Bosnia's Federation (FBiH) entity adopted the Law on the Rights of Veterans on Thursday night, with a unanimous vote in the entity House of Peoples.

According to Fena news agency, the FBiH veterans will get a total of 16 new rights, including the right to ‘existential compensation.’

Veterans with no income and who have 57 years of age can realize this right. One of the conditions is that they were part of the Army during the 1992-1995 war in the country for at least 12 months, that they were listed with the employment office for at least 12 months, and that they have no other source of income.

Every disabled veteran who has a monthly income of less than €80 can apply for benefits through their veterans association and the law stipulates that they will receive the compensation in the amount of €2.5 for each month spent in Bosnia’s wartime army, the FBiH Veterans’ Affairs Minister Salko Bukvarevic told Fena news agency.

The discussion before the vote was exhausting, with countless accusations. Many have criticized the law, but despite the shortcomings they stated, they all said they would support it. Two days ago, the FBiH House of Representatives adopted this law

Over the past year, the FBiH war veterans demanded that the authorities adopt a law which would ensure their basic welfare protection and a monetary allowance for the time they spent in service during the Bosnian war of 1992-1995.

They also requested that the FBiH Veterans’ Affairs Ministry publishes a veterans’ registry with all the names of combatants because the number of people receiving benefits on this account has grown significantly over the years.

This motion was rejected on the account of the protection of privacy and personal information, but the authorities agreed to pass a law which would cover most of their requests.

Veterans’ requests were reinforced by several mass protests which were violent at times, in the streets of Sarajevo and other cities in the FBiH.

Earlier on Thursday, the House adopted a rebalance of the 2019 budget, hinting at the possible adoption of this Law.

This is the first law of this kind further regulating this field after more than 9 years.