HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION IN BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA FOR 1996
 

When the implementation of the Dayton Peace Agreement began in late December 1995 Bosnia-Herzegovina was divided into three political entities:

- Republika Srpska, which functions according to war regulations, where human rights and freedoms have been constantly and systematically violated;

- the territory under the control of the Croat Democratic Community (HDZ), the so-called Herceg-Bosna, where HDZ is the only political party and which is substantially a part of the political, economic and information space of the Republic of Croatia;

- the territory under the control of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA), where democratic achievements are limited to the respect of the multiparty system, the freedom for independent and alternative media, non-governmental organisations and freedom of speech. These freedoms are mainly respected in cities.

The international community has almost exclusively focused on the military aspects of the implementation of the Dayton Peace Agreement. Successful establishment of truce and the cessation of hostilities were not accompanied by an effective implementation of the civilian part of the Agreement.

The ruling nationalistic parties SDA, HDZ and SDS do not demonstrate any political will to implement the provisions of the Peace Agreement related to the establishment of democracy, the rule of law and the observance of human rights and freedoms. Those who, on behalf of the international community, are charged with the implementation of the civilian part of the Dayton Agreement, have not shown the will to do so. Even though the Peace Agreement gives provisions for the implementation of the highest standards in the fields of human rights and the establishment of democracy, adequate measures have not been taken to apply these standards in practice. When military aspects of the Dayton Agreement began to be implemented, OSCE human rights observers and the UN civilian police (IPTF) were not present to assist in the task of implementation of the human rights provisions. When citizens exposed to pressures of the nationalistic parties needed protection, the representatives of the international community did not take any measures to prevent human rights violations. The ethnic cleansing resumed, with their knowing it. Some 500 Bosniaks and Croats were expelled from the Banja Luka area two months after the implementation of the Dayton Agreement had begun. When the reintegration of Sarajevo suburbs of Grbavica, Ilid`a, Had`i}i, Vogo{}a and Ilija{, which had previously been part of Republika Srpska, started, mass exodus of local Serb population occurred. No concrete assistance nor protection were given to the citizens who were forced to leave their homes. IPTF and IFOR policemen even contributed to the ethnic cleansing recommending citizens to move to areas where their ethnic group represents the majority. Such cases were reported in villages in the Zvornik area. IFOR and IPTF members did not react when expulsions of 500 Bosniaks from Tesli} occurred, saying that "they were not aware of what was going on".

The insufficient interest of the international community for the implementation of the civilian part of the Dayton agreement is illustrated by the following facts: the appointment of the Ombudsperson for Bosnia- Herzegovina was dragged out, that the Human Rights Chamber began to work seven months after the signing of the Peace Agreement and that the Commission for Real Property Claims of Refugees and Displaced Persons started to function only after the September elections!

In such conditions - when ruling parties have not abandoned their maximalist goals, without taking into consideration the rights of national and political minorities, and when the international community acts as a witness instead of being an active supporter of the democratisation process, of the establishment of the state of law and of the human rights and freedoms observance - the human rights situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina is getting worse.

The freedom of movement in these nine months has not been ensured not only in the inter-entities relations, but within the Federation as well. Yet, when IFOR moved away the checkpoints - in late January and early February - inter-entity crossings were more frequent. Thus, people had finally the opportunity to chose where they wish to live and the return of refugees and displaced persons became a realistic possibility. The freedom of movement which was ensured in that short period of time gave people the opportunity to obtain direct information about the situation in the other entity, which initiated the inter-entity reconciliation. Facing the factual evidence on the field that national pluralism is possible and that Serbs, Croats and Bosniaks can live together, the nationalistic authorities artificially created incidents because of which internal crossings were interrupted. The freedom of movement was not ensured in the pre-election period nor during the elections, so a minimum number of displaced persons voted in places where they had lived before 1992.

The non-existence of the freedom of movement has made the campaigning of political parties and candidates across inter-entities boundaries impossible. Thus, the political partition of Bosnia-Herzegovina became obvious.

Within the Federation, Bosniaks, including those who lived there before the war, had no access to areas under HDZ control. Stolac, ^apljina, Jajce, western Mostar kept their mononational character, regardless the fact that ethnic groups other than Croats, used to live there. The situation is similar in Bosniak-dominated Bugojno, where Croats are not given the right to return.

In the pre-election period freedom of political association and action was not respected.

