REPORT ON
ACTIVITIES OF THE
HELSINKI COMMITTEE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN BH
(January – December 2000)
In this period, the Helsinki Committee for
Human Rights in BH was engaged in promotion and
protection of human rights on a regular basis and
it focused on monitoring of the state of media,
realisation of women’s human rights, rendering
of legal assistance and monitoring of conditions
for fair and democratic (municipal and general)
elections held in April and November 2000.
In addition to these activities, the Helsinki
Committee for Human Rights in BH was initiator
and co-founder of the Coalition of
Non-Governmental Organisations in BH “IZBORI
2000” (ELECTIONS 2000), and one of the main
activists of this organisation. The results of
one-year work of the Coalition are that it has
about 100 organisations-members from the entire
territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina in a network,
interconnected well.
In November 2000, for its work and achieved
results, the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights
in BH was nominated for the first annual award
“Dayton Peace”, on the occasion of the
commemoration of the fifth anniversary of the
Dayton Peace Accord. This year’s winner of the
“Dayton Peace” award was Bill Clinton,
President of the United Stated of America.
Statements, open
letters, fact-finding missions, press conferences
In view of the fact that the United Nations
Assembly, at its 94 plenary session, held on 23
December 1994, passed the Resolution No. 94/184
by which a period from 1 January 1995 to 31
December 2004 was proclaimed a Decade for
Education in the Field of Human Rights, the
Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BH and the
Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Republika
Srpska sent on 7 January 2000 a joint letter to
the highest officials in BH and its both entities
proposing that joint activities be initiated for
inclusion of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the
realisation of the programme Decade for Education
in Human Rights of the United Nations, stating at
the same time, that similar activities are in
course in democratic countries.
On 11 January 2000, in the Human Rights House
of Sarajevo, the Committee held a press
conference to inform the public of the report on
the state of media in Bosnia and Herzegovina
during the year 1999 under the title “Position
of Media in BH in the Context of Human Rights”.
The general conclusion was that the media in BH
were seemingly free and that the journalists were
more frequently targets of physical assaults,
pressures and threats. The public met the press
conference as well as the report itself with the
great interest.
On the basis of the information the Committee
received from its monitor in Drvar, the Committee
on 12 January 2000 sent a letter to Mister Detlef
Buwitt, the IPTF Commissioner, informing him that
three members of IPTF were living in a house
occupied by an expelled person from Kakanj and
that the real owner, who had been expelled from
his house during the war operations, was still in
exile without possibility to repossess his
property. It was demanded from Mr. Buwitt to do
all necessary things in order that the IPTF
members move out from the house, thus creating
conditions for return of real owner to his
property.
Following a bomb attack in which a shop owned
by an activist of an opposition party in Buzim
was targeted, on 18 February 2000, the Helsinki
Committee issued press release expressing its
concern and strongly condemning this terrorist
act. It was demanded from the governmental
authorities to create conditions in the entire
Bosnia and Herzegovina under which it would be
impossible to have such events as in Buzim and
which would allow election campaign and elections
to pass in a democratic atmosphere.
Continuing with a practice of organising and
realising the fact-find missions in some places
and regions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the
representatives of the Helsinki Committee visited
Velika Kladusa on 12 and 13 February and
discussed the issue of human rights with the
representatives of the local non-governmental
organisations, individuals – activists in the
third sector, and representatives of then
authorities, with the aim to get insight into the
state of human rights in that place. After the
two-day mission, the representatives of the
Committee informed the public of their findings
through radio and TV broadcast and through
interviews given to some dailies and weeklies.
In a reaction to a very difficult humanitarian
situation in which several hundred of returnees
were found in the place of Kopaci near Gorazde
(they were living under tents, awaiting to return
to their pre-war homes and properties for more
than four months), the representatives of the
Helsinki Committee on 24 February 2000, realised
a one-day fact-finding mission in Kopaci and
Gorazde. An open letter was sent to the High
Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Wolfgang Petritsch, informing him of a very
difficult humanitarian situation in which the
returnees were being found, asking him to do all
in his power to finally start the process of
return of people of Kopaci to their homes.
As one of the initiators for establishment of
the Coalition of Non-Governmental Organisations
in BH “IZBORI 2000”, The Helsinki Committee
for Human Rights in BH on 25 February 2000,
convened the Founding Assembly of the Coalition.
The basic aim of the existence and work of the
Coalition is to include actors of civic society
and non-governmental organisations from the
entire territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina in all
the aspects of electoral process and in the
process of adoption of the permanent election
law. 26 non-governmental organisations from
entire Bosnia and Herzegovina took part in the
work of the Founding Assembly of the Coalition.
