REPORT ON ACTIVITIES OF THE
HELSINKI COMMITTEE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN BH
(January – December 2000)

 

 

In this period, the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BH was engaged in promotion and protection of human rights on a regular basis and it focused on monitoring of the state of media, realisation of women’s human rights, rendering of legal assistance and monitoring of conditions for fair and democratic (municipal and general) elections held in April and November 2000.

In addition to these activities, the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BH was initiator and co-founder of the Coalition of Non-Governmental Organisations in BH “IZBORI 2000” (ELECTIONS 2000), and one of the main activists of this organisation. The results of one-year work of the Coalition are that it has about 100 organisations-members from the entire territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina in a network, interconnected well.

In November 2000, for its work and achieved results, the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BH was nominated for the first annual award “Dayton Peace”, on the occasion of the commemoration of the fifth anniversary of the Dayton Peace Accord. This year’s winner of the “Dayton Peace” award was Bill Clinton, President of the United Stated of America.

Statements, open letters, fact-finding missions, press conferences

In view of the fact that the United Nations Assembly, at its 94 plenary session, held on 23 December 1994, passed the Resolution No. 94/184 by which a period from 1 January 1995 to 31 December 2004 was proclaimed a Decade for Education in the Field of Human Rights, the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BH and the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Republika Srpska sent on 7 January 2000 a joint letter to the highest officials in BH and its both entities proposing that joint activities be initiated for inclusion of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the realisation of the programme Decade for Education in Human Rights of the United Nations, stating at the same time, that similar activities are in course in democratic countries.

On 11 January 2000, in the Human Rights House of Sarajevo, the Committee held a press conference to inform the public of the report on the state of media in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the year 1999 under the title “Position of Media in BH in the Context of Human Rights”. The general conclusion was that the media in BH were seemingly free and that the journalists were more frequently targets of physical assaults, pressures and threats. The public met the press conference as well as the report itself with the great interest.

On the basis of the information the Committee received from its monitor in Drvar, the Committee on 12 January 2000 sent a letter to Mister Detlef Buwitt, the IPTF Commissioner, informing him that three members of IPTF were living in a house occupied by an expelled person from Kakanj and that the real owner, who had been expelled from his house during the war operations, was still in exile without possibility to repossess his property. It was demanded from Mr. Buwitt to do all necessary things in order that the IPTF members move out from the house, thus creating conditions for return of real owner to his property.

Following a bomb attack in which a shop owned by an activist of an opposition party in Buzim was targeted, on 18 February 2000, the Helsinki Committee issued press release expressing its concern and strongly condemning this terrorist act. It was demanded from the governmental authorities to create conditions in the entire Bosnia and Herzegovina under which it would be impossible to have such events as in Buzim and which would allow election campaign and elections to pass in a democratic atmosphere.

Continuing with a practice of organising and realising the fact-find missions in some places and regions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the representatives of the Helsinki Committee visited Velika Kladusa on 12 and 13 February and discussed the issue of human rights with the representatives of the local non-governmental organisations, individuals – activists in the third sector, and representatives of then authorities, with the aim to get insight into the state of human rights in that place. After the two-day mission, the representatives of the Committee informed the public of their findings through radio and TV broadcast and through interviews given to some dailies and weeklies.

In a reaction to a very difficult humanitarian situation in which several hundred of returnees were found in the place of Kopaci near Gorazde (they were living under tents, awaiting to return to their pre-war homes and properties for more than four months), the representatives of the Helsinki Committee on 24 February 2000, realised a one-day fact-finding mission in Kopaci and Gorazde. An open letter was sent to the High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Wolfgang Petritsch, informing him of a very difficult humanitarian situation in which the returnees were being found, asking him to do all in his power to finally start the process of return of people of Kopaci to their homes.

As one of the initiators for establishment of the Coalition of Non-Governmental Organisations in BH “IZBORI 2000”, The Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BH on 25 February 2000, convened the Founding Assembly of the Coalition. The basic aim of the existence and work of the Coalition is to include actors of civic society and non-governmental organisations from the entire territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina in all the aspects of electoral process and in the process of adoption of the permanent election law. 26 non-governmental organisations from entire Bosnia and Herzegovina took part in the work of the Founding Assembly of the Coalition.

