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Background The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina is the keystone of the Dayton constitutional system. It acts as the ultimate arbiter in all controversies between the State of Bosnia and Herzegovina and its Entities and among State institutions, and is the highest national authority for the application of State legislation and the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms. The importance of its role can easily be illustrated by a case presently under consideration, which will require a thorough revision of the Entities' constitutions and particularly the solution of questions related to the countrywide equal representation of the three "constituent peoples", State control over the Entities' armed forces, and the constitutional bases of privatization legislation in the Entities. Madrid Commitments, Objectives "The Council expresses its full support to the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina in its ongoing task of revising the compatibility of a number of aspects of the Entities' constitutions." Present situation - progress to date The Constitutional Court began operating in May 1997 in premises borrowed from the Federation Presidency. Its full bench includes nine judges, two per ethnic group plus three eminent foreign jurists (a Swede, a French and an Austrian) nominated by the President of the European Court on Human Rights. Since its beginning, work has progressed in a climate of surprising professionalism and co-operation, despite the Court's grave and persistent financial problems. Up to now, the survival of the BiH Constitutional Court has been guaranteed mostly by material (interpreters and translation services) and financial support (travel expenses) provided by OHR on an emergency basis, as well as by the opening of an EU/PHARE project. At this stage of the crisis, raising State budget allocations would not by itself suffice to strengthen this key institution enough to maintain its political independence. The limited resources of the State at this point of its development cannot be expected to provide sufficient funds to hire the badly needed first-class professional and administrative personnel, presently attracted by the substantially higher salaries offered by international missions and other institutions with access to donors' funds. For OHR email addresses and other contact information, please click the Contacts heading. Constitutional Court: Mirko Zovko, President of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina OHR: Johan Van Lamoen, Deputy High Representative
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The 1998 State Budget, which provided the Court with clearly insufficient resources ($ US 377.874), did not take into account the basic needs of the institution. The judges were eventually compelled to forfeit their own salaries, and the President to request an urgent budget re-balancing to cover outstanding expenditures. Additional information, Remarks: Audit and brief study of the Court's financial situation up to present is available
Background The implementation of the State budget law started in June 1998. The present staff is too small and lacks training. There are no proper structures and procedures to prepare and execute the budget. Madrid Commitments, Objectives "As part of the process of strengthening the common institutions and making them more effective, the BiH authorities will:
(...) - establish, by June 1999, a Treasury as a part of the proposed Ministry of Finance;
(...) In particular each Entity shall establish during 1999 a Treasury and a Supreme Audit Institution; parliamentary commissions should be formed in 1999, at the Entity and State level, with the obligation to review the reports of the Supreme Audit Institutions;" An integrated finance function has to be established at the State level. This involves:
Similar measures have to be taken at the Entity level. Present situation - progress to date In the absence of a treasury system, reliance on the payment Bureaus provide basic cash accounting and reporting services to all levels of government. There is no separate accounting function at the State government level tailored to management needs. The cash resources are fragmented and there is no central control over the government's cash position. There is no financial capability planning to monitor and adjust financial inflows and outflows, to guide the execution of the budget and to minimize the cost of idle cash balances. In May 1999 session, the BiH Council of Ministers nominated a working group to draft the Rule Book of the State Treasury of Bosnia and Herzegovina. For OHR email addresses and other contact information, please click the Contacts heading. IMF: Bruno De Schaetzen, Resident Representative Berina Selimovic-Mehmedbasic US Treasury: Laura Trimble, Budget Advisor, Budget Policy and Management Section Anne Schwartz, Resident Advisor, US Department of the Treasury OHR: Antoine Dubas, Economic Department Funding needs |
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Additional information, Remarks: The US Department of the Treasury is also working on ways to implement the project.
