethnic lines, is rooted in the U.S.-brokered peace deal that ended the 1992-95 war by splitting power and territory between the three warring sides — Bosniaks (who are Muslim), Serbs (Orthodox) and Croats (Catholic). While it stopped the fighting, the peace deal also cemented ethnic divisions and excluded certain minorities (Jews, Roma, children from mixed marriages and those who have refused to identify with any ethnicity) from public sector quota jobs. In 2009, the European Court of Human Rights ruled Bosnia's constitution discriminatory. Ethnic tensions have been aggravated in the months leading up to the census. Political and religious leaders, along with the media and many NGOs, are urging Bosnians to declare their

Source: Bosnia's First Ever Census Sparks Heated Debate Over National Identity