REPORT ON THE STATE OF HUMAN RIGHTS
IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
January - December 1997
 

Legal framework in the area of human rights has not yet been completely established in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Constitutions of entities have not been brought into accordance with the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the formal legal part of which contains all the relevant international conventions on protection of human rights. Beside this, the requirement that the corresponding laws of both entities be brought into compliance with the European Convention on Human Rights and international standards in that area has not yet been fulfilled.
The realization of the provisions of the Dayton Peace Accord in the area of human rights, as important segment of civil part of the Accord, is below the expectations and needs in this phase of peace process. The processes initiated by the war continue throughout the territory: there are strong tendencies to divide BH into three ethnically rounded up areas, with marked pressures upon ethnic minorities, as well as upon the persons of different political opinions who oppose such processes. Authoritarian character of governmental authorities - based upon predominance and self-will of the three ruling parties - is manifested through blockade of democratic processes and institutions, Parliament primarily, strong pressures over political parties of opposition of antinationalistic orientation, restriction of freedom of media and through suppression of those initiatives that are oriented toward strengthening of civil society. Ethnic grouping still represents the main subject of concern for the ruling parties, which are the real centers of power and decision-making. Individual rights and freedoms continue to be neglected and threatened. The fundamental human freedoms are daily under attack throughout the country, this showing that the state of human rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina is unsatisfactory.

War crimes

The process of discovering facts about war crimes in BH and searching for evidence on them is still under way. The inexistence of unified judicial system, international antagonisms and political self-will make efficient work in that area impossible. Exhumations are being performed in both entities, on the basis of an agreement reached between them concerning this, and this is a step forward in discovering real truth about crimes committed. However, all places of execution have not yet been discovered and are not easily accessible, and true information about 21.000 missing persons is still lacking. Discovering truth about what happened during the war as completely as possible is a precondition for adequate legal action, which is of crucial importance for implementation of the Peace Accord, normalization of life and return of confidence among the peoples.
Legal sanctioning of war crimes is at the very beginning. True, military peace forces finally started bringing, by use of force, the indicted war criminals to the International War Crimes Tribunal. There are also examples of "voluntary" surrenders to the Hague, which came after strong political pressures were applied. The authorities of the Republic of Srpska and Federal Republic of Yugoslavia are refusing to cooperate in this matter. Because of this, the persons indicted for organizing and commiting the most serious war crimes have not yet been brought to justice.
Democratic public was particularly offended by the fact that Velibor Ostojia, close associate of Radovan Karad?ia, had been elected through joint approval of the three ruling nationalist parties (Serb Democratic Party, Croatian Democratic Community and the Party of Democratic Action - the most powerful political organization, the head of which is the President of the Presidency of BH Alija Izetbegovia) for President of the Commission for Human Rights, Immigration, Refugees and Political Asylum of the BH Parliamentary Assembly. This meant utter arrogance toward the genocide committed in BH, opening a space for political exoneration of those responsible and mockery both with people in the area of human rights in Bh and institutions in charge of this matter within the constitutional system of BH and within the peace mission activities.
The Hague Tribunal still depends on the political will of international authorities and their financial support. The work of the Tribunal itself is very complicated and slow. What causes particular anxiety is that some sponsors of the peace process, above all such an important country as France, are not giving adequate support to the Tribunal and are not cooperating sufficiently in apprehending the indicted war criminals and bringing them to justice.
Independent media are persevering in their efforts to contribute to discovering truth about the crimes and their perpetrators and in stimulating local and international bodies to undertake action. Numerous testimonies and serial texts on the crimes committed by the Serb and Croat ultranationalists are being published. Recently, some Sarajevan newspapers have opened files on crimes committed by certain Bosniaks, soldiers of the BH Army.
Altogether, the activities relating to revealing crimes and criminals, their arresting and especially those connected with their legal sanctioning are not in the least commensurate with the gravity of the most horrendous crimes that had been committed. This has a totally negative impact upon the overall climate in the country, efficiency of the peace mission and overall situation in the field of human rights in BH.

