REPORT ON ACTIVITIES OF THE
HELSINKI
COMMITTEE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN BH
Reporting period: 1.1.1999 – 31.12.1999
This year also, as in previous years, the
Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BH
directed its activities to the promotion and
protection of human rights in Bosnia and
Herzegovina. It has continuously monitored the
situation and reacted toward the state and
international bodies and institutions in cases of
violations of human rights.
The Committee has also been engaged in the
education of population through preparations and
publishing books, booklets and posters in respect
of human rights.
In this year, the Committee has focused its
activities particularly on the position and state
in media in BH as well as to solving the issue of
missing persons and it also continued rendering
free of charge legal assistance.
Statements, open letters, round tables,
public debates, press conferences
In the organisation of the Helsinki Committee
for Human Rights, the documentary film “Crime
and Punishment” by Norwegian Director Maria
Warsinski was presented in Sarajevo, on 5
January. The film speaks of genocide committed
over Bosniaks in July 1995 by Serb
ultranationalists headed with General Ratko
Mladic, war crime suspect. More than 200 people
attended the projection of the film. After the
projection, there was discussion dedicated to
this massacre and terror the victims of which
were about 10,000 people. The representatives of
international community, Elisabeth Rehn (Special
Representative of the Secretary General), Mr.
Robert Barry (Head of OSCE Mission to BH),
representatives of survived people of Srebrenica
as well as members of families of three men of
Srebrenica sentenced to severe jail sentences in
the Republic of Srpska) took part in the
discussion. From the meeting, a letter was sent
to the High Representative in BH Carlos
Westendorp with request to do all in his power to
find the truth on missing people of Srebrenica.
At the beginning of February, the Committee was
engaged in establishment of an Interest Group
dedicated to the issue of missing persons,
composed of representatives of several national
non-governmental organisations from both BH
entities. The initiative meeting was held in
February. On that occasion, it was discussed how
the non-governmental sector could contribute to
resolving one of the most painful issues in these
territories – issue of missing persons.
At the second meeting, held on 16 June, the
possibilities based on local initiatives in
search of missing persons were discussed, and a
joint letter was sent to the highest officials in
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republic of Srpska and BH
Federation in which it was stated that little was
done in giving information and responses on
requests of the International Red Cross by the
authorities of BH, Republic of Srpska and BH
Federation and officials were asked to invest
additional efforts in improving efficiency of the
Working Group for Missing Persons led by the
International Committee of Red Cross. Copies of
letter were sent to the OHR, Head of the OSCE
Mission to BH, ICRC and PHR.
Aimed at obtaining more concrete information on
missing persons, we had discussions with
representatives of the Association of Citizens
“Mother of Enclaves of Srebrenica and Zepa”.
We also had a meeting with Abdurahman Malkic,
deputy of the Assembly of the Republic of Srpska
and member of leadership of the municipality of
Srebrenica with whom we discussed the role of
non-governmental organisations in solving the
issue of missing persons, and the way in which
the non-governmental organisations can more
efficiently be included in their solving.
Immediately following the end of the Conference
on Pact of Stability for Southeast Europe, held
in Sarajevo, the Helsinki Committee for Human
Rights in BH sent a letter to the highest
officials in Bosnia and Herzegovina in both
entities suggesting them to, pursuant to the
principles of the Pact on Stability, in the
domain of their responsibility and competence,
depoliticise the composition of the police forces
in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In connection with
this, the Committee proposed that steps be
undertaken in order that members of police
forces, except the minister and deputy minister
renounce their membership in political parties,
thus creating starting suppositions for
constitution of the police according to the high
European standards. A copy of the letter was sent
to Bodo Hombach, Special Co-ordinator for
Stability Pact, Robert Barry, Head of the OSCE
Mission to BH as well as to Martti Ahtisaari,
Chairman of the European Union.
A meeting with representatives of the
organisations of families of missing persons was
held in Sarajevo on 20 and 21 November. The
meeting was attended by the representatives of
Bosniak, Croat associations as well as
representatives of associations from the Republic
of Srpska, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and
Croatia. In addition, the representatives of the
International Committee of Red Cross and
International Commission for Missing Persons also
attended the meeting.
The Committee dedicated the observance of the 10
December, Human Rights Day, to the issue of
missing persons in BH. For that purpose, 2000
post-cards were printed on the backside of which
it was written in local and English language:
“Do not forget the missing persons”. The
post-cards were sent to statesmen, politicians,
media, non-governmental organisations, bodies
specialised in search for missing persons.
