REPORT ON THE STATE OF HUMAN RIGHTS 
IN Bosnia and Herzegovina 
(Analysis for January - December 2002 period)

Changes and amendments to the Constitution of the Republika Srpska and the Federation of BiH meant that a part of the decisions of the Constitutional Court of BiH on the constitutive nature (equality) of all three peoples (Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats) was applied in the whole territory of the BiH state. The constitutional amendments, and this particularly refers to the RS, were not the result of a process of political maturation and voluntary acceptance of the Constitution of BiH as supreme legal instance, but were rather brought about through interventions of international authorities. Thus, the constitutional changes were a combination of the decisions of the entity parliaments and of the High Representative’s imposition of part of the amendments. In the RS, part of the changes implemented under external pressures was the result of the agreement of the most influential parties reached outside the parliament. The constitutional revision is still not completed, because the final verification of the constitutional changes, which, inter alia, guarantee the participation in the legislative, executive and judicial branches of power to representatives of all three peoples, regardless of the outcome of elections, yet remains to be conducted.

The constitutional changes meant a significant step forward on the road toward consolidation of the political and legal system in the country and provision of formal legal guarantees that warrant equality to the members of all the peoples and equal rights to all individual citizens. However, the elimination of discriminatory provisions from the fundamental body of laws of the entities has not been reflected in practice, since the discriminatory attitude toward individuals and minority groups on the basis of ethnic, religious and political affiliation is still prevailing. Particularly vulnerable are ethnic minority returnee groups. The violation of human rights and freedoms is salient feature characteristic of the entire territory of BiH. In some segments the violations of human rights and freedoms have escalated, particularly in the territory of the Republika Srpska, but in the BiH Federation as well. The Democratic Alliance for Changes, which was in power at the national level and in the BiH Federation, contrary to expectations, did not show enough sensitivity, regarding the issues of human rights and freedoms.

We deem it particularly significant that Bosnia and Herzegovina has ratified the Rome Agreement and was one among the first sixty countries accessing the Agreement, whereby the International Criminal Court, based in The Hague, was established.

The establishment of this court means an important step toward prevention and sanctioning of the crimes of genocide, crime against humanity and war crimes. Thus, a mechanism has been put in place to enable the implementation in practice of the important UN conventions, the purpose of which is maintaining peace and respect for human rights.

It can only be taken with regret that the USA opposed the creation of the International Criminal Court and are now exerting pressure on the governments of certain countries, including Bosnia and Herzegovina among them, with the aim to secure impunity for the US citizens.

The political and legal and security situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, especially in the RS, is burdened by the fact that the ICTY indictees, Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, are still at large. The local and international authorities do not adequately respond to the activities of the nazi-fascist organisations and individuals. Particularly aggressive are the members of the Ravnogorski Chetnik movement (Chetniks are Serb nazi-fascists – editor's remark), while during the elections there were cases where Ustashas (Croat nazi-fascists – editor's remark) have also demonstrated their aspiration. Radicalisation among the Islamists in BiH is also noticeable.

The residues of the pre-war situation are reflected in the results of the general elections which for the first time, mainly successfully, were organised by domestic authorities, under international surveillance and with active participation of NGOs. The national parties (Bosniak Party of Democratic Action, Serb Democratic Party, Croat Democratic Union) have again won the majority of votes, while the Social Democratic Party, which two years ago was the strongest party at the national level and was the leader of the Democratic Alliance for Changes, experienced a real debacle. The large number of voters did not turn up at the elections, which indicates a feeling of resignation among the citizens, who had impression that real progress in the country could not be achieved because there was no solid democratic alternative to the national parties, the position of which was strengthened exactly because the voters abstained from voting.  The citizens are also dissatisfied with the performance of the international peace mission to BiH, which did not achieve the expected results at the key points of the peace process – arrest of war criminals, mass and sustainable return, economic transition and the reform of judiciary, military, law enforcement and education. Naturally, all this could be ascribed to the incompetent and irresponsible domestic authorities, which left abundant room for interventions of international actors.

Paddy Ashdown replaced Wolfgang Petritsch at the position of the High Representative of the International Community to BiH. Petritsch promoted a policy of partnership with domestic authorities, while at the beginning of his mandate Ashdown shows tendency to resort to issuing orders.

Concerning the international arena, the accession of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the Council of Europe opens prospects for further promotion and protection of human rights and freedoms, among else. The relations of BiH with the neighbouring countries are still far from reaching the mutually necessary level of full normalisation. In the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, there were again signs of aspirations to divide Bosnia and Herzegovina and annex the RS to Serbia as form of compensation for Kosovo, as expressed by the President of FRY, Vojislav Kostunica, and by the Prime Minister of Serbia, Zoran Djindjic. They unconvincingly denied having brought in question the existence of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, although the Parliament of FRY has finally ratified the Dayton Accords which imply the confirmation of the mutual recognition between the states of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Republic of Croatia. The Croatian Government, headed by the Prime Minister, Ivica Racan, also does not manifest a will to optimally arrange mutual relations, demonstrating a paternalising attitude toward Bosnia and Herzegovina, in contrast to the attitude of the President of the Republic of Croatia, Stjepan Mesic, who stands for full assertion of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a state and for optimal good-neighbourly relations between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Of particular concern is the weakening of involvement of international actors in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the area of human rights and freedoms and the relativistic attitude toward the need to protect human rights and freedoms without any exceptions. Presently more weight is being given to the thesis that first order and rule of law should be introduced in Bosnia and Herzegovina and only after that democracy and care for human rights and freedoms, as if these three were not most closely interconnected. After the monstrous attacks on New York and Washington, the attitude toward the reduction of human rights and freedoms somewhat relaxed in the USA, and elsewhere in the West, which was reflected in BiH as well. This particularly became visible in the case of the deportation of the so-called Algerian Group. The Human Rights Chamber in BiH passed a decision establishing that the BiH Federation and the state of BiH had violated the guaranteed rights of these people by unlawfully taking away their citizenship from them and by expelling them and surrendering them to the USA without previously conducting correct court procedure and in spite of the possibility of their running a risk of death penalty in the USA. In this case, the principle of presumption of innocence was infringed. The Human Rights Chamber passed a number of decisions in relation to this case, including the obligation of the authorities to pay the damages to the families of deported persons and provide a renowned defense counsel for the purpose of protecting the rights of Hajj Budella, Bumedien Lakhdar, Mohammad Neshila and Saber Lahman, who had been deported to Cuba. The Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina welcomed the decision of the Human Rights Chamber, pointing out that this demonstrated that in the territory of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina there exist effective mechanisms for protection of human rights and freedoms in line with the principle of their universality. These decisions meant a full satisfaction for the previous efforts of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BiH.

Because of its involvement in the «Algerian Group» case, the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina and its leadership in particular, were exposed to fierce, occasionally even unscrupulous attacks, completely unprincipled and not grounded on arguments, coming from domestic and international actors, in spite of the fact that the Committee repeatedly presented its arguments in public, providing expert reasoning on the matter. Even part of the media took part in the attacks against the Helsinki Committee. The Steering Board of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina stated that Slavo Kukic, a member of the Steering Board ceased to be a member of the Helsinki Committee. He had criticised the work of the management of the Committee without providing any arguments, finally to resign, giving sweeping opinions without basing them on documents relating to protection of human rights and freedoms or principles which guide the work of the Committee. The Secretary General of the Helsinki Committee, Branko Todorovic, was removed from his position by the Steering Board, because in relation to this case he had not act in line with the mission statement and the Statute of the Helsinki Committee. Thus the attempt to break up the Committee proved unsuccessful.

