EXTRAORDINARY NEWS. The Constitutional-Legal Committee of the House of Peoples for Bosnia Herzegovina were in session today, and in this session they refused the kill-law amendments to the animal welfare act! Instead they insisted that the Council of Ministers, the BiH Government, prepare an action plan for the implementation of the existing law.

PLEASE NOTE that this is not the final vote on the law. The House of People’s first reading of the amendments will happen at the end of January. There is hope, however, as the delegates for the House of Peoples rarely legislate a law for which the committee has given a negative opinion.

We are in a good position, but this victory is only one step in this next part of the legislative process, and we need to keep campaigning and we need to loudly express our hope that the delegates will respect the decision of the Constitutional-Legal Committee, and that if the amendments are not legislated, then we must still keep pressure that the existing animal welfare act (which is a very good one, for a full translation please download this PDF) be implemented as per the Constitutional-Legal Committee’s recommendations.

I am awaiting further instructions from the activists in BiH. But for now, all I can say, is a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone involved and of course to the members of the Constitutional-Legal Committee.

Details of the further process of the law is as it follows:

Once the Collegium of the House has received opinions from the Constitutional-Legal Committee on the proposed draft law which establish that the committee has not achieved harmony with the BiH Constitution and the legal system, or has not accepted the principles of the draft law, the Collegium shall put the proposed draft law and the opinions of the committees on the agenda for the next House session. If the House accepts the opinions of the Constitutional-Legal Committee, the proposed draft law shall be considered as rejected. If the House does not accept the opinions of the committee, the House shall request that the committee provide a new opinion which will be based on new guidance provided by the House, within the deadline set by the House.

Please keep writing to your MEPs, Embassies, media etc. Please join the protest in London on January 11th. All information is in the related posts listed below. If there is anything further we can do I will keep you updated. The situation in BiH has been bad for so long, including numerous and continued transgressions of the existing animal welfare law. We just have to keep at it, keep uncovering illegalities and keep campaigning.

As stated in other posts, the activists need our support with donations to help them campaign. Even if the law goes through, there is much they can do: all shelters need to be closely monitored to try to ensure that any ‘euthanisation’ as required by these proposed amendments is humane and that all other aspects of the Animal Welfare Law are implemented. Any amount will help, no matter how small.

There is a YouCaring fundraiser especially for this:  https://www.youcaring.com/kill-law. Activists in BiH are doing their best to campaign against these amendments and to educate everyone in their country to the truth of what is happening.

Please sign and share the petitions!

In the meantime, strays are still struggling to survive in the harsh winter conditions. Activists go out in all conditions to feed them. If you can help them by donating for food, please see the instructions below and mark you donation ‘food for strays’.  Also you can join the Facebook event HELP THE STRAY DOGS AND CATS OF SARAJEVO SURVIVE THE WINTER EVENT

RELATED POSTS ON THIS BLOG:

• PROTEST TO END THE BRUTAL KILLING OF DOGS IN ROMANIA & BOSNIA HERZEGOVINA
• Media Disinformation and Horror in Bosnia Herzegovina!
• ANTI KILL-LAW FIGHT – NOW WHAT? 
• ANTI KILL-LAW FIGHT – HOW TO HELP, PART SIX
• Anti-Kill Law: Latest News
• ANTI KILL-LAW FIGHT – HOW TO HELP, PART FIVE
• ANTI KILL-LAW FIGHT – HOW TO HELP, PART FOUR
• Anti-Kill Law: Latest News
• ANTI KILL-LAW FIGHT – HOW TO HELP, PART THREE
• ANTI KILL-LAW FIGHT – HOW TO HELP, PART TWO
• ANTI KILL-LAW FIGHT – HOW TO HELP
• ANTI KILL-LAW FIGHT CONTINUES
• EUROPE! FOLLOW ITALY’S EXAMPLE!
• KILL-LAW DEBATE IN BOSNIA
• BOSNIA ABOUT TO IMPLEMENT KILL LAW!
• THE HORROR SHELTERS OF BOSNIA – SOMETHING MUST BE DONE!
• Bosnia Killing Dogs – No Different to Romania!
• BOSNIA! IMPLEMENT HUMANE STRAY-DOG AND CAT POPULATION CONTROL AND TREATMENT
• Dog Shelters in Bosnia: A Complex Situation
• Horror Camps for Animals in Bosnia
• Concentration Camp for Man’s Best Friend
• Concentration Camp for Man’s Best Friend PART TWO
• Mass Graves Found Near Dog “Shelter”

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DONATIONS
Funds are needed not only to help individual rescues and to help us keep safe the rescued dogs we are sponsoring but also to continue our advocacy work in Bosnia, uncovering the truth about what is happening there.

On our sister site, Animal Welfare Advocates for Bosnia, you can set up a monthly donation via PayPal, or if you want to make a one-off donation, please go to your PayPal account (or set one up, it’s very easy) and send the money to: donations@awabosnia.org . Click on the image below to be taken to PayPal’s home page.

Or if you want to use the customised PayPal form, click the link below. However, a transaction fee and a percentage (2- 5.4%) will be deducted by PayPal for any contribution made.

If you want your contribution to go to a specific dog or cause, please make a note in the PayPal comment box. If you wish to contribute via bank transfer or have other difficulties or questions, please go here.

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This site is dedicated to Vučko. Read his story and don’t let him have suffered and died in vain. Please help the stray dogs and cats in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The situation there is utterly dire, Vučko is but one amongst many horrifically abused animals. Go here to find out how to help them.  Money is needed for food, medicine and foster housing. Even just one dollar or one euro will help.