Return of refugees and displaced persons

Inadequate attitude toward war criminals significantly affects the process of return of refugees and displaced persons to their homes and to their property. It is estimated that about 171,000 of refugees, mostly from Germany and 210,000 of displaced persons have returned to BH since the signing of the Dayton Accord. There were only 34,000 so-called "minority returns" recorded, out of which 3.000 to the Republic of Srpska.
The question is where do refugees return. The mentioned data indicate that many are returning to their country but not to their homes. If we take the great number of displaced persons into account, it is evident that the process of return to those places where members of one ethnic group are in majority is still prevalent. Thus aversion and aggressivity toward national minorities are being stimulated thereby.
There is no consistent project for the return. Some countries, which received the largest number of refugees, show impatience, expressed in forceful repatriation which, along with inadequate organization in BH, leads to insufficiently organized and materially unfounded returns,. The basic aim should be the return of people primarily to their own apartments and houses and to their property along with provision of secure environment for them .
From the point of view of return and any renewal of multi-ethnic picture of BH, crucial importance have the cities such as Sarajevo, Mostar, Banja Luka, Breko, as well as central Bosnia and southern Herzegovina, and the area around IEBL. Of course, all other places are also important, such as Srebrenica, which formerly had predominantly Bosniak population and which is now populated exclusively with Serb population, and Drvar where Croats have replaced Serbs as majority. These places are at the same time the points of strongest resistance to return.
Return of expelled people to their homes, as one of the basic precondition for a normalization of life, is slow. Namely, when returnees succeed to comply with all the administrative requirements prescribed by the UNHCR in order to have a regular return, then extremists come about to prevent them from returning, setting fire and mining their houses. There are numerous examples of setting fires to, destroying and plundering newly built and repaired houses in the zone of separation with the Republic of Srpska (villages Stania Rijeka, Mumiai near Doboj, Stara Rijeeica near Maglaj, etc...).
Only in the area of the municipality of Eelia, the attempt of Bosniaks to return resulted in two killed and more than ten heavily wounded persons, while substantial material damage (two bridges and waterworks destroyed, village of Gajevi burned down and mined) was estimated to about 1,500,000 DEM.
The attitude of local authorities in Doboj concerning the return of Bosniaks to this city is best illustrated by a statement given by the Mayor of Doboj Drago Ljubieia who deems that "the only correct and long-lasting solution to this issue is that everyone live in his state - Bosniaks in the BH Federation and Serbs in the RS". At the same time, the local authorities in Doboj invited, over the local radio station, "all Serb refugees who do not have a place to live to come to Doboj" in order to settle them in places where Bosniaks used to live previously.
592 families (575 Bosniak and 17 Croat) in total, i.e. 2.400 people, returned to Breko, city and port under the international supervision. Some attempts to return in the first half of the year proved unsuccessful. The atmosphere there can be depicted by the words of the Mayor of a part of the municipality under the Serb control, Miodrag Pajia, said not long ago, during the negotiations in Rome, "there is water, air and job only for Serbs in Breko". Such attitude contributed to the fact that 70 Bosniaks, at the end of August, could not enter their village of Broduša, to the north of Bosnia, because they were prevented by about hundred Serb extremists, and the international forces had to intervene in that case. On that occasion, one Bosniak was lightly wounded. The newspapers inform of frequent physical and verbal ill treatment of Bosniaks in Breko.
According to some sources of information, more than hundred Bosniaks returned from exile to Banja Luka. At the beginning of November, the representatives of the Community of Expelled, Refugees and Displaced Croats of BH visited this city. However, this is very far from the realization of the promise of the President Biljana Plavšia that it will be possible for Bosniaks and Croats to return to that area; there only few only hundred of them who returned up to now.