As a result of a continuous monitoring of municipal elections, activities of the political parties, the Committee issued on 5 April 2000 a press release giving its assessment of the conditions for holding of elections on 8 April 2000. The statement emphasised that more tolerant atmosphere was present in the election activities of the political parties. It was concluded that conditions for fair and democratic elections were more favourable than in all the former elections held after the Dayton Peace Accord.

A day after the International Conference on Women’s Human Rights, on 16 April 2000, the International Helsinki Federation and the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BH at the press conference held in the Human Rights House of Sarajevo issued a press release in which it was stated that there was a great concern for the state of human rights in the region, particularly worsening of the status of women generally in the post-communist countries in the post-war region of the former Yugoslav countries.

Following a vulgar assault against a group of Roma people in Banovici, by a group of SDA members (having as consequence serious bodily injuries of five Roma people) because they had voted for SDP at the municipal elections, the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BH and the Centre for Protection of Minorities’ Rights issued a press release on 25 April 2000 condemning this act of violence against the members of the Roma national minority assessing it as an expression of threatening the position of minorities and their rights, and as unacceptable attack against the political opponents.

On 17 May 2000, the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BH issued a press release most sharply condemning the violation of fundamental human rights of civilians in Chechenya. Doubtlessly, it was found out that the Russian Army, during the operations in Chechenya, violated the Geneva Convention on Human Rights as well as the International Humanitarian Law. The statements emphasised that the non-governmental organisations, including the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BH, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, International Helsinki Federation as well as about 20 more similar organisations, initiated procedure for raising inter-state charges against the Russian government before the Court for Human Rights in Strasbourg.

On 25 May 2000, the representatives of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BH made one-day fact-finding mission in Mostar, on the occasion of which they discussed with the representatives of the non-governmental sector and the representatives of the authorities of the city of Mostar. It was concluded that much greater engagement would be needed, both of non-governmental sector and the authorities in order to improve the state of human rights in this city and to overcome still present interethnic tensions.

The representatives of the Helsinki Committee, on 1 June 2000, realised a one-day fact-finding mission to Foca. It was found that the state of human rights in this region was on the very low level, and that much efforts and endeavours should be exerted by primarily local authorities and by a civic sector as well in order to improve the situation. It was pointed at the fact that by that moment none Bosniak returned to the city of Foca.

In its 14 June 2000 press release, the Helsinki Committee strongly condemned physical assault and brutal threats to which the journalist of Slobodna Bosna, Edin Avdic, was exposed to. The press release expressed concern over the fact that the majority of perpetrators of assaults against journalists and media houses were still at large and out of reach of justice and law although their names were known and it was stated that power wielders, protecting perpetrators of assaults against the fundamental human rights, were covering up numerous ill-deeds committed in the last several years throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Continuing to realise fact-finding missions, the representatives of the Helsinki Committee on 17 June 2000, made one-day visit to Trebinje and discussed with the representatives of local non-governmental organisations who informed them of the current situation of human rights in that region. The joint assessment was that the situation concerning the realisation and protection of human rights was very bad.

Because of frequent pressures to which a daily Dnevni avaz was exposed to, the Helsinki Committee issued a press release on 21 June 2000, appealing on all the political authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina to abandon to practice the methods applied by undemocratic and authoritarian regimes in our direct neighbourhood. It also asked that such environment be created to enable free work of media outlets as necessary condition for building of democracy and for respect for human rights. The press release was submitted to the Council of Europe, the Office of the High Representative in BH, International Helsinki Federation, OSCE Mission to BH, Reporters sans frontiers, “Article 19”, and to the Ministry of Interior of the BH Federation.

