Thursday 23th of January 2013. - Delegation of the Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees of Bosnia and Herzegovina met with representatives of the refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina in order to present them Regional Housing Project of Bosnia and informed them of the terms of the Public call for applications for reconstruction of housing units in order to return to Bosnia and Herzegovina. After a constructive meeting with representatives of NGOs, a press conference was hold.

During the conference, Assistant Minister for Human Rights and Refugees of Bosnia and Herzegovina Mario Nenadic said that Bosnia and Serbia quantitatively among the countries of the former Yugoslavia, who were affected by the war, have the major problem when it comes to housing of refugees.

Nenadic said that since the end of the war in Bosnia was collected around 50,000 requests for the return of refugees, and that on average, only one out of ten pending requests are solved.

According to him, this is the first of the current projects for taking care of refugees, which stipulates that they can choose where they will live in the future based on the offered options.

He appealed to all concerned to respond to public call until 7th of February.

Nenadic stated that all refugees who do not respond in a timely manner, and at some point after the Dayton treaty have reported about their inadequate housing, will be subsequently invited to respond on public call.

Secretary of the Ministry for Human Rights and Refugees of Bosnia and Herzegovina Dragomir Kovac announced it is planned that total value of the Regional Housing Programme is 583 million of euros, but due to a number of difficulties, among which the most important was the global economic crisis, 260 million has been collected until now.

However, he expressed the hope that in the next three years will be raised 583 million euros, alleging that some of the donor countries of the project, particularly the U.S., have expressed willingness to further invest in it.

Kovac stated that it is planned to provide housing solutions for 1,800 Serbian families within this project - of which 1,200 Serbian families who are refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina in Serbia and 600 Serbian families who are refugees from Croatia in Bosnia.

Kovac pointed out that the advantage of the program, which is the result of a Donor Conference held in April 2012th in Sarajevo, is that is based on the resolution of refugee problem on the basis of their personal choices.

Advisor to the President of the Republic of Srpska Miladin Dragicevic said that this project is an opportunity to correct the mistakes of the past when it comes to resolving the issue of refugees.

"We fought to each choose a place where to live, not like before to be forced to live in a particular location," said Dragicevic, who has also appealed to all concerned to respond to the public call.

Out of total amount of funds that will be raised by the end of the project, initiated by Serbia and supported by the international community, 60 percent of the money will be allocated for housing solutions of Serbian families, 20 percent for families from Bosnia and the rest for the families from Croatia and Montenegro.