At its extraordinary, and after that, at the regular meeting of the Assembly, the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina gave its full support to the majority in the Steering Board and to the President, Srdjan Dizdarevic for their actions undertaken in the case of the “Algerian Group”.

This year, the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina operated under pressure and under very difficult circumstances, due to the “Algerian Group” case, impossibility to find a candidate for the new President of the Committee and reduced financial support of the international actors. Although his all reflected on the work of the Committee, the Steering Board, headed by the acting President Enver Murgic, managed to maintain the continuity in the line of work of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The period of consolidation is now ahead of it.

WAR CRIMES AND MISSING PERSONS

The trial to the former President of Serbia and Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Slobodan Milosevic, for war crimes committed in Kosovo and Croatia and for genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina is the most significant case for the mandate of the ICTY and for the overall performance of this tribunal in regard to the sanctioning of those most responsible for mass crimes. The present authorities in FRY do not cooperate with the Prosecutor’s Office of the Hague Tribunal, especially when it comes to the accessibility of the relevant documents, which hampers gaining the insight into the full truth on the responsibility of Milosevic. The international authorities are not using the power and influence to the extent that would be necessary to bring the FRY to full cooperation with the Hague Tribunal. On the other hand, it is obvious that Milosevic (although formally conducting his defence alone, with the assistance of the amici curiae) has a strong intelligence support and other kinds of assistance from Belgrade, including legal advice. For Bosnia and Herzegovina, full truth on the role of Milosevic in the aggression against this country is important both from the standpoint of individual responsibility and in the case of Bosnia and Herzegovina versus FRY before the International Justice Court in the Hague concerning the charges of aggression and genocide.

The authorities in the Republika Srpska are still refusing to cooperate with the Hague Tribunal by failing to arrest Radovan Karadzic, who is still escaping justice - like Ratko Mladic as well.

The Croatian Government is also relativising the cooperation with the Hague Tribunal, which was particularly visible in the case of charges against Generals Janko Bobetko and Ante Gotovina. These two are also very important figures for shedding the light on the role of Croatia in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the war.

The Bosnian Serb Milorad Krnojelac was sentenced by the ICTY in the first instance to seven and half years of imprisonment for crimes against humanity and war crimes against Bosniaks who had been unlawfully detained in the penitentiary in Foca, although the prosecutor had asked for 25 year imprisonment sentence. Krnojelac showed no remorse or regret for the crimes he had committed.

Mitar Vasiljevic, Bosnian Serb, was sentenced by the Hague Tribunal to twenty years imprisonment for participating in the murder of a group of Bosniaks during the war. At the same time, he was relieved of responsibility for death and suffering of more than 60 Bosniaks, mainly women, children and elderly, who had been burned alive in an abandoned house in Visegrad. The prosecutor, Dermoth Groome was disappointed with this sentence, while the association of Bosniak women victims of war expressed their indignation with such mild sentence pronounced to Vasiljevic

For inhuman treatment of Bosniaks and Croats in the area of Bosanski Samac, Bosnian Serb, Milan Simic, was sentenced by the ICTY to 5 years’ imprisonment. He pleaded guilty for torture as the crime against humanity, and in return the Prosecutor’s Office dropped the remaining counts of the indictment which charged him and other three local Serb highest authorities for expelling ten thousand Bosniaks and Croats from Bosanski Samac and Odzak.

The trial to Bosnian Croat Tihomir Blaskic was remanded to the first instance trial chamber of the Hague Tribunal, which had sentenced him to 45 years' imprisonment in line with of the command responsibility for war crimes against Bosniaks, including the massacre committed over about hundred Bosniaks in Ahmici.

Before the ICTY, the trial to Bosnian Serbs, Radoslav Brdjanin and Momir Talic, accused of genocide against Bosniaks and Croats, committed in the area of Bosanska Krajina in 1992, has started.

The former President of the Republika Srpska, Biljana Plavsic, pleaded guilty for crimes against humanity, changing thus her initial statement as part of the agreement with the Prosecutor's Office of the International Tribunal in the Hague which accepted to drop the remaining counts of the indictment, including the charge of genocide. Plavsic, earlier one of the closest collaborators of Radovan Karadzic, through her defence counsels informed the public that she fully and unconditionally accepted the responsibility for her acts, in hope that this might offer some consolation to the innocent Bosniak, Croat and Serb victims of war. Plavsic invited other leaders as well to do some soul-searching and re-examine their acts in hope that her own acceptance of responsibility might help her people «to overcome the pogrom that had happened during the last decade, to reconcile with their neighbours, and finally, to recover their renown as respected people». This admission of guilt will also have consequences for the trials to Slobodan Milosevic, Momcilo Krajisnik and other top Serb officials accused of the most serious crimes committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina and elsewhere.

Bosnian Serb Momir Nikolic, accused of genocide and a series of war crimes, pleaded not guilty before the International Tribunal in the Hague. Nikolic, in the rank of the captain 1st class, was the head of security of a unit of the Army of the Republika Srpska when the massacre over Bosniaks was committed in Srebrenica in July 1995.

Momcilo Gruban, alias Ckalja, Serb from Bosnia and Herzegovina, one of the chief guards in the camp Omarska near Prijedor, before the ICTY pleaded not guilty for unlawful detention of civilians, murders, torture, rape and humiliation of Bosniak and Croat inmates.

Former shift commander in the camp Keraterm near Prijedor, Bosnian Serb Dusan Fustar, before the ICTY pleaded not guilty for war crimes over Bosniaks and Croats. The indictment reads that the murders and sexual abuses were being daily routinely committed in the camp.

Due to the lack of evidence, the International Tribunal in the Hague withdrew the charges against Bosnian Serb Nenad Banovic, who together with his brother Predrag was accused of war crimes over Bosniaks and Croats, committed in 1992 in the camp Keraterm near Prijedor.

The Hague Tribunal withdrew charges against the Bosnian Croat Zoran Marinic, accused of war crimes committed in the area of Busovaca. The Chief Prosecutor, Carla del Ponte, explained this first case of withdrawal of charges by stating that she was forced to make a new assessment of the indictments in order better to use the resources available and conduct the trials. «Marinic is a low-ranking indictee and does not fit into the strategy of the Chief Prosecutor» was stated by the Hague tribunal. Del Ponte will focus on high-ranking indictees, leaving the remaining ones to be tried in their countries.

The American District Judge in Atlanta pronounced the verdict that damages totaling to US$ 140 million should be paid to four Bosniaks as compensation for the torture to which they had been subjected by a member of the Army of the Republika Srpska Nikola Vuckovic. The latter did not appear in the court; after the war, after being granted asylum in the USA, he continued living in a suburb of Atlanta.

The District Court in Banja Luka sentenced Bosnian Serb Obrenko Sugic to 15 years' imprisonment for murdering 10 Bosniaks in July 1992. It was established that the murders were committed by Obrenko Sugic himself or jointly with his brother Miladin Sugic who is still fugitive from the law.  This was the first sentence ever in the Republika Srpska for murders of Bosniaks committed by a Serb.

The Human Rights Chamber for BiH dismissed as inadmissible the appeal of Bosnian Serb Milan Hrvacevic, sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment for crimes against civilian population. The crime in question included planting large quantity of explosive under two civilian buildings in Sarajevo.

The Supreme Court of BiH Federation confirmed the judgement of the Cantonal Court in Sarajevo by which Bosnian Serb Dragan Stankovic had been sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment for war crimes against civilians. The crime in question was rape of Bosniak women.

The Supreme Court of the Federation of BiH increased one-year sentence pronounced by the Municipal Court in Travnik to two-and-half-year sentence to Bosnian Croat, Tibor Prajo. Prajo was sentenced for war crime against civilians he had committed as a member of the Croat Council of Defense.