On 24 June 2000, one-day fact-finding mission was made to Drvar. After the visit, a letter was sent to the Head of the OSCE Mission to BH, Robert Barry, in which he was asked to, pursuant to his authorities, make influence on the realisation of the two issues very important for Drvar, as follows: quick constitution of municipal bodies and a visit of any of the highest representatives of the international community to this town in order to calm down the situation, because the representatives of the Committee got the impression that the representatives of the international community working in Drvar were not at the level of the tasks assigned to them.

Having monitored the state of media in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2000 as well, on 26 July 2000, the Helsinki Committee had a press conference in the Human Rights House of Sarajevo, giving its assessment of the state and position of media in the first half of the year 2000. The basic statement was that the position of media and media workers was still difficult and that the number of threats and assaults against the journalists and media houses was as much as four times greater in comparison to the previous year. Public met with great interest both the press conference and the press release.

On the eve of the pre-election campaign for general elections in November, the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BH and the Coalition of NGO in BH “IZBORI 2000” issued a press release presenting results obtained in a public survey, conducted with the assistance of the Mareco Index Bosnia agency, with 2,500 citizens from 100 municipalities in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The results of the public survey showed that 81,8% of citizens intended to vote at the municipal elections, while 58,7% of the total number of questioned citizens were expecting positive changes after the elections, 4,5% of them expected negative changes and 36,7% did not expect any changes. More than one third of the questioned citizens, more precisely 38% needed additional information on the way of voting on the November elections.

In the period from 1st to 3rd October 2000, the representatives of Helsinki Committee visited, within a fact-finding mission, the area of Una-Sana canton. They visited the following cities: Cazin, Bihac, Velika Kladusa and discussed with the representatives of the local authorities and with the representatives of the non-governmental organisations from that region. On the last day of the visit, 3 October 2000, press conference was held in Bihac and the public was informed of the impressions of the Helsinki Committee on the present state of human rights in this region. It was stated that the progress was made, however, the state of human rights was still far from the satisfactory.

On 10 October 2000, in the Human Rights House of Sarajevo, the Helsinki Committee organised a meeting between a delegation of the International War Crimes Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and the representatives of domestic and international non-governmental organisations dealing with the issue of missing persons. The possibilities of improvement of mutual co-operation in resolving the issue of missing persons were discussed during the meeting.

Within the framework of the monitoring of pre-election campaign for general elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BH and the Coalition of NGO in BH “IZBORI 2000”, on 19 October issued press release following the demonstrations organised by Serb high school student nationalists in Brcko. The release condemned the events in Brcko and estimated that they did not contribute to the normalisation of the state in Bosnia and Herzegovina and that they warmed up national intolerance. The release read that the Committee expected from the Provisional Election Commission of the OSCE as well as from the Election Appellate Sub-Commission to undertake measures for establishing the responsibility of the political parties that were taking part on the general elections for the mentioned events and to undertake concrete measures against the organisers of the events who brought into question a democratic character of the general elections.

On the eve of the general elections, the Helsinki Committee and the Coalition of NGO in BH “IZBORI 2000” held a press conference in the Human Rights House of Sarajevo on 8 November 2000, presenting assessment of the pre-election campaign. The joint estimate was that this was the dirties campaign ever since multi-party elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The campaign was rich with untruth facts on political opponents and inflammable speech and speech of hatred.

Two days after the general elections in BH, the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BH and the Coalition of Non-Governmental Organisations in BH “IZBORI 2000” issued a press release containing the assessment that these general elections were the best organised elections since the signing of the Dayton Peace Accord. Many failures that had been noticed in the latest elections did not repeat this time. The voting lists were updated so that relatively small number of voters could not found themselves on the lists. Excepting couple of voting polls, all the polls were opened in time and were supplied with sufficient quantity of election materials. It was not over-crowded at the polls. The release particularly emphasised the issue of security on the voting day as being at the high level. Some irregularities were noted but did not significantly affect the outcome of elections.