After four and half years, in June, a first group of Bosniaks paid a short visit to Trebinje, southern RS. All mosques are destroyed there, as is the case throughout the entity. On the other hand, at the end of July, Bosniaks were prevented from visiting Novigrad (former Bosanski Novi) in north-west Bosnia, with international forces passively standing by. A bright exception in the RS in this period was a declaration of the high orthodox priest, bishop of Bihaa-Petrovac in the RS Hrizostem in which he appealed to displaced Serbs to resist the offers given by the RS authorities to stay in houses of expelled Bosniaks and Croats. He pleaded for consistent implementation of the provisions of the Dayton Accord, observance of human rights and return to homes. This was the first church dignitary of the Serb Orthodox church, which otherwise sided with the extremist nationalist policy, to resist the policy of ethnic cleansing.
The Croatian ultranationalists in Drvar, among others, do not agree with the attitude of this priest. Thus, in May they burned down 25 and in October five houses of Serbs. Serbs who stayed in the town were exposed to constant mental and physical pressures. About 3000 expelled Serbs expressed their wish to return to the town. The extremists among Croats still offer resistance to return of Bosniaks. The pilot return of Bosniaks to Herzegovinian town of Stolac takes place slowly, accompanied with attacks by the Croat extremists, burning down and mining of Bosniak houses. This is being done by the Croats who did not live in Stolac before. In August, the Bosniaks were twice prevented from visiting the town with intention either to repair houses or to return for good. Buses were stoned and nationalists issued threats, while three persons were beaten up, among whom one girl and one boy... However, by the end of September, 47 Bosniak families returned to Stolac where Bosniaks had been in majority before the war. Mid August, 99 Bosniaks returned to Jajce, a town in central Bosnia, where for certain period of time the expelled Bosniaks had not been allowed to come at all. This group was previously expelled at the time when the return to the village of Krušaica in the municipality of Jajce was agreed on. The situation in Jajce, for a few Bosniaks who live there, is rather complex, although local Croatian authorities claim differently. There are only few Bosniaks with jobs. The majority of them do not live in their houses, which are inhabited by Croats expelled from other parts of central Bosnia, but in part of town called Kozluk. In March and April, in the area of this municipality, 35 abandoned houses, to which the expelled Bosniaks intended to return, were burned down. It is estimated that in Jajce and its surroundings there are at present about 500 undamaged or slightly damaged houses into which their Bosniak owners could move. Returned and then expelled again are also about fifty Bosniaks, who returned at the end of June to the village of Kopice near Maglaj in central Bosnia, the territory where the Croatian Democratic Community is in power. Agreed upon return of both Bosniaks and Croats on the territory near Sarajevo (Kiseljak, Fojnica, Kreševo) was opposed by the Croat extremists who entered at the end of June into their house and beat up a married couple of Bosniaks who had returned to their village in the municipality of Kreševo.
Bosniak extremists did not stand still either. Mid August they mined three houses in Auriaa Lug in the municipality of Bugojno, for which there is a similar project for return as for Stolac, Jajce, Travnik. In addition to this, witnesses speak of blackmail, where Croats are being racketed under threat that their houses would be mined if they do not pay money. During the visit of the representatives of the Helsinki Committee of Sweden, France, Bosnia and Herzegovina and International Helsinki Federation to Bugojno at the end of May, they reminded local leaders that there had been 16.000 Croats on the territory of Bugojno before the war, while now there are only about 2.000. They presented 923 cases of violation of human rights of Croats. In addition, Croats who returned to Bugojno within the pilot project (total 232 families) although realizing their right to dwelling, as they were given back their houses and apartments, were not given back other premises in personal ownership (such as restaurants, trading shops, agricultural machines) by means of which they could be economically independent. The basic obstacles to more complete return to this town lie in inexistence of political will of the authorities to provide preconditions for personal and property security to peoples who are not in majority.
