The agencies involved in property law implementation, OHR, OSCE, UNHCR, CRPC and UNMIBH applaud the housing authorities in Lopare, Sekovici, Kresevo and Srbac who have solved all the claims submitted to their offices. In doing so they have created conditions for the return of all claimants to their pre-war properties and proven once and for all that full implementation of the property law is possible. Although these four are not the only municipalities which have resolved the property cases submitted to them, they are the first ones with more than a handful of claims to have done so.
Lopare had a total of 833 claims, Srbac had 222 claims and Sekovici and Kresevo had 148 each, making them the municipalities with the highest number of claims in BiH so far to have completed the process.
This development is in line with the progress that the Federation, and the RS have made in the implementation of property laws since the beginning of 2002. As a result the RS is closing in on the Federation, the difference in implementation rate now stands at less than 10%, as opposed to18% at the beginning of the year.
The PLIP Agencies are expecting Cantonal, Entity, and State authorities to support the local authorities in the implementation of the New Strategic Direction in order for them to follow the examples of Lopare, Sekovici, Kresevo and Srbac. As of October 15, no delays in implementing the property law will be tolerated.
As part of a New Strategic Direction for property law implementation, the PLIP Agencies will continue to treat any deviation from the strict implementation of the property laws as obstruction of the full implementation of the Dayton Peace Agreement.