Certain quantity of the post-cards was given to
associations gathering families of missing
persons that sent them to addresses of their own
choice.
The representatives of the Committee took part in
peaceful manifestations in the centre of Sarajevo
on 10th December. Posters were being
held with inscriptions asking for response on all
questions put by the families of missing persons
and for greater engagement of politicians in
resolving this issue. Media covered both delivery
of post-cards and the manifestation on the
streets of Sarajevo and BH public was adequately
informed of it.
From the very beginning of the year, the Helsinki
Committee monitored the state of freedom of media
and freedom of expression. After six-month
monitoring in this field, analysis and estimate
were made according to which the state in media
and journalism is very difficult. The public was
informed of this estimate at the press conference
held in Sarajevo on 14 June. On that occasion,
about fifteen examples of assaults against or
pressures over independent media and journalists
were mentioned. Very difficult material position,
especially of independent media was also
emphasised – this also affecting freedom of
expression and freedom of media. This time, the
Helsinki Committee pleaded for the acts of libel
and defamation to be out of criminal law, and to
be treated within the civil proceedings.
In the second half of August, after detention of
Senad Avdic, editor-in-chief of the magazine Slobodna
Bosna by the police in the premises of the
cantonal court in Sarajevo, the Helsinki
Committee for Human Rights, in its press
statement, interpreted this act as assault
against freedom of expression and assault over
journalist profession. At the same time, the
Committee reminded of the decision of the High
Representative by which criminal proceedings
against a journalist for his writing was
suspended.
Because of more and more frequent cases of
inaccessibility to sources of information and no
transparency in the work of organs of authorities
at all the levels as well as public enterprises
and institutions – this depriving citizens of
their right to be informed, the Committee on 14
September, issued a press statement appealing to
organs of authorities and managers of public
enterprises and institutions to adapt their
behaviour toward public and media to the highest
international standards in this field. It was
also demanded from the government and the
Parliamentary Assembly of BH as well as from both
entity governments and assemblies to adapt laws
on freedom of information as soon as possible by
which right of citizens to be informed will be
guaranteed.
Together with the Human Rights House of Sarajevo,
on 5 November, the Committee organised a round
table on the topic: Attacks against Media - Who
is Next? Representatives of journalists’
associations, ministries of internal affairs of
both entities, representatives of judiciary,
lawyers, some of editors-in-chief and renowned
journalists were invited. It was stated that two
most dangerous professions in BH currently are
profession of journalists and profession of
deminers. It was also emphasised that politicians
warm up atmosphere in which a democratic act is
to attack journalist or to place bomb below his
car. It was concluded that police forces and
courts are not efficient or have no desire to be
efficient in catching and punishing persons
responsible for threatening freedom of media and
journalists. This round table attracted attention
of media and the whole BH press informed of it.
On 21 and 22 September, the Committee realised
fact-finding mission in Drvar, Bihac, Cazin and
Velika Kladusa. The members of the mission were
Srdjan Dizdarevic and the members of the Steering
Board of the Committee: Mirko Sagolj and Dr.
Nedjo Milicevic. A journalist from Sarajevo’s
daily accompanied the mission. During the visit
to Drvar, a meeting with representative of the
OHR in this town was not realised although the
meeting was timely announced on 8 September,
because Peter Chapel, chief of the office,
escaped to meet the members of the mission.
Wolfgang Petritsch, High Representative in BH was
informed of this in an open letter sent to him on
25 September. In order to inform the public on
its observations in respect of the state in the
mentioned places, the Committee organised press
conference on 5 October in which the
representatives from Cazin and Velika Kladusa
also took part. On that occasion, the public was
informed of the very difficult situation of human
rights in visited places, this being proved by
numerous examples of violations of fundamental
human rights of citizens.
The Committee has, together with the Helsinki
Board for Human Rights in the Republic of Srpska,
sent a proposal to the Head of the OSCE Mission
to BH, Robert Barry, not to accept candidature
for upcoming elections in BH of those politicians
who live in apartments of refugees and displaced
persons who expressed their wish to return. The
letter emphasised that that respect of the Annex
7 of the Dayton Peace Agreement which foresees
return of refugees and displaced persons to
addresses on which they used to live in 1991 must
be obligation of each candidate for electoral
functions.