However, terrorist acts can not prevent all those who wish to return from doing it. A group of 30 Croats visited in the middle of August, without any prior announcement and without being disturbed, a place Guea Gora in central Bosnia in order to repair damaged houses. In addition, by the beginning of November, about 4.000 expelled persons returned to the region of Zenica-Doboj canton which is extremely important from the stand point of international and interreligious relationships. Moreover, on the territory of this canton there are about 87.000 displaced persons, mainly Bosniaks, out of which 47.000 are those who used to live in the RS. According to the information of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BH in Mostar, 700 applications for return to this city of the people of all three nationalities arrived by middle of August.
At the beginning of May, the BH Federation government, within the realization of return of minorities, has offered to 50.000 displaced Serbs to return to the municipalities of Sarajevo and Tuzla-Podrinje canton (TPK). The municipalities of east part of Mostar, where Bosniaks are in majority, expressed their readiness to return 100 Serb families, while Gora?de canton has invited all Serbs to return. In August, the return of 149 families with about 500 members to Lukavac, northern Bosnia (TPK) was agreed on, with material support of the international organizations. At the beginning of July, a group of Serb visited Konjic, south of the country, for the first time after the end of conflict. Cantonal authorities in Sarajevo promised again at the beginning of December that they would enable return of refugees and displaced Serbs and Croats to 25 houses repaired by the UNHCR in 1996. The resistance against return to the area of Sarajevo was rudely expressed at the beginning of August when a group of Bosniaks expelled from Srebrenica stoned a building in Vogošaa in which there were 14 Serbs visiting their homes. Women were mainly in a group of attackers and it was obvious that it was a manipulation with those ones who had lost their closest relatives and who had been expelled from their homes. However, "Democratic Initiative of Sarajevo's Serbs", a non-governmental organization deems that the state now is much better than at the beginning of the post-war process of reintegration of Sarajevo, expressing at the same time that the protection of human rights in that area is not at the satisfactory level.
Mentioned examples speak of difficulties, obstacles, minimum success in realization of the return of people to their homes. The Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BH most often condemned inadmissible cases in many places in BH in which returnees had been attacked, thinking that it is high time that not only direct perpetrators of attacks but the protagonists of such policy should undergo criminal proceedings. Raising its voice again in favour of protection of human right to return to their apartments, houses and property, the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BH reminded on the fact that more than million citizens of BH are deprived of the right to live on their own. The realization of right to return is of crucial importance for establishment of a real peace and for future international, thus political profile of BH. Without significant success in that sphere there will not be neither effective peace mission nor stable BH.

Terrorism and police

Willingness to return and ability to realize it is significantly affected by a fact that war is being continued even after the signing of Peace Accord but with different means. Terrorism throughout BH is a substitution for armed conflicts and violence over the masses and is clear expression of the pretensions still present within and towards BH.
Terrorist acts were committed throughout BH and during the whole year. The most serious crimes Serb extremists committed in the Inter entity boundary line. Two Bosniaks were killed, one slightly wounded, four kidnapped and after released in the middle of August in the village of Laze near Teoeak, north-east Bosnia. At the beginning of November, two Bosniaks were killed in the village of Zelina, municipality of Kalesija, also north-east Bosnia. There is a suspect that they were killed by a former policeman from the RS who was investigating, insulting and beating two young Bosniaks before murdering them. The Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BH, among else, many times, reacted against maltreatment of Bosniaks in the municipality of Teslia in RS (central Bosnia). However, throwing of explosive devices on houses of Bosniaks, physical and verbal attacks, and other harassment continued... In that municipality, about 1.400 Bosniaks live in eight villages, none of them is employed, majority of children do not attend school. Series of armed provocations happened at IEBL, in the area of Sarajevo. Thus, in the middle of November, in one day there were about five armed incidents provoked from the RS in which fortunately there were no victims. Targets of attacks were cantonal policemen, buildings and cars. The fifth case is a typical act of robbery in which one car was robbed. During the year, more than 5.500 Bosniaks left the Republic of Srpska, most often under pressure. The estimate is that only 15.000 Bosniaks now live in the RS.