The Supreme Court of BiH Federation confirmed the judgement of the Cantonal Court in Sarajevo by which Bosnian Serb Miroslav Pandurevic was acquitted of charge of committing a crime against civilian population. The indictment charged Pandurevic of murdering and burning the members of a Bosniak family.

Bosnian Serb Goran Vasic was sentenced by a judgement of the Cantonal Court in Sarajevo  to 4,5 years' imprisonment for war crimes against prisoners of war.

A trial to Bosnian Croat, Dominik Ilijasevic has begun before the Cantonal Court in Zenica. He has been charged with committing war crime against civilian population during 1993 and at the beginning of 1994  in the area of Vares, Stupni Dol and Kresevo.

A trial before the Cantonal Court has commenced in Sarajevo to Zarko Pandurevic, Bosnian Serb, for war crimes against civilian population committed in Grbavica, the settlement of Sarajevo, during 1993. The indictment charges him with rape of two women. 

The Cantonal Court in Sarajevo decided to conduct a trial in absentio to Bosniak Sejo Kadic, charged of murder committed against non-Bosniak citizens in the area of Kazani. To date, it has still not been established how many Serbs and members of other ethnic groups had been killed in the region of Kazani (where access is very difficult). Neither have all those responsible been punished. Namely, in the time when Alija Izetbegovic's Party of Democratic Action was in power, these crimes were being hushed up, although those on top knew of them.

The Cantonal Court in Karlovac (Republic of Croatia) sentenced Bosniak Fikret Abdic to 20 years' imprisonment for was crimes committed in the territory of Cazinska Krajina (Bosnia and Herzegovina) against Bosniak civilians and war prisoners. Abdic was a member of the BiH Presidency, but during the war he formed a parastate formation «Autonomous region of West Bosnia» in the area of Cazinska Krajina and collaborated with the President of Serbia Slobodan Milosevic and the President of Croatia Franjo Tudjman. In the indictment Abdic was charged of establishing camps in which those Bosniaks who did not accept his policy of partition of Bosnia and Herzegovina were being maltreated and killed.

Serb Nebojsa Ranisavljevic was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment by the Higher Court in Bijelo Polje (Federal Republic of Yugoslavia) for participating in kidnapping 19 passengers from a train. During the hearing of witnesses, in which the high officials of the Ministry of Interior of Serbia and of the Army of the Republika Srpska also took part, it was established that the then leaders of Serbia and FRY had been informed of the preparation for kidnapping, during which 16 Bosniaks had been killed. Ranisavljevic was a member of the paramilitary unit led by Milan Lukic, believed to be residing in the Republika Srpska. According to Ranisavljevic's testimony, Lukic had wounded one of the captives when the latter tried to escape and after that slit his throat with the bayonet.

Bosniak generals Sefer Halilovic, Mehmed Alagic and Enver Hadzihasanovic, as well as the colonel Amir Kubura were temporarily released by the Hague Tribunal. They are being tried for charges of war crimes committed against civilians. The Tribunal turned down the request of Momcilo Krajisnik, former high-ranking official of the Serb Democratic Party and member of the BiH Presidency, for temporary release. Krajisnik has been indicted on several counts for war crimes in BiH. The request for temporary release was also refused to Bosnian Serb Dragan Jokic, former head of Engineer Corps in a brigade of the Army of the Republika Srpska. By class indictment, Jokic was charged of war crimes committed against Bosniaks in Srebrenica in July 1995. Temporary release was also not granted to Dragan Obrenovic and Vidoje Blagojevic, indicted in the Srebrenica case.

The International tribunal in the Hague has submitted to judicial bodies in BiH 62 case files to be processed in BiH.

The authorities in the Republika Srpska have demonstrated readiness to cooperate with the Hague Tribunal only in one single case, submitting a file against 12 Serbs suspect of war crimes against civilian population, committed in 1992. The Hague Tribunal is to decide whether the trial will take place in The Hague or in the RS. For the first time it happened that Bosnian Serb presented in public voluminous documentation containing the names of Serbs suspect of war crimes and of the victims. The person in question is Milorad Milakovic from Prijedor, President of an association of private entrepreneurs in the Republika Srpska, who accuses the members of the Serb Army for the said crimes. Milakovic also maintains that 62 percent of the income of the Prijedor Bowling Alley goes for Radovan Karadzic security.

The Dutch Parliament initiated a public investigation on the massacre committed against Bosniaks in July 1995 in the area of Srebrenica. According to some estimates, this investigation could enable the survivors from Srebrenica to demand payment of damages from the Netherlands, although some of them deem that the damages should be demanded from the UN. Before initiating the public investigation on genocide in Srebrenica, the government of the Kingdom of Netherlands, headed by the Prime Minister Vim Kook, collectively resigned out of moral reasons after the report on the responsibility of the Dutch authorities for the massacre of the Army of the Republika Srpska committed over the Srebrenica Bosniaks had been published. Due to same reasons, the Lieutenant-General Advan Bal, Commander-in-Chief of Dutch armed forces, also resigned.

The Commission for Search of Missing Persons and Prisoners of War of the Republika Srpska identified bodily remnants of eight Serbs who had allegedly been killed during the war in the territory controlled by the Army of BiH.

The missing persons are still a painful topical issue in Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to the August 2002 data of the State Commission for Search for Missing Persons in BiH, out of 27,719 missing persons recorded, 14,500 victims were exhumed to date. The State Commission exhumed about 10,500 bodies and the investigation team of the Hague   Tribunal about 4,000. This year, numerous mass graves have been discovered (22 exhumations at 60 sites) mainly containing Bosniak victims (Kamenica, the largest exhumed grave with over 500 dismembered remains of Bosniaks from Srebrenica, and the graves in the area of Foca, Rogatica, Zvornik, Visegrad, Cajnice, Berkovici, Kotor Varos, Bihac, Prijedor, Modrica, Orasje, Derventa, Doboj, Brcko). For the first time exhumation was conducted in the neighbouring Republic of Croatia, in the area of Slavonski Brod. The remnants of the victims were transported to Bosnia and Herzegovina from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from the grave in Sremska Mitrovica – remains of 93 anonymous victims. Among those identified, 21 are Bosniaks, while the remaining ones are from Croatia.

Thanks to the work of the International Commission for Missing Persons, about 1,000 remains have been identified during the past 12 months. However, the problem of burial of about 1,550 remains of the victims from East Bosnia, presently kept in the Memorial Center in Tuzla has not been resolved as yet. The number of remains will keep increasing, but there are still no parties interested in providing them a decent burial.

Ugly situation appear concerning the differences between the Commissions for Search for the Missing Persons form the Republika Srpska and from the BiH federation in regard to the Sarajevo burial ground. Those from RS insist on maintaining that a large number of civilian Serbs were killed during the war and buried as NN or under some other names in the graveyards «Stadion» and «Lav». However, those from the Federation of BiH claim that this is all about manipulating with the information, and thus they did not allow exhumation to be conducted, asserting that in the graves that those from the RS insist on were buried the members of the BiH Army and the civilians. In the Federation of BiH, they claim that the RS Commission conducted exhumation on 15 sites in Sarajevo without finding anything.

Concerning the utterly immoral manipulation with the victims of war, particular indignation was caused by the report of the Government of the Republika Srpska, headed by the Prime Minister, Mladen Ivanic, which attempted to relativise the genocide committed over Bosniaks in Srebrenica in July 1995 when at least 7,000 people – boys, adult men and old men were massacred. The attempt to radically reduce the number of those killed and to present the acts of the Hague indictee, the Commander-in-Chief of the Army of the RS, Ratko Mladic, almost as humanitarian action shocked and exasperated the domestic and international public.

