Today, the High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, and the PDHR, Ralph Johnson, met with President Izetbegovic to express his deep concern at recent press reports suggesting that government officials and members of the judiciary should disregard the law and not issue eviction orders in certain cases concerning refugees.
The High Representative stated that the fundamental principles underlying the property laws are absolute and unconditional. One person’s individual right to return and property does not depend on another person’s right to the same. These two issues cannot be linked together.
The property laws do take into account the humanitarian needs of refugees and displaced persons who are not yet in a position to return home. According to the law, no-one will be evicted onto the street.
The High Representative will continue to support those local officials who are working very hard under difficult circumstances to provide solutions in accordance with the rule of law. He urges everyone to fulfill their responsibilities under the law and work constructively to solve problems that arise in the process.
The High Representative stressed that while there may well be specific difficult cases, Annex 7 of the Dayton Accords was absolutely clear in the rights it restored to people; the right of displaced persons and refugees to return to their homes of origin, and the right to have restored to them property of which they were deprived during the war.