At the beginning of the year, there were frequent physical maltreatments and harassments of Serb population both in the reintegrated areas of Sarajevo and in smaller towns of central Bosnia (Maglaj, Zavidoviai, Visoko) while the most difficult situation is in village areas, where Bosniaks are in majority. On 1 March, Slavko Subotia from Ilijaš was beaten up and clubbed by 37 Bosniaks during his visit to the cemetery in Eekreiai (central Bosnia-area under control of SDA), a few days after which he died in the hospital in Sarajevo. The remaining Serb population in Sarajevo's suburbs is faced with different forms of attacks (from verbal and physical to bombing) by local Bosniak population with the aim that they leave these territories. Thus, explosive device was placed under horse-drawn of one native Serb from residential area Dobroševiai - Sarajevo's municipality of Novi Grad. A few days before that, at the same place, a Serb old woman Kosa Golub was attacked by knife and injured. A perpetrator was arrested not long afterwards. The local police increased the number of policemen in that area, the result of which was increased percent of resolved cases in which the citizens of Serb nationality were targets of attacks, but even after that pressures over them are continued to be exerted.
Bosniak-Croat relationship was tested utmost in Mostar in February and September.
Tense situation in Mostar, at the beginning of the year, was warmed up by everyday incidents (throwing of hand grenades and other explosive devices on houses ad apartments of Bosniaks who live in the west part of Mostar, shooting from infantry armament on eastern part of the city, disturbing freedom of movement by stopping and robbing cars with Bosnian license plates, expulsion of innocent civilians - mainly elderly from their homes in west Mostar) reached its peak on 10 February, second day of Bayram (great Muslim holiday) when the inhabitants of eastern part of Mostar started going to western part in order to visit the graveyards of their closest relatives. Although the visit had been properly announced they were met by the Croat policemen and extremists and were prevented from continuing the visit by use of baton and fire-arms. On that occasion, one Bosniak was killed, and about twenty people were wounded. Although the IPTF clearly stated who the guilty persons were (some of them even named) all ended up in such a way that three Croats, members of the west Mostar police were arrested . They were sentenced in west Mostar and all three of them received suspended sentence. By not doing anything concretely to prevent that court farce and to properly sentence the perpetrators of that incident, the international community in this case had shown its complete incapability to persevere in a consistent implementation of the civil part of the Dayton Accord. After the incident, the state in Mostar started gradually calming down after the international pressure being exerted.
A strong explosion near a police station in the center of Mostar on 18 September resulted in fifty wounded persons, among whom three heavily. 70 apartments were completely destroyed and 120 partially. 22 business premises were destroyed, 9 of them completely. 75 cars were completely destroyed and 100 partially.
The most gravest crimes in the second half of the year on the territory of the BH Federation were committed over the Croats. Two brothers of Croat nationality were killed in the village of Kokošari near Travnik in central Bosnia at the beginning of September. At the end of October in a nearby village one Croat was killed while his father and brother were wounded. Those cases have not yet been lighted up and it is not sure whether the crimes had political background or not. However, no lighting up of those murders suggest on political background of crimes, regardless who are perpetrators. In September, unidentified persons attacked a married couple of Croat nationality. The husband died as a consequence of serious wounds. The attack was done on the territory of Breko which is under the international supervision, and that part is controlled by the Croatian police. The buildings which belong to the Catholic Church in Sarajevo were attacked several times with explosive devices, while perpetrators are still unknown. There were physical and verbal insults on Catholic priests in Sarajevo. Due to terrorist actions, the police of the Sarajevo canton invited all to submit valid information on the crimes for award of 50.000 DEM. Media, which strongly criticized police for its inefficiency, estimated that gesture as a sign of professional incapacity.
The victims of terrorist actions on the territory of the Federation were Bosniaks as well. Two Bosniaks were wounded at the end of May in the municipality of Vitez central Bosnia, under whose car an explosive device was placed. Three Bosniaks were beaten up in the same day in Han-Ploea in the municipality of Kiseljak near Sarajevo. Nationalistic blindness goes so far - namely physical attack over Catholic priests was performed by Croats Catholics when they believed them to have been Bosniaks. Namely, priests were in civilian dresses and came in front of a restaurant, where incident took place, by a car with license plates of Sarajevo.