In spite of constant insistence of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina and others, the authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, particularly those in the RS, as well as those in the FRY, still do not offer the information on thousands of citizens officially recorded as missing. The Head of the International Commission for Search for Missing Persons for the former Yugoslavia, Gordon Bacon, states that in these territories there are about 40,000 missing persons, out of which number as many as 30,000 of them are related to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Indeed, the issue of missing persons has not been legally regulated at the level of the state of BiH.

RETURN AND RETURN OF PROPERTY

In the first eight months of this year, 85,189 returns were recorded (27,300 refugees and 57,889 displaced persons), mainly so-called minority returns. Until 30 September 2002, in total 907,968 citizens returned. Out of that number, 414,569 were refugees who returned and 493,399 displaced persons. Out of total number of returns, 675,320 inhabitants returned to the Federation of BiH (373,015 refugees and 302,305 displaced persons), while 214,263 (39,780 refugees and 174,483 displaced persons) returned to the Republika Srpska, and 18,385 inhabitants (1,774 refugees and 16,611 displaced persons) returned to Brcko District.

In total, 568,073 Bosniaks returned (267,994 refugees and 300,079 displaced persons), 212,612 Serbs (61,781 refugees and 150,831 displaced persons), 120,192 Croats (80,115 refugees and 40,077 displaced persons), and there were 7,091 returns of others (4,679 refugees and 2,412 displaced persons). To the Federation of BiH, 442,739 Bosniaks returned (255,036 refugees and 187,703 displaced persons), and in the Republika Srpska 111,841 (12,862 refugees and 98,979 displaced persons), while to Brcko District, 13,493 Bosniaks returned (96 refugees and 13,397 displaced persons). As for Serbs, to the Federation of BiH, 117,723 (40,863 refugees and 76,860 displaced persons) returned, while to the Republika Srpska, 93,260 (20,913 refugees and 72,347 displaced people), and to Brcko District 5 refugees and 1,624 displaced persons). Out of total number of Croat returnees, 189,958 (73,034 refugees and 35,924 displaced persons) returned to the Federation of BiH, to the Republika Srpska 7,991 (5,408 refugees and 2,583 displaced persons), and to Brcko District 3,263 (1,673 refugees and 1,590 displaced persons). Out of the total number of returnees from the category of others, to the Federation of BiH, 5,900 (4,082 refugees and 1,818 displaced persons) returned, to the Republika Srpska 1,191 (597 refugees and 594 displaced persons). By the end of September, there were 367,938 so-called minority returns to BiH, and in this year it is 80,711 (25,293 refugees and 55,418 displaced persons).

The BiH Ministry of Refugees and Displaced Persons claim that about 650,000 BiH citizens are settled around the world, having the status of refugees, and that there are about 700,000 displaced persons in the territory of BiH. The majority of them have resolved their status in the asylum countries, but this is not the case in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

As for the implementation of the property claims, out of total 252,933 claims in the entire Bosnia and Herzegovina, 207,212 (or 82 percent) decisions were passed, while the number of returned property is 156,454 or 62 percent. In the BiH Federation, out of 138,973 claims for return of property, 124,076 (or 89 percent) decisions were passed, and 92,259 or 66 percent of property was returned. In the Republika Srpska, out of 107,024 claims for return of property, 77,790 (or 73 percent) decisions were passed and 59,587 property was returned or 56 percent. In the Brcko District, out of 6,936 claims, 5,346 or 77 percent were resolved, in 4,608 cases property was returned or in 66 percent.

At the end of 2003, the mandate of the Commission for Return of Property Claims of the Refugees and Displaced Persons (CRPC) shall expire and before that regional centers of this institution will be closed down. As of 1st of October the Commission's offices in Bihac, Mostar, Banja Luka, Tuzla and Brcko stopped receiving claims for return of property. Claims which will not be resolved by the CRPC (which is in financial difficulties due to the lack of donations) until the end of its mandate will be disposed of by the domestic authorities which could negatively affect the realisations of citizens' rights. However, CRPC claims that 70,000 claims for return of property are pending, and that 140,870 decisions were passed by the beginning of November.

The Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in the Republika Srpska in July jointly stated that the process of return in Bosnia and Herzegovina was very slow, including various obstacles of the bodies of authorities, particularly in the RS and in the areas under the control of HDZ and SDA. The two associations warn that the creation of ethnically clean territories has been continued. The Office for Return in Bratunac and Janja warn that about 17,000 returnees from these areas plan either to move to the Federation of BiH or to go abroad, because they do not feel safe.

The returnees, especially in the Republika Srpska, are frequently exposed to threats and attacks. The major part of returnees is not provided with economic, social and health security, and they are still exposed to discrimination on the part of local authorities whenever they try to realise some right of theirs. Jovan Mitrovic, MP in the national Assembly of the RS and the President of the Democratic People's Union for the municipality of Zvornik is the only politician in the RS who stood against those who block the return of Bosniaks to that area. Mitrovic claims that it is possible to accelerate the return with bribes amounting to 1,000-1,500 KM (500-750 EUR). The Assistant Minister for development, reconstruction and return in the Government of Tuzla Canton, Fadil Banjanovic, claims that sometimes bribes amounting even to 2,000 KM are demanded from returnees for their return to Zvornik. Banjanovic frequently and repeatedly, albeit in vein, warns of numerous abuses related to the use of donations and other resources earmarked for return, illustrating this with numerous examples. Among else, Banjanovic raised the question of 600 houses and apartments in the area of Posavina and Semberija into which no one moved in. He asserts that they were built without competent cantonal and federal ministries being informed of construction, hinting that this might be a case of corruption. In the area of Zvornik, Bratunac and Srebrenica, there were also about 500 housing facilities built, which are still empty. The authorities have not responded to the accusations and questions that Banjanovic raised. According to the information of the Association for Refugees and Displaced Persons of Bosnia and Herzegovina, about 7,000 housing facilities, of which 80-90 percent are located in the area of East Bosnia, which were purposely built for return, are still empty. The Association also claims that about 2,000 contracts signed with the Ministry for Refugees and Displaced Persons of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina concerning the delivery of construction materials to the returnees have not been fulfilled. The returnees also complain that the contractors are stinting them in and building low quality houses. In general, people are not returning because they are afraid for their safety, but also due to the impossibility to secure their sustenance and problems related to schooling. In this municipality, 5,000 KM have been set-aside in the budget for the return of Bosniaks, and 100,000 KM for the stay of Serb refugees and displaced persons.

Returnees in the RS are at times faced with the situation that their power supply is cut off immediately upon their return because of unpaid bills, although those who earlier resided in the building to which they return had in fact incurred the expenses and in order to have the power supply connected again, it is necessary to pay additional sums. Particularly is difficult the situation of returnees who are accommodated in makeshift facilities (tents, shacks, destroyed buildings), in which they stay even during the winter.

In fact, no one has full and complete information on the actual return and situation of returnees. A large number of those who regain their property sell it or exchange it as speedily as possible, after that either to remain residing abroad or to go to places where their ethnic group is in majority. In such a way, many refugees are either becoming foreign citizens or displaced persons in their own country.