In the so-called Herceg Bosna the monoparty system has been established, and the HDZ is the only relevant political party.

In Republika Srpska around 20 political parties were created, but they are not equally represented in the entire territory of RS. The ruling SDS is active in all municipalities, whereas other parties’ activities are limited to the Banja Luka area. Opposition parties did not have the opportunity to create their branches in Vi{egrad and Fo~a, for example, because of the intimidation and pressure which their activists were submitted to. Thus the chances of the opposition parties at the September elections were minimum.

In the territory under SDA control the multiparty system remained during the war. However, in the pre-election period the chances of the opposition parties were not equal to the chances of the ruling party. A declaration made by President Izetbegovi} saying that "people will not accept a non-Bosniak and a non-SDA member for president" and a threat uttered by the SDA Vice-president E. Bi~ak~i} that he "will not have mercy with the opposition" reduced the chances of the opposition and encouraged various pressures against non-ruling parties. The election campaign started with a physical attack on Haris Silajd`i}, the president of the Party for BIH and a candidate running for the Presidency. Mines, threats, beatings forced the opposition to act illegally in some municipalities.

All national parties campaigns were based on the thesis that the existence of several parties endangers the nation. They identified national parties with the highest national interests, saying that other ethnic groups will vote for their national party: this was used as an argument to achieve national homogenisation and pressure to make people vote for the ruling national parties.

As far as media are concerned, the number of independent and alternative media has risen, still far from representing a challenge for the most influencing media, in which ruling parties have a prominent position. New media are mainly local newspapers. Electronic media, which cover a larger area in BH and have most influence, are still monopolised by the ruling parties. The international community supported broadcast network, which was supposed to be an alternative for state-controlled TV, began its broadcast only five days before the elections; therefore, it did not have any influence on the election process.

In this entire period, nationalistic media continued to spread national hatred and intolerance.

The human rights situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina is additionally affected by the fact that Karad`i}, Kordi} and Mladi}, who have been indicted by the International war crimes Tribunal in Hague, are still out of reach of justice.

In the period covered by this report conditions for the return of refugees to places where they were evicted from have not yet been fulfilled. Some 130,000 people were left their homes, while around 100,000 refugees returned to Bosnia-Herzegovina. The ethnic criteria determined the return: people returned to areas in Bosnia-Herzegovina where their nationality is dominant. Ethnic cleansing thus continued, but, in the post-war period pressure has been carried out through the housing and employment policy. The refugees and displaced persons policy carried out by the ruling nationalistic parties and supported by the international community, which has obligations to help ensuring conditions for the return of refugees and DPI, proves that the observance of human rights has not yet become an important issue for those who decide about the future of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

The Helsinki Committee, together with the International Helsinki Federation systematically followed the preparation for the elections. On several occasions in public statements we stressed that conditions for fair and democratic elections were lacking. In spite of that, as a result of the international community’s will, elections were held, except for the municipal elections. The elections brought the only possible results considering the conditions in which they took place: the national parties, which led the country before and during the war won.

In addition to the fact that conditions for fair and democratic elections did not exist, a considerable number of voters was not registered on voters lists; these individuals were deprived of their right to vote. Only ten percent of displaced persons who intended to vote in the other entity actually voted in places where they lived before the war.

During the elections no serious incidents occurred, except a bomb thrown at a house in Bugojno, where no victims nor injuries were reported, and a bullet fired at a federal policeman in Faleti}i - Sarajevo, which did not hurt him.