On the occasion of the 10 December 2000, International Human Rights Day, the Helsinki Committee issued a press release in which it tried to draw the attention of the domestic public and future government officials to the fact that Bosnia and Herzegovina was still today one of the European countries with the most numerous violations of human rights. The issue of missing persons was also pointed out. According to the information of the Red Cross there are about 20,000 missing persons. An appeal was sent to all those who are politically accountable in Bosnia and Herzegovina to make efforts in order to improve the state of human rights, and put the light on the fate of the missing persons in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

On the same day, 10th December 2000, the representatives of Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BH together with the representatives and members of several associations of missing persons peacefully marched in front of the “Eternal Fire” in Sarajevo, asking from the highest representatives of domestic authorities as well as from the representatives of the international community to make all efforts to finally resolve the issue of missing persons in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Seminars, round-tables, public debates, training programmes

In the organisation of the Committee, on 25 January 2000, a round-table was held on the topic: “Who Prevents Return?” in the presence of representatives of domestic non-governmental organisations, representatives of the Ministry of Displaced Persons and Refugees of the BH Federation, Board for Implementation of the “Sarajevo Declaration”, OSCE and OHR. The intention of this round-table was to define who in Bosnia and Herzegovina really prevented tens thousands of refugees and displaced persons from returning.

On 28 March 2000, in the Human Rights House of Sarajevo, on the occasion of the observance of the fifth anniversary since the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the Committee organised a round-table on this topic. The key-speaker was Prof. Dr. Nada-Ler Sofronic, the renowned activist in the field of protection of women’s human rights, and 13 representatives of the non-governmental organisations dealing with the issue of protection of women’s human rights took part in the work.

Within the realisation of the project Monitoring of the State of Media in Bosnia and Herzegovina, on 31 March 2000, a round table was organised on the topic: “Rights to Ask for, Receive and Disseminate Information”. The key speakers were: Kristen Tellin, General Director of IMC, Pejo Gasparevic, a journalist of HINA, and Regan McCarthy, representative of the OSCE Office for Media. 15 representatives of OHR, OSCE, IMC, IREX ProMedia, journalist’s associations, and media outlets from entire BH took part in the work of the round table. It was concluded that it would be necessary in Bosnia and Herzegovina to adopt law regulations on freedom of information in accordance with the highest international standards.

On 14 and 15 April in Sarajevo, in a co-operation with the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights, the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BH organised a two-day International Conference on women’s human rights under the name: “Obstacles to Promotion of Women’s Human Rights”. The representatives from 14 countries of Southeastern and Central Europe took part in the conference as well as the representatives of UNHCHR, OSCE, ICTY and OMCT (World Organisation Against Torture). At the conference, the state of women’s human rights in the region was discussed, focusing on some issues such as: domestic violence, trafficking in women, issue of rape and two very important issues: women in policy and women in economics. It was concluded that in all the countries of the region, when speaking of the women’s human rights, all problems are the same, and that only regional approach to these problems can be efficient for its overcoming. 70 participants took part in the work of the conference.

On 26 and 27 April, in the organisation of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BH and the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Republika Srpska, two one-day seminars were held in Sarajevo and Bijeljina respectively on the topic: “How to Prevent Domestic Violence – Experience of Austria”. In addition to the representatives of the non-governmental organisations from Austria, and representatives of NGO from both BH Entities, the seminar was also attended by the representatives of judiciary, centres for social work and ministry of interior and remarkable number of individuals – experts in the field of psychology, pedagogy and law. It was stated that there was a growing tendency in domestic violence, particularly against women and children, which was a direct consequence of inadequate legal protection. Therefore, joint initiative was given for reform of legislation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, of Law on Criminal Proceedings, Family Legislation and Law on Civic Proceedings.

In the period from 29 June to 1 July 2000, international seminar was held in the Athens on the topic: Co-ordinated action Against Trafficking in Human Beings in Southeast Europe”. Mrs. Nada-Ler Sofronic, a member of the Steering Board of the Helsinki Committee, took part in the work of the seminar on behalf of the Helsinki Committee. On that occasion, Dr. Ler Sofronic read a paper on the topic: “Trafficking in Human Beings in Bosnia and Herzegovina”, which was met with great interest by present participants.