As a result of a continuous monitoring of
municipal elections, activities of the political
parties, the Committee issued on 5 April 2000 a
press release giving its assessment of the
conditions for holding of elections on 8 April
2000. The statement emphasised that more tolerant
atmosphere was present in the election activities
of the political parties. It was concluded that
conditions for fair and democratic elections were
more favourable than in all the former elections
held after the Dayton Peace Accord.
A day after the International Conference on
Women’s Human Rights, on 16 April 2000, the
International Helsinki Federation and the
Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BH at the
press conference held in the Human Rights House
of Sarajevo issued a press release in which it
was stated that there was a great concern for the
state of human rights in the region, particularly
worsening of the status of women generally in the
post-communist countries in the post-war region
of the former Yugoslav countries.
Following a vulgar assault against a group of
Roma people in Banovici, by a group of SDA
members (having as consequence serious bodily
injuries of five Roma people) because they had
voted for SDP at the municipal elections, the
Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BH and the
Centre for Protection of Minorities’ Rights
issued a press release on 25 April 2000
condemning this act of violence against the
members of the Roma national minority assessing
it as an expression of threatening the position
of minorities and their rights, and as
unacceptable attack against the political
opponents.
On 17 May 2000, the Helsinki Committee for
Human Rights in BH issued a press release most
sharply condemning the violation of fundamental
human rights of civilians in Chechenya.
Doubtlessly, it was found out that the Russian
Army, during the operations in Chechenya,
violated the Geneva Convention on Human Rights as
well as the International Humanitarian Law. The
statements emphasised that the non-governmental
organisations, including the Helsinki Committee
for Human Rights in BH, Human Rights Watch,
Amnesty International, International Helsinki
Federation as well as about 20 more similar
organisations, initiated procedure for raising
inter-state charges against the Russian
government before the Court for Human Rights in
Strasbourg.
On 25 May 2000, the representatives of the
Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BH made
one-day fact-finding mission in Mostar, on the
occasion of which they discussed with the
representatives of the non-governmental sector
and the representatives of the authorities of the
city of Mostar. It was concluded that much
greater engagement would be needed, both of
non-governmental sector and the authorities in
order to improve the state of human rights in
this city and to overcome still present
interethnic tensions.
The representatives of the Helsinki Committee,
on 1 June 2000, realised a one-day fact-finding
mission to Foca. It was found that the state of
human rights in this region was on the very low
level, and that much efforts and endeavours
should be exerted by primarily local authorities
and by a civic sector as well in order to improve
the situation. It was pointed at the fact that by
that moment none Bosniak returned to the city of
Foca.
In its 14 June 2000 press release, the
Helsinki Committee strongly condemned physical
assault and brutal threats to which the
journalist of Slobodna Bosna, Edin Avdic,
was exposed to. The press release expressed
concern over the fact that the majority of
perpetrators of assaults against journalists and
media houses were still at large and out of reach
of justice and law although their names were
known and it was stated that power wielders,
protecting perpetrators of assaults against the
fundamental human rights, were covering up
numerous ill-deeds committed in the last several
years throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Continuing to realise fact-finding missions,
the representatives of the Helsinki Committee on
17 June 2000, made one-day visit to Trebinje and
discussed with the representatives of local
non-governmental organisations who informed them
of the current situation of human rights in that
region. The joint assessment was that the
situation concerning the realisation and
protection of human rights was very bad.
Because of frequent pressures to which a daily
Dnevni avaz was exposed to, the Helsinki
Committee issued a press release on 21 June 2000,
appealing on all the political authorities of
Bosnia and Herzegovina to abandon to practice the
methods applied by undemocratic and authoritarian
regimes in our direct neighbourhood. It also
asked that such environment be created to enable
free work of media outlets as necessary condition
for building of democracy and for respect for
human rights. The press release was submitted to
the Council of Europe, the Office of the High
Representative in BH, International Helsinki
Federation, OSCE Mission to BH, Reporters sans
frontiers, “Article 19”, and to the Ministry
of Interior of the BH Federation.
On 24 June 2000, one-day fact-finding mission
was made to Drvar. After the visit, a letter was
sent to the Head of the OSCE Mission to BH,
Robert Barry, in which he was asked to, pursuant
to his authorities, make influence on the
realisation of the two issues very important for
Drvar, as follows: quick constitution of
municipal bodies and a visit of any of the
highest representatives of the international
community to this town in order to calm down the
situation, because the representatives of the
Committee got the impression that the
representatives of the international community
working in Drvar were not at the level of the
tasks assigned to them.