Local authorities (again particularly in the RS) are pressing for the stay of refugees and displaced persons, in order to maintain ethnic majority over the returnees. There where the cases of return are most numerous, like it is the case with Bosniaks in the area of Janja, they tend to surround the returnees with settlements for Serb refugees and displaced persons, mainly built on land in private property. The political and judicial vicious circle related to the land plots in the settlement of Kotorsko near Doboj still continues. On that location, houses were built for Serb refugees and displaced persons, while the Bosniaks claim that the land is their property and refer to the decision of the High Representative according to which it is not allowed to construct buildings on contested property. After the roof tiles were removed from the roof of one of the newly built houses, provoking the protests of Serbs, as a symbolic form of demolition of these buildings, the District Court in Doboj disproved the right of Bosniaks, remanding the case for second time to the Basic Court in Doboj, which had two times reached the decision in favour of Bosniaks. The Bosniaks from the area of Capljina are also complaining of the usurpation of their land by the local Croats and Croats who had been displaced from central Bosnia. In the BiH Federation, the authorities offered resistance to the enforcement of the binding decision of the Human Rights Chamber for BiH by which it was requested that the discriminating provisions relating to the apartments of the members of the former Yugoslav People's Army be abolished. Under the Federation regulations, these apartments were exempt from the application of regular procedure of return of property. The refugee association of «Serbs from Zenica Region» pressed charges against the BiH Federation, claiming that neither their houses had been rebuilt nor had the authorities shown interest to resolve their problems.

Before the war, in the territory of the RS, there were about 220,000 Croats, and presently the number is less than 10,000. What particularly raises concerns is the fact that the multi-ethnic character of the largest cities (Sarajevo, Banja Luka, Mostar, etc.) has not been restored. Especially Banja Luka is resisting the return of Bosniaks and Croats. Even in Sarajevo, there are about 17,000 citizens waiting for return of their property. Before the war, in the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina there were more than 160,000 Serbs, and now, according to some estimates, there are between 25-30,000 of them. Serbs who had regained their property in the area of Mostar most frequently sell it. Unfortunately so, since a massive return of Serbs in Mostar could have extremely positive impact on lessening the inter-ethnic tensions which still continue between Bosniaks and Croats. Apart from that, the major part of returnees is elderly persons, which in itself implies that the overall number of returnees will rapidly keep decreasing.

The authorities at the state and entity level have not committed efforts in the measure necessary to address this issue of key importance for BiH. In the RS, they pay no attention at all to the utterly difficult situation of returnees. International organisations are reducing their involvement on this issue in every aspect. Instead of investing additional efforts in this area in order to improve, at least to some extent, the post-war picture of apartheid in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the alleged passed achievements are being self-complacently glorified. Obviously, the peace mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina intends to close the issue of return, which is utterly dangerous. Instead of objectively analysing what had been done concerning the return and developing a program of measures for as massive return as possible, a strategy of gradually moving away from the achievements already made in relation to the main post-war goal is being developed. Should the situation stay as it is, the returnees will constantly be a vulnerable target and hostages of war-mongering and hegemonistic purposes. Real democratisation of Bosnia and Herzegovina cannot be achieved without mass return of people to their own property throughout the country. It is especially important to break the segregationist shell of the RS and force the RS authorities to change completely their attitude toward return and returnees. The present situation concerning the return is the main destabilizing factor in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

VIOLENCE, DISCRIMINATION, SOCIAL INSECURITY

The victims of violence and discrimination are in most cases the returnees. Bosniak Muamer Topalovic admitted to have killed Croats Andjelko Andjelic and his daughters Mara and Zorica in the village of Kostajnica, municipality of Konjic, on the eve of the Catholic Christmas. According to allegations of the police of the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton, Topalovic committed crime for religious reasons. This is one of the most serious crimes against returnees after the end of the war. The majority of attacks took place in the territory of the Republika Srpska. Like before the war, sports events are used as occasion for giving vent to chauvinistic lower instincts. The explosions of menacing Greater-Serbianism took place during the match between national football teams of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. A group of Serbs from so-called Serb Sarajevo cheered on the FRY team, yelling, «This is Serbia» and hailing Radovan Karadzic. A group of supporters from BiH yelled «Allahu eqber» in return, while after the match one Montenegrin, who was completely innocent to the matter, was taken out of his car and beaten up, his eye being heavily injured. The supporters of football club «Borac» from Banja Luka stirred up incidents during the match with the football club «Celik» in Zenica, shouting nationalistic slogans, provocatively wearing T-shirts with pictures of Radovan Karadzic on them, crying out «Karadzic Karadzic, we'll tear Zenica down». In revengeful ecstasy, the supporters of Celik stoned wrong buses after the match. During the match between the Sarajevan football club Zeljeznicar and Borac in Banja Luka, the local supporters insulted the Bosniaks, threatening to murder them. A huge banner with monstrous message “Knife, wire, Srebrenica” dominated over the stadium and the police, as they themselves said did not dare remove it. Milorad Dodik, the leader of the Union of Independent Social Democrats, sports activist himself, was the only one among the prominent politician in the RS who condemned putting up this banner.

After the football match with the “Zovko” team from Zepce and despite the police protection, a group of Croats attacked the supporters of the Zenica football club “Celik” with bottles and stones. Eleven persons were injured, including some policemen. In Orasje, during a football match between the local team “Hajduk” and “Sloga” from Prud, a fight took place between the Croatian and Bosniak supporters, with some players taking part in it. The supporters of “Hajduk” (Bosniaks mainly engaged in it) cursed on the supporters of “Sloga” “Ustasha’s mother”, and the latter cursed “balijas”. A serious incident took place at the football match between Mostar first-league teams “Zrinjski” (purely Croatian team – author’s remark) and “Velez” (mainly Bosniak team – author’s remark) when stones and torches were being thrown at the visiting players. Among the “supporting” equipment there were swastika and the picture of Ante Pavelic, Head of nazi-fascist para-state formation in the Second World War, so-called Independent State of Croatia. The match was played at the stadium at which Velez had been playing before the war, and the supporters of Zrinjski put up the banner reading that Velez would never be allowed to return to that stadium.

The victory of the national team of Yugoslavia at the World Basketball Championship was also used to insult the Bosniaks on national and religious grounds, threatening to slaughter them and yelling “This is Serbia” in the settlement of Kozarac near Prijedor, where the rate of return of Bosniak is high. A considerable material damage was caused on the Bosniak houses and business premises. On that night, a Serb policeman, Predrag Malinic, was wounded, and the police immediately took in several Bosniaks, keeping them 10-12 hours for investigation, finally letting them out. But, two Bosniaks were kept in detention under suspicion of attempting murder of two Serb policemen. The RS police conducted the investigation on events in Kozarac under the pressure of international authorities. Minor offence charges were filed against 32 persons, and disciplinary measures were taken against three policemen who were among the “supporters”, provocateurs. Indeed, a house of one Bosniak in Prijedor was attacked for seven times during this year. The targets of attacks are also the catering facilities of Bosniak returnees. Provocations of Serb nationalist “supporters” also took place in the Sarajevan settlement Dobrinja.

Following the victory of the FRY basketball players at the World Championship, the incidents against Bosniaks took place in Janja near Bijeljina. A bomb was thrown on medjlis in Janja. In Bijeljina, Serb extremists were maltreating for three hours the staff of the coffee shop, the owner of which was a Bosniak. At the end, the coffee shop was demolished and one waiter was wounded. The association of citizens “Return and Sustainable Stay” claims that the police was called even four times, but in vein. Bombs are being thrown even on the cars belonging to Bosniaks in Janja. Threats to Bosniaks to be murdered and expelled are inscribed on traffic signs on the road from Bijeljina to Zvornik. In Kozluk near Zvornik, an explosive device was thrown in the house-yard  of a Bosniak returnee. Bosniak returnees to the settlement of Divic near Zvornik complain of being permanently provoked and insulted by Serb nationalists. In this place the fight broke out between Serbs and Bosniaks on the Ramadan Bayram with six injured. Bottles were thrown on a Bosniak young man. After the promotion of the book “Serb Side of the war”, speaking about the responsibility of Serbs for war crimes, murder threats were issued to the Bosniak journalist, Jusuf Trbic, returnee, and President of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in the Republika Srpska, Branko Todorovic. The cause for fury of nationalists was Trbic who said, during the promotion of the work organised by the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in RS, «in Bijeljina, there is a kind of fascism on the scene which rooted out complete Bosniak culture». The Director of the National Library «Filip Visnjic» distanced herself from Trbic's words after which threats to him and Todorovic were even intensified. Todorovic deems that the Serb Democratic Party stands behind all this.