Background Both State and Entity Level governments have no external audit mechanisms to that would ensure transparency, accountability and identify financial or performance problems. The need to build trust between ethnic groups and with democratic government requires transparency and accountability. The post-war situation has created opportunities for misappropriation of public money. Additionally, the transition from centrally directed market to a market economy inevitably creates inefficiencies and this clearly calls for audit mechanisms. Finally, an audit process is a requisite to increased credibility of government financial statements. Madrid Commitments, Objectives "As part of the process of strengthening the common institutions and making them more effective, the BiH authorities will:
- adopt, by September 1999, a Law creating a Supreme Audit Institution;
- establish, by June 1999, a Treasury as a part of the proposed Ministry of Finance;
(...) In particular each Entity shall establish during 1999 a Treasury and a Supreme Audit Institution; parliamentary commissions should be formed in 1999, at the Entity and State level, with the obligation to review the reports of the Supreme Audit Institutions;"
Present situation - progress to date The lack of legal structures and expertise need to be filled. The lack of a comprehensive audit mechanism is indeed a serious obstacle to accountability of public funds. A robust institution responsible for and mandated to monitor governments' revenues will rectify this situation. Following the World Bank action plan, progress has been satisfactory and local authorities have shown both cooperation and support. A working group, with rapporteurs from both Entities, meets regularly and executes various steps including legislative initiative necessary to advance this important agenda. In May 1999, the BiH Council of Ministers agreed to a Memorandum of Understanding with Regard to Establishment of Supreme Audit Institutions in BiH and reported that the working group for Monitoring its Implementation has nearly completed its work. For OHR email addresses and other contact information, please click the Contacts heading. World Bank: Sebnem Akkaya OHR: Didier Fau, Deputy High Representative for Economics Matters
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Additional information, Remarks: World Bank report available ("The Establishment of Supreme Audit Institutions in BiH" December 1999).
Background The Marijin Dvor State Building is the only recognized state government building in Sarajevo. As such, it is the only building in which Serbs have agreed to hold meetings of the common institutions (Presidency, Council of Ministers and Parliament) and where, for the first time, the Serb member of the Presidency has agreed to have an office in Sarajevo. Madrid Commitments, Objectives "Stronger common institutions: The common institutions are now established. But they do not work well, and co-operation with the Entities is poor. Making the common institutions effective, in the role set out for them in the GFAP, is a key task now. (...) In the coming year, the Council announces its full support for the High Representative's determination to strengthen the common institutions." The renovation of the Marijin Dvor State Building is an essential support to the international community's political objective of strengthening the common institutions. Early approval and disbursement of funds for renovation is key to our declared objective of strengthening common institutions. Present situation - progress to date The World Bank and the European Commission already financed the rehabilitation of the roof, windows and part of the 1st floor. The EC has as yet made no future commitments. It is a fact that State Institutions with their staff spread now in different parts of Sarajevo, or even in the country, are not able to work the way they should. Only one floor - 40 offices - has been renovated. This is far less than the needs of the Presidency members, staff and secretariat (approx. 15 employees), the Council of Ministers and its three services (approx. 40), and the Parliamentary Secretariat (approx. 9). As well, because of technical and security requirements, the INTERPOL office (approx. 15) and the central passport database (both part of the Ministry of Civil Affairs and Communication) must be established in this building. The BiH Agency for Statistics and other recently created State Agencies, like the Telecommunication Agency, will also require office space. For OHR email addresses and other contact information, please click the Contacts heading. EC Ambassador Hansjorg Kretschmer OHR: Antoine Dubas, Economic Department Funding needs |
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Additional information, Remarks: Estimation costs for the renovation of the building available from the EC Technical Assistance Unit.
Background The Standing Committee on Military Matters (SCMM) is one of the Common Institutions established under Dayton Annex 4. 2. The Committee came into existence in September 1997 after extensive negotiations to agree on its composition and Rules of Procedure. Madrid Commitments, Objectives "13. The outer ring - a more secure Bosnia and Herzegovina: We also intend to strengthen the 'outer ring' of the country by:
- working, in co-operation with SFOR and the OSCE, with the armed forces and Entity and State governments to maintain military stability, increase co-operation and confidence between the Entity Armed Forces, nurture stronger joint military institutions, reduce defense expenditure, increase professionalism, and remove the military from inappropriate involvement in the political process;
- taking steps together with the Presidency and the Entities towards establishing a common security policy and a State dimension for defense. As part of this, the Standing Committee on Military Matters (SCMM) is to be strengthened with respect to the Constitution;" Present situation - progress to date Identifying the full range of potential costs associated with these initiatives, and the timescale in which they will be implemented, is not possible until the policy - which was articulated for the first time only at the Madrid PIC - has been developed and an implementation plan drawn up. However, there is an urgent need to establish a defense staff at the State level in order to establish a proper structure. For OHR email addresses and other contact information, please click the Contacts heading. OHR Military Cell: Military Advisor. Funding needs |
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Additional information, Remarks: -
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