Office of the High Representative Documents


Brcko Arbitration

Order on Return to Unoccupied Property in the RS Municipality of Brcko

24 August 1998

In accordance with the authority vested in me under the Arbitral Award of February 14, 1997, and the Supplemental Award of March 15, 1998, and pursuant to Annex 7, Article I.1. of the Dayton Peace Accords which states that, "All refugees and displaced persons have the right freely to return to their homes of origin," and Article VII.1.B(4) of the Arbitral Award which stipulates that the Supervisor should "establish . . . a program to govern the phased and orderly return of former residents of the relevant area to their homes of origin," and taking cognizance of the current pace of returns, I hereby issue the following Order:

  1. The Executive Board of the RS Brcko Municipality, beginning on September 18, 1998, is to conduct a public information campaign throughout the area of supervision on the two-way return possibilities and procedures;

  2. The Executive Board of the RS Brcko Municipality is to compile, by September 1, 1998, in consultation with my office, a list of all local communities in the area of supervision, excluding those return areas shown below:

    • BROD
    • BRODUSA
    • DIZDARUSA
    • DONJE DUBRAVICE
    • DONJI RAHIC
    • DONJI VUKSIC
    • GORICE
    • GORNJI VUKSIC
    • KREPSIC
    • LANISTA
    • LIPOVAC
    • MARKOVIC POLJE
    • OMERBEGOVACA
    • RIJEKE
    • STARI RASADNIK
    • ULICE

    The list compiled by the Executive Board of the RS Brcko Municipality is to be ranked in order of priority for return with specific dates for commencing return;

  3. The Executive Board of the RS Brcko Municipality is to produce, by September 18, 1998, an inventory of all unoccupied property in the area of supervision for which the Commission for Real Property Claims has issued prima facie notification, excluding property in those return areas named for exclusion in Paragraph 2. The inventory is to be signed by the Mayor and each of his two deputies;

  4. In order to help create an atmosphere for peaceful, phased, and orderly return as envisaged in the Dayton Peace Accords, Annex 7, the multi-ethnic police in Brcko is to produce updated security plans for the existing return areas listed in Paragraph 2, within seven days of the issuance of this order;

  5. The multi-ethnic police in Brcko is also to produce a security plan for each new return area identified by the Executive Board of the RS Brcko Municipality seven calendar days prior to the date of return to the designated new area; and

  6. All return security plans must be approved by the IPTF.

This order shall have immediate effect.

Robert W. Farrand
Deputy High Representative
Supervisor of Brcko
August 24, 1998

Office of the High Representative