HUMAN RIGHTS AND RULE OF LAW
- General: Return assessment visits increased. Returns also increased and have notably included the first returns to hard-line eastern RS municipalities such as Pale. Although most returns have proceeded without incident, there have been some return-related incidents in a number of areas across the country. In Drvar (in the Federation), the Canton 10 Minister of Interior issued an instruction to all police stations to expel all returnees without ID cards. This was followed by a number of violent incidents. In Gacko and Kula in south eastern RS, incidents took place in September. In July, JSAP conducted an inspection of the Livno Municpal Prosecutor's Office, which covers Drvar, and concluded that the criminal justice system has consistently failed to apply fundamental judicial principles in both minority-related and other cases. At the same time, the Minister of Justice for Canton 10 was removed.
- Rule of Law and Judicial Reform: he working groups in both entities responsible for proposing draft laws have completed their efforts to draft laws designed to establish an independent judiciary. While I am pleased with the progress achieved, I am keen to see the respective laws passed in the near future. OHR, which has coordinated and led the international community's participation in the development of these laws, will focus on ensuring that they come into effect and are implemented as promptly as possible.
- The Federation Law on Judicial and Prosecutorial Service has been accepted by the Government and is pending action in the Parliament. In the RS, the Law on Courts and Court Service is currently under review by Council of Europe experts. When that review has been completed, and been made as appropriate, the law will be sent to the Government for submission to the National Assembly. Each of these laws will address the critical issues of judicial independence, including provisions for adequate salaries along with standards and procedures for dismissal.
- I am also pleased to report that the comprehensive judicial reform strategy called for in the Madrid Document has been completed. It was presented to the Steering Board in July. This document, the "road map" for the international community's future efforts in judicial reform, will serve as a reflection of the dynamic process of advancing the Rule of Law throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina.
- In August, laws imposed by my predecessor regarding the investigation and prosecution of serious crime in the Federation, including terrorism and organised crime, came into effect. These laws have enhanced the authority of the Federation prosecutor in prosecuting Federation level crimes and also, in appropriate cases, in directing and taking charge of prosecutions in Cantonal courts. The legislation also creates first instance jurisdiction at the Federation level for trials of Federation-level crimes. OHR is now emphasizing the need for prompt implementation of these laws and is taking the lead in bringing together those parties in Government whose co-operation is essential to achieve that goal. Council of Europe review of the Phase I revisions to the RS Criminal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure is near completion. When those comments have been considered by the international community, the revised version will be presented to the Government for submission to the National Assembly.
- OHR continues its role of co-ordinating the various efforts of the international community to establish and maintain training programmes for prosecutors and judges as a means of expanding developments in the area of judicial and legal reform. A variety of implementing agencies remain involved in this part of the judicial reform portfolio. The Council of Europe has continued its focus on training legal students and professionals in matters relating to the European Convention on Human Rights. OSCE and the Swedish Prosecutor General's Office have begun to develop a training program that is expected to focus on basic skills for prosecutors. The US Department of Justice and the ABA/CEELI have proceeded with their yearlong training plan for judges, prosecutors, police and lawyers. Similar programmes that were previously initiated in RS, but and suspended during the spring, are now beginning to take place.
- OHR's Human Rights/Rule of Law Department is actively assisting my Special Envoy in Brcko and his staff in their work towards implementation of the Brcko Award, especially on regard human rights and the District judiciary. Similarly, this department is assisting the attempts to reform the judicial system of the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton and the Central Zone of the City of Mostar to eliminate parallel structures within this troubled part of the Federation. In particular, OHR is focusing on assisting in the implementation of the imposed Law on Courts of the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton and the Law on the Court of the Central Zone of the City of Mostar. We must endure that the current momentum of reform continues.
- War Crimes Trials in Domestic Courts: The re-trial of Ibrahim Djedovic is proceeding before the Sarajevo Cantonal Court. Several new witnesses called by the defendant have testified. However, the Prosecution has also produced additional evidence and witnesses, and is currently seeking to amend the charges, introducing rape into the proceedings. This is a surprising development since the charges has been amended three times in the initial case. The defendant has been detained since May 1997. Simultaneously the case is pending on a request initiated by the defendant to the Croatian authorities to allow a number of witnesses, who do not wish to appear in Sarajevo fearing arrest, to testify before a Croatian Court. It is unclear if and when this will happen.
- Co-operation with the ICTY: In the period July 15 to October 15,, three Serbs were arrested and transferred to the ICTY. They are: Radoslav Brdjanin, arrested on 6 July in Banja Luka; Radomir Kovac, arrested on 2 August in Foca; and General Momir Talic, arrested on 25 August in Vienna. Although these arrests sparked verbal protests from various politicians they did not result in attacks on internationals as had been the case after the 9 January attempt to arrest a PIFWC in Foca, when he was shot dead by SFOR, and was subsequently attacked the IPTF station. OHR continues to assist the ICTY whenever possible.