Having monitored the state of media in Bosnia
and Herzegovina in 2000 as well, on 26 July 2000,
the Helsinki Committee had a press conference in
the Human Rights House of Sarajevo, giving its
assessment of the state and position of media in
the first half of the year 2000. The basic
statement was that the position of media and
media workers was still difficult and that the
number of threats and assaults against the
journalists and media houses was as much as four
times greater in comparison to the previous year.
Public met with great interest both the press
conference and the press release.
On the eve of the pre-election campaign for
general elections in November, the Helsinki
Committee for Human Rights in BH and the
Coalition of NGO in BH “IZBORI 2000” issued a
press release presenting results obtained in a
public survey, conducted with the assistance of
the Mareco Index Bosnia agency, with 2,500
citizens from 100 municipalities in Bosnia and
Herzegovina. The results of the public survey
showed that 81,8% of citizens intended to vote at
the municipal elections, while 58,7% of the total
number of questioned citizens were expecting
positive changes after the elections, 4,5% of
them expected negative changes and 36,7% did not
expect any changes. More than one third of the
questioned citizens, more precisely 38% needed
additional information on the way of voting on
the November elections.
In the period from 1st to 3rd
October 2000, the representatives of Helsinki
Committee visited, within a fact-finding mission,
the area of Una-Sana canton. They visited the
following cities: Cazin, Bihac, Velika Kladusa
and discussed with the representatives of the
local authorities and with the representatives of
the non-governmental organisations from that
region. On the last day of the visit, 3 October
2000, press conference was held in Bihac and the
public was informed of the impressions of the
Helsinki Committee on the present state of human
rights in this region. It was stated that the
progress was made, however, the state of human
rights was still far from the satisfactory.
On 10 October 2000, in the Human Rights House
of Sarajevo, the Helsinki Committee organised a
meeting between a delegation of the International
War Crimes Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and
the representatives of domestic and international
non-governmental organisations dealing with the
issue of missing persons. The possibilities of
improvement of mutual co-operation in resolving
the issue of missing persons were discussed
during the meeting.
Within the framework of the monitoring of
pre-election campaign for general elections in
Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Helsinki Committee
for Human Rights in BH and the Coalition of NGO
in BH “IZBORI 2000”, on 19 October issued
press release following the demonstrations
organised by Serb high school student
nationalists in Brcko. The release condemned the
events in Brcko and estimated that they did not
contribute to the normalisation of the state in
Bosnia and Herzegovina and that they warmed up
national intolerance. The release read that the
Committee expected from the Provisional Election
Commission of the OSCE as well as from the
Election Appellate Sub-Commission to undertake
measures for establishing the responsibility of
the political parties that were taking part on
the general elections for the mentioned events
and to undertake concrete measures against the
organisers of the events who brought into
question a democratic character of the general
elections.
On the eve of the general elections, the
Helsinki Committee and the Coalition of NGO in BH
“IZBORI 2000” held a press conference in the
Human Rights House of Sarajevo on 8 November
2000, presenting assessment of the pre-election
campaign. The joint estimate was that this was
the dirties campaign ever since multi-party
elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The campaign
was rich with untruth facts on political
opponents and inflammable speech and speech of
hatred.
Two days after the general elections in BH,
the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BH and
the Coalition of Non-Governmental Organisations
in BH “IZBORI 2000” issued a press release
containing the assessment that these general
elections were the best organised elections since
the signing of the Dayton Peace Accord. Many
failures that had been noticed in the latest
elections did not repeat this time. The voting
lists were updated so that relatively small
number of voters could not found themselves on
the lists. Excepting couple of voting polls, all
the polls were opened in time and were supplied
with sufficient quantity of election materials.
It was not over-crowded at the polls. The release
particularly emphasised the issue of security on
the voting day as being at the high level. Some
irregularities were noted but did not
significantly affect the outcome of elections.
On the occasion of the 10 December 2000,
International Human Rights Day, the Helsinki
Committee issued a press release in which it
tried to draw the attention of the domestic
public and future government officials to the
fact that Bosnia and Herzegovina was still today
one of the European countries with the most
numerous violations of human rights. The issue of
missing persons was also pointed out. According
to the information of the Red Cross there are
about 20,000 missing persons. An appeal was sent
to all those who are politically accountable in
Bosnia and Herzegovina to make efforts in order
to improve the state of human rights, and put the
light on the fate of the missing persons in
Bosnia and Herzegovina.
