OHR and OSCE wish to express their concern that although revalidation commissions reviewing the legality of revalidations of occupancy rights allocated between 1992 and 1998 have now been formally appointed throughout most of BiH, they have by and large not yet begun to function effectively. In order to facilitate the process of revalidation review, OHR and OSCE therefore wish to set out very clearly their expectations of the authorities at all levels of government in this regard. The revalidation process is essential because there are still a significant number of illegally allocated unclaimed apartments that need to be made available as alternative accommodation.
On 26 July 2002, Ambassador Donald S. Hays, the OHR Principal Deputy High Representative, and Ambassador Robert M. Beecroft, OSCE Head of Mission wrote both Entity Prime Ministers the following letter emphasizing the urgent issue of legal review of revalidations. The letter sets out several concrete expectations that the OHR and OSCE expect BiH authorities at all levels to respect and implement.
In addition to these expectations, OHR and OSCE urge the responsible authorities to immediately take steps to ensure appropriate compensation to all those involved in the revalidation review process whose duties in this regard are above and beyond the scope of their regular work.
In many cases, the failure to resolve this issue has blocked the work of Revalidation Commissions. This failure jeopardizes the ability of the Entity authorities to complete this process within legal deadlines.
OHR and OSCE urge the Entity authorities to demonstrate their commitment to rule of law by resolving these issues and expeditiously completing the process of revalidation review.