- Missing Persons and Exhumations: The ICRC-chaired Working Group on Missing Persons has been suspended for the last three months, but the ICRC continues to submit cases to the local authorities bilaterally. Under the Joint Exhumation Process, coordinated by OHR, the three local parties have worked at 420 sites so far this year, and 1,300 bodies have been exhumed. The rate at which victims of the Srebrenica massacre are being indentified has dramatically increased. Physicians for Human Rights and the Podrinje Identification Project have plans for an even more efficient identification process. These plans are already being put into effect.
- Human Rights Institutions: Since my last report, improvements have been made in the implementation of the decisions of the Human Rights Chamber, recommendations of the Ombudsperson and decisions of the CRPC. Notably, legislation has been passed following an agreement between the government of the Federation and the OHR with respect to military apartments. In these cases, individuals who had purchased their apartments before the war had their contracts annulled by legislation without any form of compensation. Following hundreds of Chamber and Ombudsperson decisions, the Federation and OHR have agreed to legislative changes in the Federation to eliminate the associated human rights violations. Draft legislation for each of the Ombuds-institutions has been presented to the respective governments, and awaits adoption in each of the three parliaments.
- The impartial and rigorous criminal investigation demanded by the Security Council and the Ombudsperson of Bosnia and Herzegovina into the events surrounding the Mostar incident of 10 February, 1997 has finally taken place. The investigation was carried out by local police officers under the supervision of UN IPTF and UNMIBH, and the report of the investigation has been transferred to the local prosecutor for action. The establishment of a new court structure in Canton 7 (Mostar) is slowing down the judicial phase of the investigation.
- Continued difficulties are expected, however, in the implementation of the Institutions' recent decisions which require the eviction of current occupants of previously abandoned accommodation. In six of the eight Chamber decisions requiring the payment of compensation from the Federation, relatively large amounts of compensation have been paid. Orders for payment have been given by the Prime Minister to the Minister of Finance in the remaining cases. I remain deeply concerned, however, that the RS has not yet paid compensation in the three cases in which payment has been required. In addition, the RS has not complied with the order of the Human Rights Chamber to provide all available information on the Father Matanovic case involving the disappearance of a priest and his family near the end of the war. In addition, the RS has not complied with the order in the Islamic community case of the Human Rights Chamber in which it must allow for the construction of enclosures and issue permits for the building of mosques in the RS. The deadline for compliance in this case has expired.
- I remain concerned with the lack of State funding for the Annex 6 and 7 Institutions. Requests for an increase in funding have not yet been accepted by the State. The State has proposed an increase to an adequate level for the year 2000, but this has not yet become law. Continuing improvement in the co-operation between the government representatives (agents) to the Human Rights Institutions has been seen since the last reporting period, although funding and support by the RS for the office of its representative has been lacking.
- Legislation implementing the decisions of the CRPC has been drafted. The entities have now agreed to the legislation, but these await adoption by their respective parliaments.
- Property: On 1 July, I took a Decision to impose certain amendments to the Federation's Law on Sale of Apartments with Occupancy Rights for the purpose of implementing the decisions of the Human Rights Chamber concerning former Yugoslav National Army (JNA) apartments. This Decision should be adopted by the Federation Parliament in the regular legislative procedure in due course. My Office has held extensive consultations with the Entity Governments concerning needed changes in property legislation which will facilitate the return of refugees and displaced persons to their homes of origin. In addition to these needed legislative changes, I expect the Entity Governments, particularly in the RS, to continue to strengthen the legal and administrative framework for return. If this is not achieved, OHR may intervene further as required.
- Effective implementation of property law is substantially higher in most parts of the Federation than in the RS. Nevertheless, progress on rendering decisions on property claims, with the possible exception of Sarajevo Canton, is stalling and local authorities are reluctant to carry out forced evictions, as required by law. In RS, property claims are not being processed in a timely manner and those claimants whose property rights have been confirmed are usually unable to take possession of their property. I expect both Entities to devote considerably more resources and political will to implement property law over the autumn of 1999.
- Education: I remain cautiously optimistic that the implementation of the first phase of the textbook revision, which will remove all objectionable material from the textbooks, will have been completed by 1 October 1999, as it was agreed on 20 September. Several previous deadlines were missed in the course of September. Spot checks will now be carried out in elementary and secondary schools until the end of the year all over the country, in order to ascertain the level of compliance with the Textbook Review Agreement. This process has been delayed by the authorities by one full year and the first phase of the revision should be considered as an interim stage in the process leading to the production of textbooks which meet accepted European standards. Implementation of this agreement is a condition for accession of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the Council of Europe, together with substantial progress in eradicating discrimination from the education system.