Some of many terrorist actions have been finally resolved by the police and court. Namely, at the end of November and at the beginning of December, on the territory of central and northern Bosnia, an extensive actions were undertaken by the Federal Ministry of Internal Affairs and Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Zenica-Doboj, Central-Bosnian and Tuzla-Podrinje cantons. The actions resulted in arrest of about thirty people suspected for preparation, participation and cooperation in terrorist actions on the territory of the BH Federation. Six charges were brought, 19 persons were put in custody while for three fugitive criminal suspects warrant of arrest was published. Among them there is Ahmed Zuhair called Handala who is suspected to be the main terrorist. The arrested persons are either BH citizens or foreigners from Arabian countries with BH documents. Namely, some of them took part in the battles on the side of the BH Army and received citizenship on the basic of that. It was registered that a few persons who were brought to the police stations were beaten up black and blue, that is in Sarajevo and Velika Kladuša (BH Federation), and in Bijeljina, Breko, Doboj and Dugi Dol (RS). The policemen in the RS participate in robberies as well. Thus, in the middle of August on the IEBL, area of the municipality of Sokolac near Sarajevo, six Bosniaks were arrested without any grounds and were set free after their being kept for six hours. They were robbed of two cars, 600 DEM and large quantity of food. Illegal behaviour of the police was registered in the Zenica-Doboj canton. Minister of Interior of that Canton acted beyond authorizations given to him by ordering the policemen and members of the special police units to use force in order to stop the strike of the workers of the share-holding company "Tr?nica-Zenica" ("Market-Zenica"), although no-one of the workers on strike did not break the public peace nor did physically resisted. On that occasion, five workers were slightly injured. A fact that the Cantonal Court in Sarajevo sentenced three members of the secret police AID to 13, 7 and 5 years imprisonment for having kidnapped, maltreated and tried to murder their colleague, speaks of the bad situation in the police.
After pressures being exerted by the International Peace Mission, criminal proceedings were instituted against nine policemen from the RS who had taken part in setting fire to Bosniak houses in the village of Gajevi. In Drvar, two policemen of Croatian nationality were dismissed from service also for burning down houses, this time Serb houses.
Due to such situation in the BH police, the Peace Mission and especially the International Police (IPTF) have undertaken the actions of reconstruction and training of the police. Now, only the policemen having the ID cards of IPTF can be policemen. All those having personal war files under suspect are excluded. The efforts are oriented towards creation of the professional police which will be acting independently of political decisions, oriented to respect and realize legality and protection of human rights. Considering the situation nowadays it would not be an easy job. Joint police with national composition which corresponds to ethnic picture in certain places was formed in Sarajevo, Mostar, Travnik and Breko. By that, primary professional determination is corrected.
The Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BH has been continuously reacting against the appearance of terrorism in BH, behavior of the police and bodies of authorities. The Committee warned that it was not uncontrolled acting of individuals and groups but that the actions were directly related to the policy of present authorities. The Committee asked for establishment of responsibility for undoing things and for inefficiency of bodies responsible for security and protection of citizens and their property.

Logic of Apartheid

Above mentioned examples of drastic violations of fundamental human rights speak of the tenacity of resistance to peace and to implementation of the Dayton Accord. There is intention to stick to the post-war situation in which the basic aim is to keep, if possible, to enlarge, and in any case to round up "own" national territory. That logic of being self-sufficient to the extreme is especially expressed in the Republic of Srpska, which is being considered as territorial exclusivity by native extremists as well as by the "ordinary" people being under pressure of constant propaganda. There are still such tendencies in the BH Federation as well, especially in the area controlled by the Croatian Democratic Community. Speaking of the area controlled by the Party of Democratic Action, ethnic, religious and political exclusiveness is evident in Una-Sana canton and in the area of central Bosnia.