Processes that started before the September elections (evictions, discriminations, freedom of movement, attacks at the members of other nationalities) were continued in the post-election period.
After the official announcement and the confirmation of their win on the September election, national parities started fights with the political opponents. We noted a huge number of dismissals, evictions from apartments and the temporarily job suspension ( so called-waiting status) of those that declared themselves as members and sympathisers of the opposition parties in the election period. These cases weren’t noted only in the BH Federation ( Tuzla, Zavidovici) but in RS (around 300 supporters of opposition parties in Bijeljina that were left without jobs after the triumph of SDS at the September elections). Extremely difficult situation is in Bihac region when the physical fights with the political opponents and the members of the other political parties is happening very frequently. In October, the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Bosnia and Hercegovina reacted through statements regarding the physical attack on the newspaper employee of the Tuzla independent newspaper "Front slobode" who was attacked by a BH Army soldier. The Helsinki Committee gave another public statement after the attack on Nihad Junuzovic, sympathiser of the opposition party in Bihac, that was attacked by a group of people in the centre of the city lead by the demobilised BH Army soldiers, stressing that the local authorities didn’t take any actions to prevent the violence.
Freedom of movement and its respect, one of the basic conditions for the successful implementation of the Dayton Agreement is still not satisfying. All the attempts to reinstall minimal inter-entity relations fell apart or their continuation is quiet uncertain. The majority of bus lines that was organised and supervised by the International Community were stopped soon after they were established. The reason is the high level of insecurity of the passengers, as there was a constant danger from the local population of the other entity ( especially RS) and that their lives would be endangered with the attacks. It was not only that the bus lines were under question, but as well the private vehicles. There were numerous cases of attacks on private vehicles with the Bosnian registration on the territory under HVO control. The same situation is on the roads that run through RS. In the last five months there were 30 attacks on the vehicles with Bosnian registration on the part of the road Tuzla-Orasje that runs through RS. The result of these attacks was 20 vehicles that were taken away, and the majority of technical equipment and around 70.000 DM were also stolen.

There were few attempts of organised returns of Bosniaks to their villages in the inter-entity zones on the RS territory. All these attempts finished, at the entrances of their villages, as the local Serb population, as well as the Serb Police brutally attacked the returnees, threatening them with death if they come back. In those few incidents, there were few wounded and few persons killed. Only the inhabitants of village Jusici, with a great persistence succeeded to return back to their village. Regarding these events around villages in the inter-entity lines the Helsinki Committee gave a statement where they pointed on the unacceptable practice of forced resettlements of abandoned settlements that are done, with the toleration of local authorities, and that representatives of the majority nationality in the region are preventing the possibility for the return of displaced persons and refugees that were guaranteed by the Peace Agreement in BH. Serb extremists were planting mines more often in the inter-entity zones to discourage the return of Bosniaks to their villages.

The most efficient way of pressure on all of those that want to return to their homes, especially for those who have their houses in the inter-entity line, on the territory of RS or on the territory of the HVO control is their burning or mining. In the last three months, there were tens of cases of mining and burning, mostly of houses that belong to Bosniaks, and especially in the villages that they would like to return to. It is interesting that the mining and burning happens when the expelled are supposed to come and visit their houses in the organisation of the International Community and under the protection of IFOR. The message is clear - their return is not wanted.
The evictions of people from their apartments and property from one entity to another is a very frequent case. This form of ethnic cleansing is especially extreme in Mostar, where in the last period people have been expelled from their apartments (especially Bosniaks). According to their testimonies, the perpetrators are mainly wearing military uniforms and have masks on their heads. Local authorities in West Mostar do not take any measures to reveal who are the perpetrators and to eventually prevent further evictions. The role of the IPTF in this area has come to recording new cases of evictions and other forms of maltreatment of the non-Croat population. The best illustration of the relation between the local population and the IPTF, is that two attacks on the members of the IPTF happened at the end of November
In village Dubrave near Bosanska Gradiska (North Bosnia), RS territory, in the last two and a half months, more then 30 Bosniaks were expelled, and because of the worsening situation in that area more families announced their departure. The reintegrated parts of Sarajevo are not an exemption. Serbs that remained to live in their houses in the BH Federation after the reintegration, became more and more target of the refugees from East Bosnia, that use different forms of pressure (beatings, threats, shooting, intrusions to Serb houses) to persuade them to leave for RS. These pressures, unfortunately, are giving results, as a huge number of Serb families under constant pressure decided to leave their property and houses selling them pricelessly, and the families that still live there are seriously concerning their departure.
Frequent attacks on the independent journalists and media, and especially the one that happened in the middle of December, when two employees of the independent radio ISV, were physically attacked, initiated the Committee to issue a Public statement with request to the Federation Police authorities to enlighten all the cases where the independent journalists and media were attacked, as it is a direct attack on the freedom of media.
In the Federation area, the curfew that was established at the beginning of war in BH, is still in power. Although the Peace Agreement has been signed in the meanwhile, the curfew is still on, and it is still limiting the individual freedom and the rights of citizens that are against the International Conventions.

In fact, after the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement processes which were initiated by the war have been finished, this time by different means. The ethnic cleansing continues, as well as various human rights and freedoms violations.

No:19-01/97