- OHR continues to support the work of UNESCO, the Council of Europe, the World Bank, the European Union and others in their ongoing efforts to reform the education system at all levels through programmes addressing curricular reform, educational standards, governance and financing issues, capacity building in higher education, teacher training in human rights and citizenship education, political leadership, public administration and business law education.
- OHR has also begun to organise a series of round tables on the issue of a joint/framework/co-ordinated curriculum to which were invited not only representatives from political parties but also representatives from civil society organisations such as: trade unions, teachers' associations, parent-teacher associations, student councils, youth organisations, religious bodies, and NGOs. The objective of these meetings is to show that the citizens of BiH support the reform of education in order to shape a brighter future for their children. The first such round table resulted in a broad consensus on the urgent need for some form of framework curriculum, which at this stage is totally rejected by the HDZ and the SDS.
- Civil Society: Efforts continued to assist local NGOs in becoming more politically active. Local NGOs are proving increasingly willing and capable partners in supporting the return of refugees and displaced persons, now conducting increasingly ambitious efforts on their own initiative, though generally still requiring considerable international assistance. Some NGOs have contributed in the OSCE-led process of educating citizens about electoral systems and gathering their input for the new election law. After reception of substantive comments from the Council of Europe and the International Centre for not-for-Profit Laws (ICNL), OHR finalised efforts to present to the legislators in both Entities as well as at the State level, draft legislation on Associations and Foundations. Substantive comments received from the Council of Europe and the International Centre for not-for-Profit Laws (ICNL) were included. In parallel an ad hoc working group, consisting of representatives of local NGOs and the Ministry of Justice of the RS, discussed and finalised draft legislation in the same area thereby taking responsibility and ownership. The two processes are being coordinated by OHR.
- Gender: Women throughout the south-eastern Europe signed an appeal demanding an equal and active role for women in developing and implementing the Stability Pact, presented in Sarajevo in July. The appeal listed a number of common problems faced by women throughout the entire region, including the under-representation of women in political decision-making (7% average in parliaments) as well as poverty and unemployment among women, which trigger human rights violations such as trafficking in women. The appeal demanded that these issues be urgently addressed, including ensuring that women become equal partners in all levels of development and implementation of the Stability Pact. The Special Coordinator of the European Union for the Stability Pact expressed his support.
- The IPTF Commissioner issued on 30 August an Interim Directive to address inadequate mechanisms of police raids against locations of believed prostitution and to stop illegal deportations of trafficked persons by local authorities. On 6 September, OHR and the Gender Co-ordinating Group held a meeting with representatives of the Ministries of Interior of both Entities, the Minister of Justice of the Federation and representatives from the BIH Ministry of Communication. The aim was to address comprehensively trafficking in persons, to increase government responsibility and to identify mechanisms of support by the international community. As a result, a detailed list of responsibilities and tasks of government authorities has been agreed upon, which includes agreement on issues such as the need of all political institutions of BiH to fight organised crime, the need to protect victims of forced prostitution and to improve the situation through new or amended legislation.
- Social and Economic Rights: OHR remains highly concerned by the perpetuation of violations of economic and social rights, usually id the form of discriminatory practices. Such violations are often based on ethnic and political grounds and also frequently target returnees.
- A major obstruction to the resolution of the issue of discrimination problem in employment remains the weakness of the rule of law, namely the non-application or abusive application of the law, and the paralysis of administrative and legal remedies which are either inaccessible, inefficient or subjected to political pressure. The economic circumstances are also conducive to the covering up of abuses and to impunity. However, a few significant steps were taken. In July, the Human Rights Chamber set a precedent by issuing its very first decision regarding discrimination in employment (Zahirovic v. BiH and FBiH). On the legislative side, a positive aspect of the new Federation Labour Law, adopted on 5 October, is the rather comprehensive anti-discrimination provision it contains. But it is obviously not sufficient in itself and will have to be supplemented and reinforced by various measures.
- Concerning disability issues, in June, under the direction of the Co-ordination
Group on Economic and Social Rights, OXFAM organised a meeting on the promotion and protection of the rights of disabled persons. This initiative was prompted off by the imminent adoption of the law on the basic rights of civilian victims of war and families with children, which establishes a distinction between the various categories of disabled persons, granting priority to war disabled persons over non-war disabled persons. Since then, a coalition of associations of disabled persons - the BiH Coalition for Equal Opportunities for Disabled Persons - was born and has been convening monthly in order to establish a solidly co-ordinated strategy for more efficient lobbying.
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