BOSNA AND HERCEGOVINA / БОСНА И ХЕРЦЕГОВИНА
The Problem of Begging: Bosnia
A post-conflict country such as Bosnia, which goes through an
utterly difficult transition, is extremely convenient for the
proliferation of criminal activities. A country with an enormous and
complicated state apparatus and a complex legislature has difficulties
tackling even the simplest violations of the law. In such countries it
is the weak and unprotected that most often suffer.
The Roma are among the most vulnerable minorities in Bosnia.
Uneducated or without a job, for many the only way out is begging.
Someone has deftly taken advantage of that situation turning it into a
business. On the other hand, nearly every citizen has been an accomplice
in this unlawful activity, since everyone has at least once felt pity
and offered “half a mark” to a woman with a baby in her arms or a child
standing next to a traffic ligh