A seminar for representatives of the youth of the Coalition of NGO in BH “IZBORI 2000” was held in the Human Rights House of Sarajevo from 2 to 4 June 2000. The seminar was attended by the young people from 17 non-governmental organisations, members of the Coalition of NGO in BH “IZBORI 2000”. The aim of the seminar was to agree a joint strategy for organisation of the election public campaign with special emphasise on:

a) Registration of voters
b) Re-registration of voters
c) Checking of data on the voting lists in the centres for registration, and campaigns on education and animation of the electoral body, particularly young people on the very day of elections.

A representative of “Glas 99” from Croatia, Lalic Bojan, conveying his experience in election campaign in Croatia, took part in the work of the seminar.

Within the framework of the project “Monitoring of the State of Media in BH” one-day seminar on the topic: “Freedom of Press and Speech and International Legal Regulations in this Field” was held on 15 June 2000. The representatives of electronic and written media outlets from both entities took part in the work of the seminar. The key-speakers on the seminar were Mr. Zoran Udovicic, Director of Media Plan and Mr. Bob Gillet, Director of Irex ProMedia.

Within the activities of the Coalition of non-governmental organisations in BH “IZBORI 2000”, one-day seminar was held in Trebinje on 5 July on the topic: “The Role of NGO in BH in Election Campaign”. The seminar was attended by 56 representatives of the organisations – members of the Coalition who discussed a joint strategy in leading central public campaign of the Coalition members in election process, animation and education of the electoral body, registration and re-registration, checking the evidence on the voting lists as well as identification of the electoral bodies.

One day training programme on the topic: Organisation of public debates within a non-party campaign on the eve of elections was held on 16 September 2000, in Zenica. 10 regional co-ordinators for implementation of the non-party public campaign through public debates, as well as some moderators, who would implement them, took part at the training. Representatives of two non-governmental organisations from Croatia “Glass 99” and “GONG” also took part in the training, conveying their experience in organising non-party public debates in Croatia in 1999.

Within the Committee’s activities on education of young people in the field of human rights, two-day School of Human Rights for Young People was organised in Neum, on 19 and 20 September. 15 young people from the entire Bosnia and Herzegovina took part in the work of the School, and lecturers were the renowned experts from this field, and renowned professors of the BH universities.

In the organisation of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BH, two-day symposium was organised in Mostar on 29 and 30 September on the topic: “International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia – Facts and Models for Co-operation”. In addition to 65 municipal and cantonal judges, presidents of the cantonal courts, representatives of the Ministry of Justice of the BH Federation, representatives of some non-governmental organisations, there were 6 guests – high officials of ICTY from the Hague taking part in the work of the symposium. They were at the same time key speakers for some topics. The work of the symposium was covered by media.

Continuing with the activities in monitoring the state of media in BH, on 6 October 2000, the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BH organised a round table on the topic: “The Importance of the Law on Free Access to Information for the BH Citizens”. A joint appeal of the members of the Human Rights House of Sarajevo (the Committee is among them) was sent from the round table to the political parties represented in the Parliamentary Assembly of BH to pass the Law on Free Access to Information as soon as possible, which would present important step in the protection of human rights and which would be in accordance with the Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights as well as other international instruments the application of which is obligatory in Bosnia and Herzegovina pursuant to the Dayton Peace Accord.

One-day training for 49 regional co-ordinators and monitors under the title: “Education of Monitors for Monitoring Fair and Free Elections” was held in Sarajevo on 15 October 2000, within the framework of the activities of the Coalition of NGO in BH “IZBORI 2000”. During the training, two questions were focused at: duties and obligations of monitors during the monitoring on the day of elections, and monitoring of the work of media outlets. On that occasion, “Reminder for Work of Monitors”, made by the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BH, was distributed to the co-ordinators and monitors.

