OHR Press Releases

The High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, on Thursday issued a Decision amending the BiH Election Law. Under this Decision, the High Representative has reduced the statutory time period for notification to be sent by the BiH Election Commission to all competent authorities, from 170 days to 169 days prior to the holding of an election.

The High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, reiterates today that the deadline for the implementation of the Constitutional Court Decision on the constituent peoples in both Entities in accordance with the letter and spirit of the Mrakovica-Sarajevo Agreement of 27 March 2002 will expire tonight.

The High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, in a letter sent today to RS Vice-President Dragen Cavic, replied to concerns raised by Mr Cavic regarding the constitutional amendments in the Federation and the status of the constituent peoples in the Cantons of the Federation. The High Representative agreed that the letter and spirit of the Mrakovica [...]

The High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, today issued two Decisions lifting the 4 December 2001 freeze on the Republika Srpska law on socially owned apartment privatisation. The freeze, imposed by the High Representative, affected the privatisation of apartments to which new occupancy rights had been issued after 1 April 1992.

At around 13.30 today, an OHR car carrying three German bodyguards, employed by Internationale Bodyguard und Sicherheitsagentur, on a duty trip was involved in a fatal collision with another car near Visoko. The two occupants of the other car were killed. One occupant of the OHR car is in critical condition; the other two are being treated for thei [...]

The High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, the BiH Minister for Human Rights and Refugees, Krešimir Zubak, the Head of Mission of the OSCE in BiH, Robert Beecroft and representatives from other international organisations, BiH human rights institutions and domestic NGOs met today at the OHR, where they reviewed and endorsed ‘Human Righ [...]

On 20 March 2002, the Council of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted a Resolution (Res (2002) 5) inviting Bosnia and Herzegovina to become a member of the Council of Europe. This Resolution was adopted notably in the light of the Opinion regarding Bosnia and Herzegovina's application for membership in the Council of Europe, which was adopted [...]

The High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, this morning in Sarajevo met with the Austrian President, Thomas Klestil. The High Representative informed the Austrian President about recent political developments in Bosnia and Herzegovina, especially with regard to the reform of the Entity Constitutions and the reform of the judicial system. He stres [...]

As property law implementation begins to speed up, following the recent amendments, the agencies of the Property Law Implementation Plan, the OHR, OSCE, UNHCR, CRPC and UNMIBH, note that misunderstandings remain regarding the entitlements of occupants of claimed or abandoned property.

Following the adoption of constitutional amendments by the RS National Assembly on 4 April 2002, the High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, today met with the Steering Board of the Peace Implementation Council at ambassadorial level in Sarajevo.