On the same day, 10th December
2000, the representatives of Helsinki Committee
for Human Rights in BH together with the
representatives and members of several
associations of missing persons peacefully
marched in front of the “Eternal Fire” in
Sarajevo, asking from the highest representatives
of domestic authorities as well as from the
representatives of the international community to
make all efforts to finally resolve the issue of
missing persons in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Seminars,
round-tables, public debates, training programmes
In the organisation of the Committee, on 25
January 2000, a round-table was held on the
topic: “Who Prevents Return?” in the presence
of representatives of domestic non-governmental
organisations, representatives of the Ministry of
Displaced Persons and Refugees of the BH
Federation, Board for Implementation of the
“Sarajevo Declaration”, OSCE and OHR. The
intention of this round-table was to define who
in Bosnia and Herzegovina really prevented tens
thousands of refugees and displaced persons from
returning.
On 28 March 2000, in the Human Rights House of
Sarajevo, on the occasion of the observance of
the fifth anniversary since the adoption of the
Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the
Committee organised a round-table on this topic.
The key-speaker was Prof. Dr. Nada-Ler Sofronic,
the renowned activist in the field of protection
of women’s human rights, and 13 representatives
of the non-governmental organisations dealing
with the issue of protection of women’s human
rights took part in the work.
Within the realisation of the project
Monitoring of the State of Media in Bosnia and
Herzegovina, on 31 March 2000, a round table was
organised on the topic: “Rights to Ask for,
Receive and Disseminate Information”. The key
speakers were: Kristen Tellin, General Director
of IMC, Pejo Gasparevic, a journalist of HINA,
and Regan McCarthy, representative of the OSCE
Office for Media. 15 representatives of OHR,
OSCE, IMC, IREX ProMedia, journalist’s
associations, and media outlets from entire BH
took part in the work of the round table. It was
concluded that it would be necessary in Bosnia
and Herzegovina to adopt law regulations on
freedom of information in accordance with the
highest international standards.
On 14 and 15 April in Sarajevo, in a
co-operation with the International Helsinki
Federation for Human Rights, the Helsinki
Committee for Human Rights in BH organised a
two-day International Conference on women’s
human rights under the name: “Obstacles to
Promotion of Women’s Human Rights”. The
representatives from 14 countries of Southeastern
and Central Europe took part in the conference as
well as the representatives of UNHCHR, OSCE, ICTY
and OMCT (World Organisation Against Torture). At
the conference, the state of women’s human
rights in the region was discussed, focusing on
some issues such as: domestic violence,
trafficking in women, issue of rape and two very
important issues: women in policy and women in
economics. It was concluded that in all the
countries of the region, when speaking of the
women’s human rights, all problems are the
same, and that only regional approach to these
problems can be efficient for its overcoming. 70
participants took part in the work of the
conference.
On 26 and 27 April, in the organisation of the
Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BH and the
Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Republika
Srpska, two one-day seminars were held in
Sarajevo and Bijeljina respectively on the topic:
“How to Prevent Domestic Violence –
Experience of Austria”. In addition to the
representatives of the non-governmental
organisations from Austria, and representatives
of NGO from both BH Entities, the seminar was
also attended by the representatives of
judiciary, centres for social work and ministry
of interior and remarkable number of individuals
– experts in the field of psychology, pedagogy
and law. It was stated that there was a growing
tendency in domestic violence, particularly
against women and children, which was a direct
consequence of inadequate legal protection.
Therefore, joint initiative was given for reform
of legislation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, of Law
on Criminal Proceedings, Family Legislation and
Law on Civic Proceedings.
In the period from 29 June to 1 July 2000,
international seminar was held in the Athens on
the topic: Co-ordinated action Against
Trafficking in Human Beings in Southeast
Europe”. Mrs. Nada-Ler Sofronic, a member of
the Steering Board of the Helsinki Committee,
took part in the work of the seminar on behalf of
the Helsinki Committee. On that occasion, Dr. Ler
Sofronic read a paper on the topic:
“Trafficking in Human Beings in Bosnia and
Herzegovina”, which was met with great interest
by present participants.
A seminar for representatives of the youth of
the Coalition of NGO in BH “IZBORI 2000” was
held in the Human Rights House of Sarajevo from 2
to 4 June 2000. The seminar was attended by the
young people from 17 non-governmental
organisations, members of the Coalition of NGO in
BH “IZBORI 2000”. The aim of the seminar was
to agree a joint strategy for organisation of the
election public campaign with special emphasise
on:
a) Registration of voters
b) Re-registration of voters
c) Checking of data on the voting lists in the
centres for registration, and campaigns on
education and animation of the electoral body,
particularly young people on the very day of
elections.