Bosniak returnees to Srebrenica are also exposed to provocations by Serb nationalists, which discourage them from returning. Three pigs wearing inscription SDA (Bosniak Party of Democratic Action – author’s remark) and SDP (Social Democratic Party – author’s remark) were let go to the street of Srebrenica. A group of Serbs were trying by force to enter the coffee shop where Bosniaks were sitting (according to the Bosniak owner of the coffee shop it was closed because of fear that they would be attacked), stamping at the door and playing songs glorifying Radovan Karadzic, indicted war criminal. The police prevented more serious incident to happen. Ravnogorski Chetnic Movement and other Serb radicals in Srebrenica are issuing threats on life of the President of Municipal Assembly, Serb, Desnica Radivojevic (who condemns war crimes committed by Serbs and pleads in favour of multiethnic Srebrenica), and of Bosniaks Hakija Meholjic, Head of the Office for Return to Srebrenica and of Fadil Banjanovic, Head of the Office for Return in the Tuzla canton. Explosive devices were being thrown on the houses of Bosniak returnees to Bratunac. In Konjevic polje, in the municipality of Bratunac, the following slogans were written: «Knife, wire, Srebrenica», «Sarajevo Markale», «This is Serbia» and, moreover, Bosniak returnees were being insulted and threatened, according to «Oslobodjenje», in presence of about ten local policemen and members of the IPTF who did not react. Bomb was also thrown on a house of a Bosniak returnee to the settlement of Gornji Sepak near Zvornik. Serb extremists also attacked returnees in the Zvornik and Konjevic Polje.

Bosniak returnees to the area of Modrica, in particular to the settlement Tarevci, as well as their houses and shops, are exposed to provocations and even to physical attacks by Serb nationalists. The house of Zijad Mujkic, member of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights, was attacked seven times. A group of extremists in stocking masks beat up one twelve year old boy, swearing him on the ethnic grounds, while the house of the boy's father was stoned for seven times in two months. In Bosanska Dubica there were also in short period six attacks on Bosniak returnees by Serb extremists, and in the settlement Polje in that municipality explosive devices are being thrown. Two explosive devices were also thrown on the houses of Bosniak returnees in Doboj.  Threatening letters were sent to addresses of about ten Bosniak returnees and to the humanitarian organisation «Merhamet» in Bosanska Gradiska that contained messages for them to be «silent and to bow their heads» asking from «weekend Turks, do not provoke rage of sacred warriors, and of sacred old man» alluding on Chetnik General Draza Mihajlovic.

An explosive device was thrown twice on a house of the coordinator of the Federation Ministry of Refugees and Displaced Persons, Bosniak, Izet Cupina, in Trebinje. An explosive device was also thrown on yet another house of Bosniak returnee in Trebinje.  In the neighbouring place of Bileca, on the eve of the New Year, the city was full of posters  with picture of Radovan Karadzic.

The Brcko District was again a place in which Serb great nationalism was demonstrated. After the basketball match between FRY and USA at the World Championship, a group of supporters was celebrating the victory of FRY shouting «Wake up Turks, this is Serbia» (Bosniaks are implied under Turks – author's remark) and «Serbia, Serbia». During the indoor football tournament in Brcko, Chetnick and other nationalistic songs were played, after which the police intervened. A team under the name «Young Chetnick» was registered to having taken part in the tournament, and the players wore T-shirts with pictures of Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, the Hague indictees. In Brcko, in several places, false obituaries appeared containing serious insults and threats for Bosniak Muslims. There is again division on the ethnic grounds between high-school students in the Brcko District. Thus, the Serb students physically attacked a group of Croatian students.

Domestic democratic public and international authorities strongly condemned inadequate sentences pronounced for violence against Bosniaks and other participants during the attempt of laying of foundation stone for reconstruction of the Ferhadija mosque in Banja Luka in May last year when tens of persons were injured and one Bosniak died after the attack. Namely, 14 accused persons were sentenced to imprisonment from two to thirteen months. A judge, Mirela Jagodic, was particularly criticised by the international organisations because of the manner in which she had conducted the proceedings and their stay. The District Court in the so-called Serb Sarajevo released from prison Andjelko Mirovic, Serb, suspect of killing a Bosnik girl, Meliha Duric, and wounding Bosniak Meho Juraldzic. The Court held that there was no evidence to prove Mirovic guilty.

Serbs were also several times targets of attacks in Bosanski Petrovac. Several of them were injured in a fight with Bosniaks in a discothèque. After this, one coffee shop owned by a Serb returnee was demolished and a waiter in that coffee shop was attacked. According to «Nezavisne novine», in Bosanski Petrovac, several coffee shops owned by Serbs were attacked and their guests beaten up. It is interesting to note that the UN Mission deems that these incidents are not on the ethnic ground. Serb returnees to Sanski Most, where the Bosniaks are in majority, complained to the international organs of municipal authorities taking Serb land from them and of breaking windows of the local Orthodox church. In Nisici, near Ilijas, a displaced Bosniak, under influence of alcohol, cut the fence of a Serb returnee and tried to burn his house.

High politicians were also targets of attacks and threats. Some renowned politicians and public workers in BiH of Serb ethnic origin received death threats from a secret organisation of Serb chauvinist «Gavrilo Princip». According to Bosniak, Sulejman Tihic, Vice President of the National Assembly of the Republika Srpska, a bodyguard of Dragan Kalinic, President of the NSRS, threatened Tihic by snapping the pistol in his direction in the hall of the Assembly. It happened when the deputies of the Party of Democratic Action asked for establishment of the authorities in the RS on the basis of the 1991 census. After the information in some media according to which the Chairman of the BiH Council of Ministers, Dragan Mikerevic, was stoned together with a group of Serbs visiting their properties in Ustikolina without having been protected by the police, a denial was sent from the Interior Ministry of Bosansko Podrinje Canton whose members were safeguarding the visit. The same was asserted by the police of RS in Foca. Afterwards, Mikerevic stated that there were no physical attacks but that a group of about 40 furious Bosniaks was yelling «Allahu Eqber»,   whistling and provoking Serbs, wishing to prevent them from returning.

Muslim radicals burned down Christmas chreche in western Mostar. Posters with slogans agains celebration of the New year appeared one morning in that city, to instigate national division in Mostar.

The Cantonal Court in Bihac pronounced sentence of 6 years' imprisonment to the suspended Minister of Internal Affairs of Una-Sana Canton, Bosniak Muhamed Babic because he had obstructed return of Bosniaks to Velika Kladusa, planted explosive and misused the office. The sentences were also pronounced to another four Babic's associates. Their intention was to prevent the return of Bosniak members or sympathizers of the Democratic People's Union against which the Party of Democratic Action led unsparing campaign.

Serbs from Bocinja near Maglaj announced that they would file charges against the BiH Federation because it made possible to aliens to buy Serb property. These aliens are the so-called mudjahedins – fighters from the Islamic and other countries that were fighting for the BiH Army. After the pressure exerted by the international authorities, almost all mudjahedins were being moved out from Bocinja. People from local community in Bocinja claim that the local community was demolished in order to prevent Serbs from returning. They also claim that mudjahedins even today are buying Serb land at very low prices. Protest against settling the mudjahedins was organized in Bocinja although only seven such families that bought houses from Serbs are still there. President of the local community Krsno Polje – Bakotic, Serb Milan Jovic, asks from the international community to move out the mudjahedins, using the following words: «We have nothing against to have Bosniaks and Croats as our neighbours». The representative of the returnees to Bocinja, Bosko Jankovic, said that Serb returnees were irritated by «roaring from provisional mosque». It is obvious that there is a religious intolerance on the scene there.