A seminar on human rights in the organisation of the IHF and Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BH was held in Neum on 1 and 2 December. 10 young people from the entire Bosnia and Herzegovina (Velika Kladusa, Bihac, Mostar, Sarajevo and Bijeljina) took part in the work of the seminar. During the seminar the following topics were discussed: “International Standards in the Field of Human Rights”, “Constitutional Basis for Respect for Human Rights in BH, State of Human Rights in BH and the Role of NGO in Protection of Human Rights” and “Rights of National Minorities”. The participants were very much interested in the subject matter and were very active. All the participants were given some literature: European Convention on Human Rights, General Declaration on Human Rights, the book of Jack Donnelly “International Human Rights” as well as three-language glossary on human rights.

Publishing activities

On the occasion of the commemoration of the fifth anniversary since the establishment of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BH, on 11 February 2000, a book “Five Years of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BH” containing all the documents the Committee has published in the first five years of its work, was published. The book was printed in domestic and English language.

The Committee assisted the non-governmental organisation “Protector” in promoting a book “Letter without Address” on 19 February 2000, in the Human Rights House of Sarajevo.

On 11 June 2000, English-French-Arabian-Bosnian Glossary of Human Rights was published. This glossary, the author of which is Delila Dizdarevic contains 8,000 terms from the field of human rights.

During the year 2000, the Committee has continued publishing bi-weekly bulletin on the state of human rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina called “Faxletter”. Total number of published issues is 22. The bulletin is being published in two languages, domestic and English. The bulletin was distributed by mail to about 100 addresses in Bosnia and Herzegovina and by e-mail to abroad, approximately to the same number of addresses. It could be found on Web page of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BH. During 2000, there were registered 115,051 visits to web page of the Committee, this speaking for itself on the interest for human rights, particularly among our citizens living abroad.

Co-operation with Other National Helsinki Committees and International Organisations

During the year 2000, the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BH has realised co-operation with many domestic and international non-governmental organisations of which we would like to point out already traditionally good and constructive co-operation with the Helsinki Committees in Sweden and Norway, International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights in Vienna, Helsinki Committees in Serbia, Croatia, Monte Negro. We would like to single out, within domestic non-governmental organisations, our co-operation with the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Republika Srpska, Centre for Protection of Minorities’ Rights, Circle 99, Centre for Development of Civic Society, Citizens’ Forum in Tuzla.

Sarajevo, 31 December 2000

REPORT
On Activities of Legal Counselling Service of the Helsinki Committee for
Human Rights in BH in Free Legal Assistance to Citizens
(Reporting period 1 January – 31 December 2000)

A professional Legal Counselling Service acts within the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BH and it processes complaints of the citizens on violation of human rights.

Most frequently, the citizens visited the Legal Counselling Service in person; more seldom they contacted the Service by mail.

In its work, the Legal Counselling Service processed a great number of cases of violation of human rights out of 14,000 received cases.

The received complaints refer to violations of the human rights of citizens throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina, however, the greatest number of the cases relates to violations committed in the Canton of Sarajevo.

In terms of space, the report will specially treat violations of the citizens’ human rights in the territory of the Canton of Sarajevo, Brcko District, other parts of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska.

As for the structure of violations of human rights, the largest number relates to the violations of the right to free use, i.e. to return the property (apartments, houses, land and similar), violations of the right to work, violations of the rights in the field of social protection, violations of the rights of war disabled persons, including their families, then violations of the rights in the privatisation, restitution and copyrights.

The method of work of the Legal Counselling Service is: first to process each individual case and very often to monitor the procedure before the courts and administration bodies, to contact the competent bodies, either in writing or directly, all this with the aim to resolve every individual case. In the reporting period, the Legal Counselling Service has been rendering free of charge legal assistance to citizens. We should point out here that the Service co-operated with the international organisations such as: the OSCE Mission to BiH, UNHCR Office, CRPC Office, Sarajevo Housing Committee, etc.

The cases reported on the violation of human rights of the citizens from the territory of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, excepting the Canton of Sarajevo, in their structure were almost identical as violations in the Canton of Sarajevo.

The number of reported cases is significantly smaller as compared to the Canton of Sarajevo.

