Headlines
- December 10th, the International Day of Human Rights – on this occasion, the House of Human Rights held the session in Sarajevo today
- Srebrenica women warned of breaching of their human rights with an half an hour peaceful protest
- Summit of the European Union in Helsinki
- Soros Foundation awarded scholarships to the best students of the humanities
Sarajevo
The International Day of Human Rights, December 10th, was marked by several non-governmental organisations in Bosnia and Herzegovina. International officials and obudspersons emphasised an enormous number of cases where human rights had been breached. Women, refugees from the Podrinje area, gathered in order to remind authorities on missing members of their families, they still do not know nothing about. However, no one of local politicians gave their statements regarding December 10th. The BiH House of Human Rights announced some of their decisions today. However, judges of the BiH House of Human Rights agree that the implementation of their decisions up to date was not satisfactory. The report was produced by OBN reporter, Amarildo Gutic.
Srebrenica
Today, the High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, issued a Legal Opinion declaring the de facto municipality of Skelani unconstitutional, and consequently abolished it. The so-called municipality of Skelani was created by the National Assembly of Republika Srpska in 1992. The reason for making of the decision was that the unrecognized authority in the southern Skelani settlement of the municipality of Srebrenica had a negative influence on he work of the newly-established joint municipal administration of Srebrenica. It also hampered Srebrenica’s chances for economic recovery and the creation of jobs. The Provisional Election Commission decided today that the municipality elections in Srebrenica will not be held on April 8th 2000, but in October. The report was produced by OBN reporter, Vedran Persic.
Mostar
Croat officials in the Neretva Canton will stop all contacts with representatives of the International Community by December 17th. This was decided by the Canton Board of the HDZ party. The HDZ explained the decision on a one week break with a need for more fair approach towards Croat people and their interest. The report was produced by OBN reporter from Mostar, Pejo Gasparevic.
Banja Luka
Although recently dismissed Banja Luka Mayor, Djordje Umicevic, asked that the Town Assembly to take a position about his dismissal, this did not happened. There was not enough number of representatives at the Assembly. Djordje Umicevic passed over his authorities to his Deputy and announced that his party would offer a new candidate for the Banja Luka Mayor next week. The candidacy will have to be approved by the High Representative and the OSCE. The report was produced by OBN reporter from Banja Luka, Biljana Arsic.
World
The last Summit of the European Union in this millennium has begun in the capital of Finland. Leaders of the EU brought a decision to give Turkey, long awaited, status of a candidate for the membership in the Union. This was followed by a report on Chechenia. Moscow offered to Chechen leadership negotiations on the evacuation of civilians from the Chechen capital, Grozny. The report on current events in the world was produced by OBN journalist, Zeljka Lekic.
Banja Luka
The President of the Social Workers Party of Croatia, Stipe Suvar, visited Banja Luka today. He met with the RS Socialist Party President, Zivko Radisic, and with the representatives of Serbs, refugees from Croatia. The report was produced by OBN reporter, Sanela Zivkovic.
Belgrade
The International Day of Human Rights in Serbia was marked with the protests against the regime of Slobodan Milosevic. Non-governmental organisations, students and opposition parties announced they organised protests on December 10th due to breaching of human rights in Serbia, punishing of independent media and dismissing of those university professors who oppose to Milosevic’s regime. The report from Belgrade for TV INFO was produced by Danica Ilic.
Zagreb
Several dozens representatives of the women section of Croatian Independent Syndicate and the representatives of women non-governmental associations marked December 10th, the International Day of Human Rights. They protested due to a difficult economic position of workers in the country, especially women. The report from Zagreb for OBN was produced by Gordana Simonovic.
Sarajevo
Srebrenica women held a peaceful protest in the center of Sarajevo today. Some 10,000 people had been taken away from the Podrinje area during the war. Destiny of the most of them has never been found out and some 100,000 family members still search for them. The report was produced by OBN reporter, Anes Alic.
Banja Luka
The High Representative in BiH, Wolfgang Petritsch, decided to extend the deadline for submitting state-owned apartments claims in the RS by four months. The new deadline is April 19th 2000. According to the information announced by the UN representatives, not even 1% of the total number of submitted property claims in Banja Luka was solved. The report was produced by OBN reporter from Banja Luka, Suzana Vukcevic.
Mostar
Ombudspersons in Mostar have not been satisfied with the process of property claims solving. Politics interfere in the work of municipality officials. This was one of the main reasons for the implementation of only 22 claims out of 6,044 submitted during this year in West Mostar. In East Mostar, 64 claims were implemented out of 1,462. The report was produced by OBN reporter from Mostar, Denis Vila.
This was followed by a report on the international organisations press conference held today in Mostar. The main topic of today’s press conference was marking of the International Day of Human Rights in the world, OBN reporter from Mostar, Mirsad Behram, confirmed.
Sarajevo
A piece on two children, refugees from Kosovo, and breaching of children’s rights was produced by OBN reporter, Mirna Sadikovic. Pupils of elementary schools in the BiH Federation organised an art exhibition in order to mark the tenth anniversary of the Children Convention.
This was followed by a piece on the handicapped painter, Stjepan Perkovic, exhibition in Vitez. The report was produced by OBN reporter from the area, Branka Vrebac.
Sport
A piece on preparations for the Indoor Football Tournament “Sarajevo 99” which will begin in four days, and whose media sponsor will be OBN, was followed by a report on the European football matches.