OHR Press Releases

Promoting a better business environment in BiH - one that will allow small and medium-sized enterprises to prosper and thereby create desperately needed new jobs - must be a policy priority of the BiH authorities, and will be a focus of the new High Representative's mandate, the High Representative, Christian Schwarz-Schilling said today, following [...]

The failure today by the Joint Harmonization Committee of the BiH Parliament to reach consensus on the final text of the State Ombudsman Law “could hamper BiH's prospects within the Stabilisation and Association (SAA) process”, Senior Deputy High Representative Martin Ney said today. “Today's failure has damaged a key BiH institution dedicated to p [...]

Christian Schwarz-Schilling succeeded Paddy Ashdown as High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina at midday today.

The High Representative today announced that he is lifting the ban on 3 individuals who were removed in June 2004 for ICTY obstruction. The individuals are Goran Popovic, Zeljko Jungic and Svetozar Radulovic. The High Representative underlined that this is part of the ongoing process started in March 2005 to review removal decisions on a case by ca [...]

The High Representative, Paddy Ashdown, has appointed Peter Korneck as international prosecutor to the Special Department for War Crimes of the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Senior Deputy High Representative Martin Ney today called on the members of the BiH Parliament Joint Harmonization Committee to reach agreement on the text of the State Ombudsman Law. The Committee will meet on Wednesday to make a final effort to reach consensus on accepting the House of Peoples’ version of the Law. The State Ombudsman Law was adop [...]

The High Representative today announced that the RS has repeatedly failed to answer numerous requests for access to key archives during the 1992-1995 conflict. The archives in question include documents used by Radovan Karazdic's staff, and of minutes of the VRS Supreme Command. The ICTY has also asked for an explanation for the disappearance of th [...]

The High Representative, Paddy Ashdown, welcomed the launch of Stabilisation and Association Agreement talks between Bosnia and Herzegovina and the European Union, scheduled to begin on 25 January, as a major step forward in BiH's long journey from postwar recovery to full integration in the European family of states.

The OHR fully supports the statement issued by NATO HQ Sarajevo (NHQSa) earlier today, in which NHQSa expressed concern over recent statements reportedly made by one member of the BiH Presidency.

The High Representative, Paddy Ashdown, held a meeting this morning at the OHR with eight former police officers, representing the former police officers who had gathered to demonstrate outside the OHR.