A representative of “Glas 99” from
Croatia, Lalic Bojan, conveying his experience in
election campaign in Croatia, took part in the
work of the seminar.
Within the framework of the project
“Monitoring of the State of Media in BH”
one-day seminar on the topic: “Freedom of Press
and Speech and International Legal Regulations in
this Field” was held on 15 June 2000. The
representatives of electronic and written media
outlets from both entities took part in the work
of the seminar. The key-speakers on the seminar
were Mr. Zoran Udovicic, Director of Media Plan
and Mr. Bob Gillet, Director of Irex ProMedia.
Within the activities of the Coalition of
non-governmental organisations in BH “IZBORI
2000”, one-day seminar was held in Trebinje on
5 July on the topic: “The Role of NGO in BH in
Election Campaign”. The seminar was attended by
56 representatives of the organisations –
members of the Coalition who discussed a joint
strategy in leading central public campaign of
the Coalition members in election process,
animation and education of the electoral body,
registration and re-registration, checking the
evidence on the voting lists as well as
identification of the electoral bodies.
One day training programme on the topic:
Organisation of public debates within a non-party
campaign on the eve of elections was held on 16
September 2000, in Zenica. 10 regional
co-ordinators for implementation of the non-party
public campaign through public debates, as well
as some moderators, who would implement them,
took part at the training. Representatives of two
non-governmental organisations from Croatia
“Glass 99” and “GONG” also took part in
the training, conveying their experience in
organising non-party public debates in Croatia in
1999.
Within the Committee’s activities on
education of young people in the field of human
rights, two-day School of Human Rights for Young
People was organised in Neum, on 19 and 20
September. 15 young people from the entire Bosnia
and Herzegovina took part in the work of the
School, and lecturers were the renowned experts
from this field, and renowned professors of the
BH universities.
In the organisation of the Helsinki Committee
for Human Rights in BH, two-day symposium was
organised in Mostar on 29 and 30 September on the
topic: “International Criminal Tribunal for
Former Yugoslavia – Facts and Models for
Co-operation”. In addition to 65 municipal and
cantonal judges, presidents of the cantonal
courts, representatives of the Ministry of
Justice of the BH Federation, representatives of
some non-governmental organisations, there were 6
guests – high officials of ICTY from the Hague
taking part in the work of the symposium. They
were at the same time key speakers for some
topics. The work of the symposium was covered by
media.
Continuing with the activities in monitoring
the state of media in BH, on 6 October 2000, the
Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BH
organised a round table on the topic: “The
Importance of the Law on Free Access to
Information for the BH Citizens”. A joint
appeal of the members of the Human Rights House
of Sarajevo (the Committee is among them) was
sent from the round table to the political
parties represented in the Parliamentary Assembly
of BH to pass the Law on Free Access to
Information as soon as possible, which would
present important step in the protection of human
rights and which would be in accordance with the
Article 10 of the European Convention on Human
Rights as well as other international instruments
the application of which is obligatory in Bosnia
and Herzegovina pursuant to the Dayton Peace
Accord.
One-day training for 49 regional co-ordinators
and monitors under the title: “Education of
Monitors for Monitoring Fair and Free
Elections” was held in Sarajevo on 15 October
2000, within the framework of the activities of
the Coalition of NGO in BH “IZBORI 2000”.
During the training, two questions were focused
at: duties and obligations of monitors during the
monitoring on the day of elections, and
monitoring of the work of media outlets. On that
occasion, “Reminder for Work of Monitors”,
made by the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights
in BH, was distributed to the co-ordinators and
monitors.
A seminar on human rights in the organisation
of the IHF and Helsinki Committee for Human
Rights in BH was held in Neum on 1 and 2
December. 10 young people from the entire Bosnia
and Herzegovina (Velika Kladusa, Bihac, Mostar,
Sarajevo and Bijeljina) took part in the work of
the seminar. During the seminar the following
topics were discussed: “International Standards
in the Field of Human Rights”,
“Constitutional Basis for Respect for Human
Rights in BH, State of Human Rights in BH and the
Role of NGO in Protection of Human Rights” and
“Rights of National Minorities”. The
participants were very much interested in the
subject matter and were very active. All the
participants were given some literature: European
Convention on Human Rights, General Declaration
on Human Rights, the book of Jack Donnelly
“International Human Rights” as well as
three-language glossary on human rights.
