A state of emergency has been declared in parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. Overflowing rivers have burst into towns and villages cutting off entire communities, while landslides have buried houses and thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes.

In the hard times the role of secondary school students who acted as volunteers have been crucial in re-mediating the damage, helping the affected communities and preventing the further disaster.

National School Student organisations from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Slovenia herby thank all the volunteers for their selfless help! We proved once again that we, young activist and volunteers, are a fundamental part of our society and are at the forefront of promoting values such as solidarity, unity and humanity.

We also call upon the Governments of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Croatia to commit to putting action into ensuring that all school students affected by the floods are enabled to continue their educational path by restoring and re-building schools and providing the students with the needed books and school material. The natural disaster left many schools entirely demolished, school material lost and school students displaced and unsettled. We are ready to partner our governments in ensuring that no school student is left behind in continuing their education after the emergency passes and to advise the relevant educational bodies on how to go about providing quality education in the affected areas. Furthermore, we call upon the international community and our fellow school student organisations from around Europe to help our region by spreading the word and partnering their national governments and humanitarian organisations in providing the needed aid. You can find out about more specific ways of helping from your country by contacting embassies of Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina or Croatia, or your national Red Cross branch. For financial donations see the numbers below:

With this statement we once again wish to show that school students from the region are standing together to help everyone affected by the floods in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Croatia.

Asocijacija srednjoškolaca u Bosni i Hercegovini (ASUBIH)

Unija srednjoškolaca Srbije (UNSS)

Dijaška organizacija Slovenije (DOS)

Tekst pšreuzet sa stranice: https://obessu.org/resources/news/school-students-from-the-balkans-call-for-action/