OHR Press Releases

“Bosnia and Herzegovina’s economic environment is better than you think and the country is most definitely open for business,” the High Representative and EU Special Representative, Christian Schwarz-Schilling, told participants at the annual Check In, Expectations, Myths and Realities Conference on South Eastern Europe being held in Graz, Austria, [...]

Bosnia and Herzegovina’s tripartite Presidency, that will be inaugurated on Monday, was a complex response to a complex challenge that works well when its members represent not just those who voted for them but all citizens, the High Representative and EU Special Representative, Christian Schwarz-Schilling, wrote in his weekly newspaper column.

The High Representative and EU Special Representative (HR/EUSR) Christian Schwarz-Schillingmet yesterday in Sarajevo with BiH Minister for Human Rights and Refugees (MHRR) Mirsad Kebo to discuss the status of the issue of certain police officials denied certification by IPTF.

The High Representative and EU Special Representative (HR/EUSR), Christian Schwarz-Schilling met today in Zagreb with Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader and yesterday with Croatia’s President, Stjepan Mesic.

The overriding objective of every politician in Bosnia and Herzegovina should be to put an end to poverty, the High Representative and EU Special Representative, Christian Schwarz-Schilling, wrote in his weekly newspaper column. “To create jobs, to attract investment and to encourage new businesses to open their doors, and to start making poverty [...]

Justice, Truth, Peace and Forgiveness are four elements in a reconciliation process that is indispensable for post-war recovery, the Senior Deputy High Representative, Peter Bas-Backer, said in Belgrade on Friday. “There can be no reconciliation without justice, and the primacy of justice cannot be avoided or replaced by anything else,” Ambassad [...]

Freedom of speech and freedom of assembly are cornerstones of a functioning democracy, the OHR said in a statement issued today. Inflammatory threats, however, have no place in democratic dialogue. The OHR was responding to a newspaper report that supporters of amendments to the BiH Frozen Foreign Currency Savings Law will organise demonstrations i [...]

The OHR calls on elected delegates of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina to reverse an administrative manoeuvre that leaves former parliamentarians much better off than the rest of the population.

The ability of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s new political leaders to carry out difficult reforms in coming weeks and months will be indicative of their willingness and capacity to assume ownership of the political process and govern in the absence of the OHR, the High Representative and EU Special Representative, Christian Schwarz-Schilling, wrote toda [...]

Stressing its renewed commitment to Bosnia and Herzegovina yesterday the EU Foreign Ministers expressed “particular concern over the lack of progress towards the implementation of the October 2005 agreement on police restructuring.”