The proposal was based on the principle according
to which candidates who do not accept the Dayton
Peace Agreement can not be on the election lists.
Provisional Election Commission accepted this
initiative and brought regulation regulating this
issue.
After the unlawful detention and investigation of
Senad Husidic from Velika Kladusa, the Committee
sent an open letter to Alija Izetbegovic, a
member of the BH Presidency and the President of
the Party of Democratic Action informing him of
the case. On that occasion, Mr. Izetbegovic was
informed of the very difficult state of human
rights in Una-Sana Canton and was asked to do all
in his power as a member of the highest state
organ and as the President of the Party of
Democratic Action in order that law be respected
as well as rights of each citizen thus creating
prospects for normal and dignified life of all
those who live in Bosnia and Herzegovina or
intend to return to live here.
Seminars and training
On 18 and 19 June, in Gorazde, a workshop was
held on the topic “Role of NGOs in Protection
of Human Rights”. Representatives of nine
non-governmental organisations from the Republic
of Srpska and the same number from the BH
Federation, then representatives of the
Association of Independent Intellectuals Circle
99, Citizens’ Forum from Tuzla and GAP took
part in it. The following topics were discussed
in the presence of thirty participants and
representatives of local means of information:
1. State of NGO in the region of Eastern Bosnia
–Slavko Klisura from Gorazde and Nenad Lucic
from Visegrad spoke about it;
2. Role of NGO in protection of human rights –
introductory speech was delivered by Vehid Sehic
– Citizens’ Forum from Tuzla;
3. State of human rights in BH and mechanisms for
protection – Srdjan Dizdarevic
During the two-day discussions, detailed estimate
on the state in the region was made and the goals
of NGOs and way of their realisation were set up.
The participants estimated the workshop as very
useful and successful.
In the organisation of the Helsinki Committee in
BH, in the House of Human Rights of Sarajevo, on
16 October round-table on the topic: “Violence
against children and rights of children” was
held. This round-table served for exchange of
information on the state of rights of children in
entire Bosnia and Herzegovina and for making
agreement on actions aimed at promoting
children’s rights and their protection,
particularly in the light of observance of 10th
anniversary of the UN Convention on Rights of
Child. The representatives of the Helsinki
Committee for Human Rights in BH and the Helsinki
Board for Human Rights in the Republic of Srpska,
non-governmental organisations “Our
Children”, “Education Builds BH”, Helsinki
Citizens’ Parliament, Ombudsmen’s Office,
representatives of international NGO dealing with
protection of children’s rights and
representatives of judiciary took part in the
discussion. It was emphasised at the meeting
that, after the war, there are 30,000 children
without one parent and 1,800 children without
both parents. Several thousand children are
disabled children and about 50,000 children live
as refugees and displaced persons. It was also
emphasised that children are the greatest victims
of mines. There are still about 3 million mines
in BH and there is insufficient care of the
authorities for children that are practically
left to non-governmental sector to take care of
them. The issue of education was particularly
pointed out to the sense that it is not up to the
needs and that it is not at the level achieved in
the developed countries.
The Committee took part in the work of regular
annual seminar of the Human Rights Houses, held
in the Human Rights House of Sarajevo, in the
period from 28 to 31 October. The seminar was
attended, beside the representatives from BH, by
the representatives of the Human Rights Houses
from Moscow, Bergen, Oslo, Tirana and Warsaw. The
seminar was organised in a form of lectures and
discussions on certain topics. Introductory
speeches were delivered by Robert Barry, Zarko
Papic and Senad Pecanin. The participants
estimated the seminar as useful and positive one
that contributed to the exchange of useful
information and experiences. They also emphasised
that the holding of such seminar is of extreme
importance having in mind very severe violations
of human rights of citizens of this city during
the passed war.
In the period from 2 to 4 December in Sarajevo,
workshop for representatives of non-governmental
organisations was held under the topic:
“Training in Managing Projects”. 12
representatives of NGOs from both entities took
part in the workshop, which was conducted by two
experts from Slovenia. The participants’
feedback information concerning the outcome of
workshop was more than positive. Apart from
educational part, the workshop gave opportunity
to participants to exchange opinion, acquired
experiences and to establish new contacts.