It is essential for breaking the logic of apartheid to ensure freedom of movement throughout BH, which is one of the main proclamations of the Dayton Accord. Therefore, the extremists are trying to retain the existing state - in spite of the fact that placing of check-points is prohibited and that SFOR - if they appear will remove them.
At the beginning of July, about hundred women from Srebrenica, supported by the Association for Threatened Peoples, were prevented from visiting the village of Djuliai in the municipality of Srebrenica in which there are no Bosniak any longer, though they were in majority there. The RS police refused to guarantee their safety while Russian members of SFOR, referring to such attitude, prevented women from passing by placing barbed wire obstacles.
As for the "pure" traffic incidents, it is visible that the targets of attacks were, first of all, vehicles with Bosnian license plates, however, vehicles with the international license plates were also attacked. Thus, the representatives of the firm MPRI working on the project "Equip and train" for the BH Federation Army were maltreated by unidentified criminals (near Mostar, on the territory under the control of HDZ). The screenplay of these attacks is always the same. On the part of a road leading from west Mostar to Neum series of attacks over passengers and vehicles were registered, especially in the first half of the year. According to the statements given by the citizens who were attacked, in majority of cases the attackers were producing the badges of the "HR H-B" police. The Croatian police which should fully protect all persons passing through the territory controlled by HDZ, has not resolved a single case.
On a part of the road from Kiseljak to Sarajevo, under the control of HDZ, series of incidents were registered in which people passing through by their cars with Bosnian license plates were attacked. In one day, at the beginning of June, two such attacks were registered in this area: on 9 June, a car with Bosnian plate while driving from Kiseljak to Sarajevo was stopped by three unidentified attackers who threatened and beaten up two passengers, and took money from one of them. The same day somewhat earlier, in the place of Gromiljak a similar case happened.
Several bus lines connecting two entities were opened. Despite the resistance and attacks, especially at the beginning, those lines are now mainly functioning. However, this is only a reduced communication, and local railway traffic is not in function. The Agreement was reached on the opening of civilian airports in Banja Luka, Tuzla and Mostar, this contributing to the more frequent communication within BH, with the already opened civilian airport in Sarajevo. Banja Luka airport is equipped for receiving the planes, however in December, a passenger plane of a private company from Sarajevo which had a permission for landing was prevented from doing it. In spite of great pressures, unified license plates for all vehicles in BH, by which it would not be possible to recognize a regional position, have not yet been adopted. The existing three types of plates signal who comes from where. Among the absurds in the communication system is a fact that the PTT of RS does not want to take over more than 2 million of postal consignments sent to the citizens of the RS. The consignments are being kept at the center of the PTT Sarajevo. They were arriving during the war and are arriving now.
Striking example of notion of segregation among the peoples and religions with local politicians is a trial to divide children in primary schools in the BH Federation on he basis of their nationality. When media learned for such horrible initiative, they organized strong public campaign against such a senseless decision which would only cement the existing national division and project such relations in the conscience of children as ever lasting, normal, everyday division, this being contrary to the proclamations and intentions of the Convention on the Rights of Child. Media, public and non-governmental organizations, including the Helsinki Committee, by exerting pressure, succeeded in withdrawing the decision.
During the year, several examples of discrimination towards Bosniaks where Croats are in majority were registered. In Livno, in a local transporting company 50 workers Bosniaks were dismissed without any valid reason or explanation. The similar thing happened in Mostar where a group of workers of a professional fire brigade was discharged, all of them being of Serb or Bosniak nationality. Namely, they had been working at the fire brigade during the whole war, and their demand to get the decision on discharge in writing was refused. The Croats, on the other hand, complain about a discrimination towards them in Sarajevo for not being able to occupy the posts of directors and about the position of their experts in the city. A discriminatory relation towards Bosniaks has been expressed in Livno through the documents, to be issued to Bosniaks by the Registry Office in that town, in which the column with nationality remains empty. The similar discrimination is expressed towards Bosniaks who have been citizens of Croatia for many years, for they are refused to be given documents on citizenship, or permanent residence or passports. The explanations given to them were that they did not know the Croatian language and that they did not live in their homes during the war. Bosnian and Croatian languages are quite similar, and during the war Bosniaks and Croats and others were expelled from Croatia or became refugees.
