CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
EN/FR
Search
Menu
Research dossier · General Reference

JMBG protests

demonstrations in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Cross-disciplinary reference desk with index cards, atlas, dictionary and catalogue
General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJun 25, 2026
Entity authorityQ23640699 ↗
Source-derived summary

The JMBG protests were demonstrations in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina between June–July 2013. The acronym JMBG stands for Jedinstveni matični broj građana (Unique Master Citizen Number), the identification number granted to citizens.

Due to political bickering along ethnic lines, the assignment of JMBG was allowed to expire in February 2013 by the politicians representing the ethnic groups that constitute Bosnia. As a result, children born after February were not assigned a JMBG number and, therefore, could not obtain medical cards or passports.

Etymology

The protests have been called Bebolucija (lit. 'Baby Revolution') and the JMBG protests.

Background

In May 2011, the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina declared the law on Unique Master Citizen Numbers (JMBG), which is needed to request passports and other administrative documents, was unconstitutional, due to the fact that one of its articles did not contain the new names of a handful of municipalities in the Serb entity, Republika Srpska.

The Court ordered the Bosnian Parliament to amend the law within six months. But as the six-month period elapsed and no decision was reached by parliament members, the Court suspended the law altogether in January 2013.

As a result of the blocked legislation, babies born after February 2013 did not have passports or health insurance because those demand a personal ID number.

Protests

The protests started on 5 June 2013 when a group of citizens gathered in front of the Parliament building to protest.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “JMBG protests” as demonstrations in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2013, 2011—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where JMBG, protests and demonstrations can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as demonstrations in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q23640699. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2013 and 2011.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “JMBG protests”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow JMBG protests primary sources, JMBG protests archive and JMBG research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “JMBG protests”?
  2. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
  3. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “JMBG protests” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.