The tension has been increased again in Stolac when the Ordinariate of the Catholic Church in Mostar opposed to reconstruction of Stolac mosque, for which consent was given by the international authorities and which was supported by the softliners in the Catholic Church. According to «Dnevni avaz», out of 136 attacks committed by Croatian extremists over Bosniak returnees, none was lit up. In front the gymnasium «Fra Dominik Mandic», a group of about twenty young men, in a part of the town with Croats in majority, attacked a Bosniak student. «Dnevni list» based in Mostar, before it changed the owner and conception, spread hatred especially against Bosniaks and affirmed chauvinism, and even nazi fascism among the Croats (Ustasha's and quisling formation from the Second World war, so-called Independent State of Croatia). Among else, at the time of summer season on the Adriatic coast in Croatia, when there were recorded numerous fires, a cartoon was published showing two young men with Muslim caps (fez) and matches in their hands with words: «Firemen do not know to which side to go. Small green ones are setting fire in Adriatic coast».

Religious radicalism is manifested by the association of Muslim Brotherhood, which uses web site and leaflets. The violence of the Israeli Army against Palestinians is used for promotion of pan Islamic idea, calling for Jihad (Holy War). The Islamic radicals particularly demonstrated their militancy on the occasion of deportation of the «Algerian Group». The leaflets of MB calling for boycott of transnational companies that allegedly support Israel appeared in a high school in the Brcko District. This organisation inspires religious and national intolerance and proselytism, by insisting, among else, on a spouse who is not a Muslim to convert to Islam or otherwise to divorce is necessary.

As for the attacks on religious facilities, the most serious incident took place in Kljuc near Gacko when a recently reconstructed mosque was destroyed. An explosive device was planted under the reconstructed mosque in a hamlet Mujkanovici in Kozarusa, near Prijedor, twice. On the eve of one of the most important Muslim holiday, Ramadan Bajram, in the suburban settlement of Prijedor, Donja Puharska, an explosive device was planted in the building of mesjid in which the imam and his wife lived. Explosive devices were twice thrown on this religious building. A mosque in the settlement of Donja Ljubija in the territory of Prijedor was demaged by an explosive device. The explosion cased substantial material damages to the facility. In the settlement Begsuja near Zvornik, the construction of a mosque was being hampered by demolishing scaffolding poles, by putting on the building site a pig wrapped into a bag, and when the works were completed glasses were being broken. Lower mosque in Doboj was also damaged in an attack by an explosive device. Bosniak returnees to Divic near Zvornik announced that they would take a legal action against the Republika Srpska because the graves of members of their families were dug up and Orthodox Church built on that locality. A bomb was thrown on a mesjid (provisional mosque) in the settlement Donja Puharska near Prijedor, causing considerable material damage on the facility and a car of imam. After the election campaign of the Serb Democratic Party in Prnjavor, drunken young men dropped into a building site of a mosque, scattering construction material and yelling nationalistic threats. Several minor offense charges were filed. Mesjid in Prnjavor was stoned during the religious service with Banja Luka Mufti taking part in it. In the same town, 17 tombstones on the Muslim cemetery were damaged. Bosniaks ask for their property in the settlement Meraje in the Brcko District to be returned to them. Orthodox Church is being built in their property. The construction is continued in spite of frequent warnings and initiated court proceedings. On the other hand, teams of reporters of the RTRS and local television HIP claim that Bosniaks obstructed their work three times, insulting them on the ethnic ground and issuing death threats. Muslim tombstones were desecrated in Muslim cemetery in Donja Puharska near Prijedor.

A group of under age persons stoned an Orthodox priest and a group of Serb believers at the plateau of the Old Orthodox Church in Mostar. An Orthodox church of Apostles Paul and Peter in the center of Sanki Most was stoned.

In Zivinice, seven Catholic and two Orthodox graves were desecrated with axe. An Orthodox cemetery was also desecrated in the place Stog near Zavidovici. Catholic cemetery was desecrated in Poculica near Vitez. Crosses were pulled out in eight graves in Catholic cemetery in Donja Dreznica near Mostar. Catholic cemetery in Grabovica near Capljina was also desecrated.   

In the settlement of Kralje near Bihac, a Catholic chapel was damaged. Soon after, the perpetrator was tracked down, and action instituted against him. In the Catholic cemetery of Kriz near Bihac, several tombstones were desecrated. The perpetrators have not been identified.

A case in dispute is a provocative placing of religious symbols against the rules of the service for determination of religious facilities and the needs of believers. Such case happened on the Hum hill above Mostar, in which case the international factors complained about it, as well as the cross in the Old Town above Srebrenica. In both cases, in multiethnic environments, it was the intention to demonstrate domination of one religion and one nation. In any case, one cannot justify illegal demolition of such objects as it happened in Drvar where a cross was pulled down. In Drvar, during the Easter, a group of young men provoked Croats by singing Chetnick songs.

We should point out here that after the murder of members of the Andjelic's family the Inter-religious Council of BiH, which gathers religious leaders of all four confessions,   reacted by condemning the violence in the name of religion and against religion and attacks on returnees, asking from the governmental bodies to be determined in securing freedom and human rights to all the inhabitants of BiH. During mass for the dead at the funeral of members of the Andjelic's family, the Archbishop of Vrhbosna, Cardinal Vinko Puljic spoke in favour of reduction of inter-national and inter-religious tensions. Reis-ul-ulema, Mustafa ef. Ceric, immediately condemned the murder committed against three Croats, emphasising that the crime against innocent people in Kostajnica is also the crime against Islam. Unfortunately, such reactions of the religious leaders are seldom. However, they could directly contribute by their authority to return of tolerance, confidence  and safety of returnees.

Following a monitoring of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina on the situation in BiH penitentiaries, the interest of media and public institutions in this issue has been increased. After contradictory information in the press, the BiH Council of Ministers, on the basis of the findings of a working group, concluded that Bosniak convicts maltreat psychically and physically Croatian and Serb convicts in the correctional facility in Zenica. The working group established, inter alia, that Darko Radinovic, after being systematically maltreated, attempted suicide and finally got mentally ill. Thus, the UN Mission confirmed that a convict Milomir Tepes, when asleep, was beaten up with chains and lock. On the occasion of torture in Zenica correctional facility, the Council of Ministers initiated an agreement between the entities on eventual transfer of convicts to other correctional institution. Thus we are on the way of having ethnically cleansed prisons as well.

The Commission of the Representation House of the BiH Parliament asked from the Ministry of Justice of the BiH federation to establish the circumstances under which the Croatian convicts, Catholics, converted to Islam in the correctional facility in Zenica, following the allegation that they did it under duress. However, the prison management claim that there was only one voluntary conversion to Islam. Since then, the correctional facility in Zenica has become interesting for religious officials and thus the Arch-Bishop of Vrhbosna, Cardinal Vinko Puljic served a mass in that prison, while Dabrobosanski Metropolitan had consecrated an Orthodox chapel in the correctional facility in Zenica before that. The interest in convicts was also used for political purposes as was the case with a visit of Reisu-l-ulema Mustafa ef. Ceric to Bosniak convicts (not all of them) in the Central Prison in Sarajevo where he served a religious ceremony. It is good that religious officials also get interested into the rights of detainees and convicts, including the religious rights, however, it is obvious that Reis visited the prison at the peak of election campaign, primarily with intention to label present authorities, in particular, the Social Democratic Party as a party that, allegedly, imprisons Bosniaks only because they are Muslims.