The Service received from the territory of the Federation of BiH (except Canton of Sarajevo) 278 claims, from the territory of Jajce, Kiseljak, Kresevo, Tuzla, Zivinice, Banovici, Gradacac, Zenica, Zavidovici, Visoko, Maglaj, Mostar, Stolac, Capljina, Jablanica, Konjic, Gorazde, Bihac, Sanski Most, Drvar and Velika Kladusa.

The greatest number, 124 complaints, relates to return of private property and apartments. Generally speaking, violations of individual rights in this field are almost identical with the violations in the Canton of Sarajevo, we will discuss more later on. It is important to point out that in some areas of the Federation of BiH (Capljina, Mostar, Zenica), there are almost no significant changes in resolving the rights of refugees and displaced persons which implies return of property as well.

The cases reported on the violation of human rights of the citizens from the territory of the Republika Srpska mainly refer to the realisation of the rights of refugees and displaced persons, particularly to realisation of the right to return the property.

In the reporting period, the Service received 501 complaints from the citizens who were deprived of the rights in the territory of the Republika Srpska.

In some parts of the territory of Republika Srpska, e.g., almost the whole territory of Eastern Bosnia, there is almost no return of refugees and displaced persons.

Even in bigger cities, such as Banja Luka, a large number of people who had been expelled from their property during the war, but who remained to live in the same places, but under very bad conditions, can not repossess their property being occupied by other persons.

Despite the existence of the legal regulations for realisation of the right to reclaim the property, the rights of claimants are being constantly violated i.e. terms are not being met in decision making and in implementation of final decisions.

Violation of human rights in the territory of Brcko District. In the reporting period, the service received 101 complaints out of which 68 relate to violation of the rights to return of private property and 33 to violation of the rights to return socially- owned apartments.

In the reporting period, the Service was permanently co-operating with the representatives of the OHR in the work on these cases and we can conclude that in spite of the great interest of the international community in resolving return of refugees in this area, there was no significant progress made even in the year 2000.

Violation of human rights in the territory of the Canton of Sarajevo. The Service received 13,120 complaints.

The greatest number of cases (12, 987) relate to the violation of the right to return of apartments, according to the provisions of the Law on the Cessation of the Application of the Law on Abandoned Apartments.

133 complaints refer to the violation of the Law on the Cessation of the Application of the Law on Abandoned Apartments, in the ownership of the citizens.

Since the greatest number of violations of human rights refer to impossibility of the occupancy right holders to repossess their apartments, in this part of our report, we will point at some reasons for such situation, which are almost the same for the entire territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In respect to the Law on the Cessation of the Application of the Law on Abandoned Apartments that was passed in 1998, the claims for repossession of apartments could be filed until 04.10.1999. Although more than two years have passed from the time when the first claims for repossession were filed, in the Canton of Sarajevo, claims filed in 1998 have not yet been resolved.

A great number of claims from 1998 have not yet been processed and the great number of claims for which decisions were passed, was not administered.

As the major violation of human rights in this field, we would single out non-respect of terms prescribed by the Law, for all the phases of procedures. The Housing Office did not administer any claim without previous interventions by a claimant.

Some departments of the Housing Office introduced the methods of work that are contrary to regulations regulating this field.

The hearings are not being scheduled even one year or more after submission of the claims. The procedure in this phase lasts too long.

When the hearings are over, the decisions are not made for longer period of time, very often for one year.

The decisions made, very often do not contain essential elements for their implementation. During the first instance procedure, all relevant facts for passing legal decision are not being established.

Although the appeals on the first instance decisions do not postpone implementation, it often happens that the implementation of a decision is refused until the final phase of the appeal procedure.

The appeal procedure, conducted by the Ministry for Housing Affairs of the Canton of Sarajevo, lasts very long. Almost in no one case, second instance organ has not resolved the case in the merit, but has abolished first instance decisions and sends the case for repeated procedure.

A greater level of expertness is expected from the second instance organ, because it is, according to the law, obliged to give instructions to the first instance organ in a case of violation of procedure or material regulations.

A special form of violation of human rights is the obstruction of execution of decisions. According to the provisions of the existing law, the terms in which temporary occupants should leave the apartments is 15 days without any right for the temporary accommodation and 90 days term with the right of temporary user to accommodation.