Publishing activities
On the occasion of the commemoration of the
fifth anniversary since the establishment of the
Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BH, on 11
February 2000, a book “Five Years of the
Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BH”
containing all the documents the Committee has
published in the first five years of its work,
was published. The book was printed in domestic
and English language.
The Committee assisted the non-governmental
organisation “Protector” in promoting a book
“Letter without Address” on 19 February 2000,
in the Human Rights House of Sarajevo.
On 11 June 2000,
English-French-Arabian-Bosnian Glossary of Human
Rights was published. This glossary, the author
of which is Delila Dizdarevic contains 8,000
terms from the field of human rights.
During the year 2000, the Committee has
continued publishing bi-weekly bulletin on the
state of human rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina
called “Faxletter”. Total number of published
issues is 22. The bulletin is being published in
two languages, domestic and English. The bulletin
was distributed by mail to about 100 addresses in
Bosnia and Herzegovina and by e-mail to abroad,
approximately to the same number of addresses. It
could be found on Web page of the Helsinki
Committee for Human Rights in BH. During 2000,
there were registered 115,051 visits to web page
of the Committee, this speaking for itself on the
interest for human rights, particularly among our
citizens living abroad.
Co-operation with
Other National Helsinki Committees and
International Organisations
During the year 2000, the Helsinki Committee
for Human Rights in BH has realised co-operation
with many domestic and international
non-governmental organisations of which we would
like to point out already traditionally good and
constructive co-operation with the Helsinki
Committees in Sweden and Norway, International
Helsinki Federation for Human Rights in Vienna,
Helsinki Committees in Serbia, Croatia, Monte
Negro. We would like to single out, within
domestic non-governmental organisations, our
co-operation with the Helsinki Committee for
Human Rights in Republika Srpska, Centre for
Protection of Minorities’ Rights, Circle 99,
Centre for Development of Civic Society,
Citizens’ Forum in Tuzla.
Sarajevo, 31 December 2000
REPORT
On Activities
of Legal Counselling Service of the Helsinki
Committee for
Human Rights in BH in Free Legal Assistance to
Citizens
(Reporting period 1 January – 31 December 2000)
A professional Legal Counselling Service acts
within the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in
BH and it processes complaints of the citizens on
violation of human rights.
Most frequently, the citizens visited the
Legal Counselling Service in person; more seldom
they contacted the Service by mail.
In its work, the Legal Counselling Service
processed a great number of cases of violation of
human rights out of 14,000 received cases.
The received complaints refer to violations of
the human rights of citizens throughout Bosnia
and Herzegovina, however, the greatest number of
the cases relates to violations committed in the
Canton of Sarajevo.
In terms of space, the report will specially
treat violations of the citizens’ human rights
in the territory of the Canton of Sarajevo, Brcko
District, other parts of the Federation of Bosnia
and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska.
As for the structure of violations of human
rights, the largest number relates to the violations
of the right to free use, i.e. to return the
property (apartments, houses, land and similar),
violations of the right to work, violations of
the rights in the field of social protection,
violations of the rights of war disabled persons,
including their families, then violations of the
rights in the privatisation, restitution and
copyrights.
The method of work of the Legal Counselling
Service is: first to process each individual case
and very often to monitor the procedure before
the courts and administration bodies, to contact
the competent bodies, either in writing or
directly, all this with the aim to resolve every
individual case. In the reporting period, the
Legal Counselling Service has been rendering free
of charge legal assistance to citizens. We should
point out here that the Service co-operated with
the international organisations such as: the OSCE
Mission to BiH, UNHCR Office, CRPC Office,
Sarajevo Housing Committee, etc.
The cases reported on the violation of
human rights of the citizens from the territory
of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina,
excepting the Canton of Sarajevo, in their
structure were almost identical as violations in
the Canton of Sarajevo.
The number of reported cases is significantly
smaller as compared to the Canton of Sarajevo.
The Service received from the territory of the
Federation of BiH (except Canton of Sarajevo) 278
claims, from the territory of Jajce, Kiseljak,
Kresevo, Tuzla, Zivinice, Banovici, Gradacac,
Zenica, Zavidovici, Visoko, Maglaj, Mostar,
Stolac, Capljina, Jablanica, Konjic, Gorazde,
Bihac, Sanski Most, Drvar and Velika Kladusa.
The greatest number, 124 complaints, relates
to return of private property and apartments.
Generally speaking, violations of individual
rights in this field are almost identical with
the violations in the Canton of Sarajevo, we will
discuss more later on. It is important to point
out that in some areas of the Federation of BiH
(Capljina, Mostar, Zenica), there are almost no
significant changes in resolving the rights of
refugees and displaced persons which implies
return of property as well.