There are cases of a peculiar proselytism in media. Thus, for example, «Oslobodjenje» wrote with enthusiasm on conversion of a Croatian woman to Islam, while the President of the Commission for Human Rights of the BiH Parliament, Osman Brka, an official of the Bosniak Party of Democratic Action, pleaded for disappearance of atheism in BiH.

On the scene there is also discrimination on ethnic ground in employment, affecting in particular the returnees. A teacher from Celinac, Bosniak woman Vahida Salihovic, even after ten years being on the so-called waiting list cannot get employed. She has initiated proceedings before the court in Banja Luka. A journalist of «Oslobodjenje» claims that many Bosniaks are faced with such a problem in Banja Luka but are afraid to react.

A large number of BiH citizens are being socially discriminated against. As much as one fifth of the BiH population lives below the general poverty threshold, estimated at 1,843 KM (900 EUR) per year. 21 percent of the citizens in the BiH Federation and 29 percent in the Republika Srpska live in households with monthly income lower than 300 KM (about 150 EUR). By the end of 2001, there were 633,860 employed in BiH, out of which number 75 percent in industry and 25 percent in public sector. As compared with the pre-war situation, there are about 10,000 more people employed in the public sector, but on the other hand, the number of employed in the public sector is lower by as much as 410,000 than before the war. About 20,000 industrial invalids are unemployed. Many of those from among extremely socially vulnerable are forced to use public kitchens, even to beg.

Among the pensioners, who are generally the most imperiled social category, it is disabled pensioners who are the most affected, and about 50,000 of them are receiving the lowest pensions allowed under the law. About 72,000 of the pensioners in general are below the poverty line. The legal service of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina received by the early October about 2,100 claims concerning violation of human rights in relation to pension and disability insurance. In relation to this, a meeting with the agencies dealing with this matter was convened for the purpose of initiating the passage of the necessary legal regulations at the state level. In Una-Sana Canton, there were recorded cases of discrimination against the victims of the war who had been the members of the so-called People's Defense, paramilitary formation established at the time of conflict among Bosniak factions, and who are not receiving the same entitlement as other victims of the war, so that the Federal Ombudsmen held it necessary to intervene.

The World Health Organisation and the UNDP cautioned that the majority of citizens in Bosnia and Herzegovina were left without health protection, either because the companies were not paying the contributions for this purpose or because of unregulated status of returnees, or due to the fact that the majority of citizens could not afford medical treatment and buying medicines due to low salaries and pensions. According to the data of the Independent Federation of Trade Unions in BiH, about 200,000 workers in the country were left without health insurance, since they did not receive their salaries for the previous 15 to 24 months. Although some enterprises, in spite of not paying the salaries, do pay the contributions for health and pension insurance, the workers however cannot afford appropriate health care.

Unemployment is 2.6 times higher among the group of young of the age 19-24, than among the 25-49 age group and 3.6 times lower as compared with 50-60 age group. According to some research studies, as many as 62 percent of the young want to leave Bosnia and Herzegovina due to the lack of any prospects for future. The Youth Information Agency (OIA) approached the BiH authorities with 6 basic requirements for development of consistent youth policy in the country. According to the OIA estimates, about 92,000 young people have left the country during the past six post-war years.

The programme for protection children's rights, jeopardised in a number of fields, including the right to home, social and health insurance and education, has still not become operative in BiH. Particularly exposed to discrimination are the primary and secondary school children, since in many areas they are divided along ethnic criteria, as they are using textbooks in accordance with special ethnic curricula, often containing texts that express intolerance toward other ethnic and religious groups. On the other hand, children from minority ethnic groups have difficult access to learning in their own mother languages. It is only with resistance and under the pressure of international actors that the authorities organise classes for returnee children. This problem is particularly pronounced in the RS, especially in eastern Bosnia. Of particular concern is the widespread discrimination against children in the area of Una-Sana Canton. The children of the former supporters of Fikret Abdic and the movement for autonomy of this region, are being discriminated against on the part of some headmasters and teachers. They are denied the rights to free school transport, and free textbooks and school meals. Under the cantonal laws, the children of the parents who fought on the side of the Army of BiH, led by Alija Izetbegovic, are entitled to these rights. Another problem appears in some Bosniak villages, where parents still do not allow the girls to attend schools, since they deem that female children have no need for education.

However, «Nezavisne novine» (Independent Paper) published a good news on this topic. Namely, for the past two years, in the village of Mehurici, municipality of Travnik, not a single Bosniak girl pupil in the local elementary school quit the school after the fourth grade, as had been the practice earlier for many decades. This change in attitude of parents came about as a result of joint efforts of educational workers and the Islamic Community. An illustration of the absurdities of the educational system is the fact that in Mostar there are even two universities (one Bosniak and one Croat).

What particularly worries is the expansion of the import of narcotics in BiH, increasing number of young drug addicts in BiH and continuous lowering of the age limit at which the young are exposed to this pestilence. The previous attempts in combating narcotics and their destructive impact on youth were far from being the result of organised efforts of authorities and society in protecting the young from the terror of drugs.

During the past six years, the office of «Women and Law» was contacted by 4,500 women who had been victims of violence. According to the data provided by the organisations of SOS hot line type, it was mostly the children and women who were exposed to domestic violence. According to the information of SOS hot line in Sarajevo, during the past two years (October 2000 – October 2002), the most frequent form was mental abuse – 183 cases. There were 180 cases of light and severe bodily injuries, and 70 cases of abuse under the influence of alcohol. Particularly devastating were the findings presented in the report to the FBiH Government, according to which every second girl up to 18 years of age, every third up to 12 years of age, had been exposed to some form of sexual abuse, including rape. According to some sources, the lower age limit in sexual abuse of girls has now dropped to four to eight years of age.

The women are visibly struggling for their overall social emancipation, with the support of international and local associations, and this issue is becoming increasingly present in media. However, the postwar traumas and depressing social situation, along with the persistent mail domination in the key aspects of government and social life, reflect adversely on the status of women. Apart from witnessing the most serious forms of organised crime, Bosnia and Herzegovina has also become an arena for human trafficking. Thus, according to the estimates of the UN, about 10,000 women circulated through the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, eventually to end up in the hands of procurers. Frequent police raids have only a partial impact in addressing this problem.

AUTHORITIES, CITIZENS, ELECTIONS, NGOs

The determining influence in the performance of governmental authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina is the fact that full constitutional consolidation, with the Constitution of BiH being the supreme legal instance and based on the principles of constituency of peoples and equality of all citizens throughout the country has not been implemented in practice; the shortcomings of the Dayton structure of the BiH state which make it inflexible in adapting to integration with European and other structures, fact recognised by international actors as well; disharmony in the organisational structure of government between the two entities; the rule of various political groups with different ideologies at different levels of government; still decisively prevailing influence of nationalistic ideologies in conjunction with organised crime, which maintains the climate of violence and discrimination; incompetence of authorities at all levels of government combined with corruption; unsatisfactory effectiveness of sluggish and frequently even incompetent and red-tapist machinery of the international peace mission to BiH in implementing the Peace Agreement and necessary reforms in the organisation of government, judiciary, law enforcement, economy and education sectors.

The Democratic Alliance for Changes, as alternative to the rule of the three leading national parties, was actively operating for only one-and-half years at the level of the state and Federation of BiH, without succeeding in making major breakthroughs on the road to changes that would open up the prospects for future. The results achieved by this government toward europeanising BiH should not be underes