In case when decision gives 15 days term for moving out of temporary occupant, i.e. in case of decision that has to be executed in 15 days term, we can generally say that no one decision was executed in shorter period than 3 months, even two years period.

Procedure in execution often means conducting of the administration procedure from the beginning, because in the previous procedure relevant facts for execution had not been determined.

The assessment of the state of human rights in respect of the Application of the Law on the Cessation of the Law on Abandoned Apartments concerning the claims filed by citizens is as follows:

All the reasons for above-mentioned violations of human rights can be described by the lack of political will to resolve the issue of repatriates.

There are evident obstructions in return, at the level of an administrator of the procedure and an officer of the Administration for Housing Affairs, but it is the consequence of the overall policy led at the higher levels.

All positive steps in this field happened as a product of pressures exerted by the international community.

Special problem in repossession of apartments of occupancy right holders is with the apartments in the ownership of the Federation Ministry of Defence. We can say that almost no progress was made in resolving the claims for repossession of apartments of the mentioned Ministry.

From the very beginning of the implementation of the Law on the Cessation of the Application of the Law on Abandoned Apartments, the obstruction was present in resolving the claims. This issue has become more complex, according to the opinion of the Service, with the discriminatory provision of the Article 3 of this Law. According to this provision, the right to repossess the apartment has not been given to occupancy right holders who had been active in Yugoslav Army service after 30 April 1991 and had not been BH citizens, i.e. if they had been BH citizens and stayed in Yugoslav Army after 14 December 1995. Such norm has brought one category of citizens and members of their families into unequal position in respect to other citizens, and it presents a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, as well as the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which forbids any form of discrimination (Article 2, item 4 of the BH Constitution). However, the mentioned norm is in force, and the Housing Office is mainly resolving the claims in such a way as to, when the norm is in question, deprive a claimant of the right to repossess the apartment. In the reporting period, no one procedure, indisputable and in accordance with the mentioned norm, was completed.

As for the violation of human rights of use, i.e. return of private property, we can say that already given assessment for the return of occupancy rights is valid for these procedures as well.

The procedures last very long, decisions passed are not executed, and all together affects the return of refugees to pre-war homes. We should also add here that temporary occupants, when moving out of the apartments and private houses, devastate them without being punished, and thereby bring the returnees into such a position not to be able to use their property for a longer period of time.

As we mentioned at the beginning of the report, there are violations of the right in respect to labour relations.

A great number of employees remained without possibility to return to job, according to the Law on Labour Relations, stipulation of the Article 143 of the Law. Further rights these persons are entitled to, according to this stipulation, can be realised only with great difficulties due to imprecise norms and regulations.

Finally, we would like to point out, that in 2000, the Service received a number of claims relating to the violation of the rights of citizens in the privatisation.

The major part of the claims in this field relates to the rights of citizens to buy the socially-owned apartments.

In this field, the violations of the rights can be seen in long procedures imposed by the owners of the apartments, competent Attorney’s Office and Municipal Court I in Sarajevo, which keep record of the purchased apartments in the books of contracts.

It has been observed that some owners of the apartments demand from the citizens to submit documentation that is not prescribed by the law, thereby making the purchase procedure longer.

In the privatisation process, according to the Law on Privatisation of Enterprises, some citizens addressed the Committee to ask for protection of their rights they had acquired during their work in some of the enterprises being the subject of privatisation.

The Service stated that there were many imprecision and ambiguities. In addition, we can conclude that the privatisation process very often is being carried out to the detriment of the workers by not giving value to their work experience, and their share in share holding companies.

The assessment of the state of human rights, given in this report, was made on the basis of the claims received from the citizens in the year 2000.

The Service of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BH deems that there are significant positive steps in the realisation of the rights of the citizens, particularly of the refugees and displaced persons as compared to the previous period; however, the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BH is not yet satisfied with these steps and its Service will continue with its work.

 

Sarajevo, 31 December 2000
No: 26A -01/2001