The cases reported on the violation of
human rights of the citizens from the territory
of the Republika Srpska mainly refer to the
realisation of the rights of refugees and
displaced persons, particularly to realisation of
the right to return the property.
In the reporting period, the Service received
501 complaints from the citizens who were
deprived of the rights in the territory of the
Republika Srpska.
In some parts of the territory of Republika
Srpska, e.g., almost the whole territory of
Eastern Bosnia, there is almost no return of
refugees and displaced persons.
Even in bigger cities, such as Banja Luka, a
large number of people who had been expelled from
their property during the war, but who remained
to live in the same places, but under very bad
conditions, can not repossess their property
being occupied by other persons.
Despite the existence of the legal regulations
for realisation of the right to reclaim the
property, the rights of claimants are being
constantly violated i.e. terms are not being met
in decision making and in implementation of final
decisions.
Violation of human rights in the territory
of Brcko District. In the reporting period,
the service received 101 complaints out of which
68 relate to violation of the rights to return of
private property and 33 to violation of the
rights to return socially- owned apartments.
In the reporting period, the Service was
permanently co-operating with the representatives
of the OHR in the work on these cases and we can
conclude that in spite of the great interest of
the international community in resolving return
of refugees in this area, there was no
significant progress made even in the year 2000.
Violation of human rights in the territory
of the Canton of Sarajevo. The Service
received 13,120 complaints.
The greatest number of cases (12, 987) relate
to the violation of the right to return of
apartments, according to the provisions of the
Law on the Cessation of the Application of the
Law on Abandoned Apartments.
133 complaints refer to the violation of the
Law on the Cessation of the Application of the
Law on Abandoned Apartments, in the ownership of
the citizens.
Since the greatest number of violations of
human rights refer to impossibility of the
occupancy right holders to repossess their
apartments, in this part of our report, we will
point at some reasons for such situation, which
are almost the same for the entire territory of
Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In respect to the Law on the Cessation of the
Application of the Law on Abandoned Apartments
that was passed in 1998, the claims for
repossession of apartments could be filed until
04.10.1999. Although more than two years have
passed from the time when the first claims for
repossession were filed, in the Canton of
Sarajevo, claims filed in 1998 have not yet been
resolved.
A great number of claims from 1998 have not
yet been processed and the great number of claims
for which decisions were passed, was not
administered.
As the major violation of human rights in this
field, we would single out non-respect of terms
prescribed by the Law, for all the phases of
procedures. The Housing Office did not administer
any claim without previous interventions by a
claimant.
Some departments of the Housing Office
introduced the methods of work that are contrary
to regulations regulating this field.
The hearings are not being scheduled even one
year or more after submission of the claims. The
procedure in this phase lasts too long.
When the hearings are over, the decisions are
not made for longer period of time, very often
for one year.
The decisions made, very often do not contain
essential elements for their implementation.
During the first instance procedure, all relevant
facts for passing legal decision are not being
established.
Although the appeals on the first instance
decisions do not postpone implementation, it
often happens that the implementation of a
decision is refused until the final phase of the
appeal procedure.
The appeal procedure, conducted by the
Ministry for Housing Affairs of the Canton of
Sarajevo, lasts very long. Almost in no one case,
second instance organ has not resolved the case
in the merit, but has abolished first instance
decisions and sends the case for repeated
procedure.
A greater level of expertness is expected from
the second instance organ, because it is,
according to the law, obliged to give
instructions to the first instance organ in a
case of violation of procedure or material
regulations.
A special form of violation of human rights is
the obstruction of execution of decisions.
According to the provisions of the existing law,
the terms in which temporary occupants should
leave the apartments is 15 days without any right
for the temporary accommodation and 90 days term
with the right of temporary user to
accommodation.
In case when decision gives 15 days term for
moving out of temporary occupant, i.e. in case of
decision that has to be executed in 15 days term,
we can generally say that no one decision was
executed in shorter period than 3 months, even
two years period.
Procedure in execution often means conducting
of the administration procedure from the
beginning, because in the previous procedure
relevant facts for execution had not been
determined.
The assessment of the state of human rights in
respect of the Application of the Law on the
Cessation of the Law on Abandoned Apartments
concerning the claims filed by citizens is as
follows:
-
Procedure for return of apartments lasts
extremely long, thereby all terms given
in the mentioned laws are derogated.