The representatives of the Helsinki Committee for
Human Rights in BH, together with members of the
Circle 99, at the beginning of December, visited
Velika Kladusa, Cazin and Bihac. In these three
cities of Una-Sana Canton, there were three
public debates held on the very current issue of
respect of human rights and freedoms. These
debates confirmed the need of more frequent
visits in the field and more frequent contacts
with representatives of NGOs which assist in
obtaining information about the state of human
rights, in encouraging activities in the field
and make positive effects on the situation in
certain regions.
Publishing activities
As in previous years, this year also, the
Helsinki Committee continued publishing books
from the field of human rights. Thus, second
edition of the book “International Human
Rights” by Jack Donnely was translated. The
book speaks of international relations in the
field of human rights from the end of the Second
World War, i.e. of the ways the states and other
international organisations refer to the issue of
human rights. We deem the book to be valuable for
all those who wish to know something more of this
issue. We also realised a project of
English-French-Bosnian “Glossary of Human
Rights” by author Delila Dizdarevic. This
glossary is intended for the activists in the
human rights organisations and to professionals
who are engaged in this issue. The aim of the
Glossary is to enable better understanding of
literature on human rights in French, that is, in
English language and adequate translation of
texts from Bosnian/Serb/Croatian to English and
French languages. The promotion of these two
editions was held at the Human Rights House of
Sarajevo on 28 September 1999 and heads of
promotion ceremony were: Dr. Hanifa Kapidzic
Osmanagic, Dr. Ugo Vlaisavljevic and Mrs.
Elisabeth Rasmusson on behalf of the OSCE Mission
to BH.
In the period from 15 January to 15 December
1999, the Committee issued 22 issues of Faxletter
in local and English language. The bulletin was
distributed by mail, fax, e-mail to about hundred
addresses throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina and
to about hundred addresses abroad. The Bulletin
was also possible to find on Internet site of the
Helsinki Committee. According to the last
information, in the period from January to
December 1999 Web page of the Helsinki Committee
was visited by 70,251 visitors, this being 5,854
visitors per month. We deem that this information
speaks enough of how much our compatriots are
interested in the situation in BH, particularly
in the state of human rights. In this way, the
Committee is trying to contribute to the
realisation of the Dayton stipulations, primarily
of those in respect of repatriation of refugees
and displaced persons, democratisation and
strengthening of civil society in these
territories.
Legal assistance
For the purpose of obtaining better
organisation and efficiency in rendering legal
assistance to parties addressing the Committee,
we made reorganisation of this activity. Namely,
we employed full time job lawyer, working with
parties every day.
Thus, in the period from the beginning of the
year till the end, there were 3,250 cases
registered for processing and 600 cases were
taken over from the previous years.
85% of cases refer to housing and property
issues, and 15% to labour, pension-disability
field and other fields of rights and their
protection.
During the processing of the mentioned cases and
contacts with competent bodies we would emphasise
the following:
- Legal terms are not respected, either in making
decisions on the basis of submitted claims, or in
responding to complaints or in second instance
procedures. All the municipal bodies of the
administration of the Canton of Sarajevo, in all
disputes, are trying to prolong the procedures as
much as possible, better to say, not to process
them in order that temporary tenants of
apartments continue realising “more rights”
than they have according to the law. Reasons for
justification are being searched for every day
and the last situation between municipalities and
Canton is primarily aimed at slowing down the
implementation of the decision of the High
Representative and the realisation of the
minority returns according to the Sarajevo
Declaration;
- Already signed decisions in the first and
second instance “travel” for months from
municipality to Canton and vice versa, i.e. to
the parties;
- The parties complain of incorrect, bureaucratic
relation of officers who almost always escape to
receive them.
For this reason, the parties visit the Committee
more and more often and there are about 30
parties personally coming to the Committee and
the number of telephone calls, discussions,
questions and requests and other forms of
contacts is approximately the same.
The OHR, OSCE, UNHCR, Director of the
Directorate for Housing Issues of the Canton of
Sarajevo and Chiefs of Departments in the
municipalities are informed of all the activities
of the Committee. If necessary, we also inform
other international bodies, organisations and
courts of certain cases, depending on the type of
dispute.
Co-operation with other national Helsinki
Committees and international organisations
We realised co-operation, through financing
of certain projects, with the Committees in
Norway and Sweden, NED Foundation (National
Endowment for Democracy) from the USA, and with
the International Helsinki Federation in Wiena.
We should also mention a very good and fruitful
co-operation with the Helsinki Board for Human
Rights in the Republic of Srpska.
Sarajevo, 31 December 1999
No. 40-12/99
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