-
The claims for repossession of apartments
are being mainly processed by
inadequately qualified persons in spite
of a great number of unemployed graduated
lawyers in the Canton of Sarajevo.
-
Certain number of the employees with the
mentioned administration is occupying
apartments, on the basis of temporary
decisions, and consider the claims for
repossession filed by the occupancy right
holders as direct threat to “their
rights”.
-
When claiming repossession, there is a
discrimination between claimants in
respect to temporary occupants,
particularly if the temporary occupants
hold certain social position.
-
Discrimination on ethnic basis has also
been observed in some cases.
-
Another form of discrimination toward
claimants can be called good
discrimination. Elderly people,
especially if they do not have members of
family households, realise their right to
repossess the apartment with
difficulties.
All the reasons for above-mentioned violations
of human rights can be described by the lack of
political will to resolve the issue of
repatriates.
There are evident obstructions in return, at
the level of an administrator of the procedure
and an officer of the Administration for Housing
Affairs, but it is the consequence of the overall
policy led at the higher levels.
All positive steps in this field happened as a
product of pressures exerted by the international
community.
Special problem in repossession of apartments
of occupancy right holders is with the apartments
in the ownership of the Federation Ministry of
Defence. We can say that almost no progress was
made in resolving the claims for repossession of
apartments of the mentioned Ministry.
From the very beginning of the implementation
of the Law on the Cessation of the Application of
the Law on Abandoned Apartments, the obstruction
was present in resolving the claims. This issue
has become more complex, according to the opinion
of the Service, with the discriminatory provision
of the Article 3 of this Law. According to this
provision, the right to repossess the apartment
has not been given to occupancy right holders who
had been active in Yugoslav Army service after 30
April 1991 and had not been BH citizens, i.e. if
they had been BH citizens and stayed in Yugoslav
Army after 14 December 1995. Such norm has
brought one category of citizens and members of
their families into unequal position in respect
to other citizens, and it presents a violation of
the European Convention on Human Rights and
Fundamental Freedoms, as well as the Constitution
of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which forbids any form
of discrimination (Article 2, item 4 of the BH
Constitution). However, the mentioned norm is in
force, and the Housing Office is mainly resolving
the claims in such a way as to, when the norm is
in question, deprive a claimant of the right to
repossess the apartment. In the reporting period,
no one procedure, indisputable and in accordance
with the mentioned norm, was completed.
As for the violation of human rights of use,
i.e. return of private property, we can say that
already given assessment for the return of
occupancy rights is valid for these procedures as
well.
The procedures last very long, decisions
passed are not executed, and all together affects
the return of refugees to pre-war homes. We
should also add here that temporary occupants,
when moving out of the apartments and private
houses, devastate them without being punished,
and thereby bring the returnees into such a
position not to be able to use their property for
a longer period of time.
As we mentioned at the beginning of the
report, there are violations of the right in
respect to labour relations.
A great number of employees remained without
possibility to return to job, according to the
Law on Labour Relations, stipulation of the
Article 143 of the Law. Further rights these
persons are entitled to, according to this
stipulation, can be realised only with great
difficulties due to imprecise norms and
regulations.
Finally, we would like to point out, that in
2000, the Service received a number of claims
relating to the violation of the rights of
citizens in the privatisation.
The major part of the claims in this field
relates to the rights of citizens to buy the
socially-owned apartments.
In this field, the violations of the rights
can be seen in long procedures imposed by the
owners of the apartments, competent Attorney’s
Office and Municipal Court I in Sarajevo, which
keep record of the purchased apartments in the
books of contracts.
It has been observed that some owners of the
apartments demand from the citizens to submit
documentation that is not prescribed by the law,
thereby making the purchase procedure longer.
In the privatisation process, according to the
Law on Privatisation of Enterprises, some
citizens addressed the Committee to ask for
protection of their rights they had acquired
during their work in some of the enterprises
being the subject of privatisation.
The Service stated that there were many
imprecision and ambiguities. In addition, we can
conclude that the privatisation process very
often is being carried out to the detriment of
the workers by not giving value to their work
experience, and their share in share holding
companies.
The assessment of the state of human rights,
given in this report, was made on the basis of
the claims received from the citizens in the year
2000.
The Service of the Helsinki Committee for
Human Rights in BH deems that there are
significant positive steps in the realisation of
the rights of the citizens, particularly of the
refugees and displaced persons as compared to the
previous period; however, the Helsinki Committee
for Human Rights in BH is not yet satisfied with
these steps and its Service will continue with
its work.
Sarajevo, 31 December 2000
No: 26A -01/2001
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