In above paragraphs unenviable position of ethnic and religious minorities in both entities was expressed, especially in the areas where Serb and Croat nationalists are in power. However, there are also justified objections on behalf of the Party of Democratic Action where Bosniaks are in majority. Because of that, the Alternative Council of Ministers of BH (Government in Shadow) accused the SDA for not doing anything to improve the position of minorities on the territory of the BH Federation. The Croatian Peasants Party blames SDA for party discrimination because it was disabled to hold a meeting in Vareš, central Bosnia. The SDA is being criticized by domestic and foreign actors for its discriminatory relation towards political opponents of Bosniak nationality, and especially towards the followers of Fikret Abdia, a dissident from SDA, a man who was collaborating with Belgrade and Zagreb during the war and who was in conflict with the BH Army for some time. However, the international peace mission, through a decision of the OSCE, recognized his party and its results on the general and local elections. The SDA is also responsible for its discriminatory relation towards the citizens, regardless of their nationality, even when Bosniaks are in question, for illegal collection of so called war taxes, especially from refugees and expelled persons. Namely, obtaining of any document in several municipalities in BH is conditioned with paying of mentioned taxes and other contributions. The example of political discrimination, along with calling for lynch, is expressed in hundreds of leaflet which appeared in Kladanj, central Bosnia, signed by the "Patriotic Front of Kladanj" in which seven local citizens were "sentenced" to death for allegedly being cooperating with Serb extremists. Namely, one of the "sentenced" is a member of the Socio-Democratic Party while others were former members of the Party of Democratic Action. They suspect the Head of the municipality, who is also the President of SDA in Kladanj, to stay behind all of it.
Numerous examples of religious intolerance are already pointed at. There are no religious building in the RS except those of Serb Orthodox church. In spite of that, provocations are being continued. In a residential area in Breko, which was hundred percent resided by Bosniaks, a corner-stone was laid for an Orthodox church. In this year, a series of attacks over the Catholic churches, cemeteries and other building where Bosniaks are in majority were done. Attacks over mosques and other religious buildings of Bosniaks, Muslims are being continued. Intolerance towards atheists is also expressed. Thus, on the occasion of a religious funeral to seven Bosniaks who had been murdered by the Serb extremists, in Vogošaa near Sarajevo, in the middle of July, a Muslim priest provoked the present Bosniaks who came to the funeral of victims but who did not follow the religious ritual. The priest could not provoke a bigger group of atheists and to politicize the gathering.
The international factors are trying to initiate the interreligious dialogue and to make them permanent because of the state in interreligious relationships and evident influence of churches, religious organizations and their leaders. Several meetings were held with that intention, and corresponding organizational forms for permanent communications and joint appearance and actions have been established. That engagement is not such as yet as to significantly affects the change of interreligious atmosphere.
Actual situation stimulates the establishment and activities of organizations and associations which protect the interests of individual groups. The good news is the establishment of the Union of Roms of BH, based in Sarajevo, supported by the Society for Threatened People in BH.

Authorities and Law

The legal system in BH is made of the remains of the communist regime, prewar construction, war regime, constitution based on the Dayton Accord and elements of the international protectorate. A unified system of authorities pursuant to the Dayton Constitution of BH has not been established, while the work of the newly set up bodies of authorities has been continuously obstructed. The constitutions of entities have not been completely harmonized with the BH Constitution. Under such circumstances, the authority is practically realized outside the institutions of the system. The judiciary is under guidance and pressure of political persons in power, however, it does not mean that there are no courts and judges that do not act only in accordance to the laws and to their professional consciousness and responsibility. Such systematic deformations, as shown in the above part of the report, very negatively affect the realization and protection of human rights in BH.
The BH Constitution itself contains discriminatory elements, favourizing ethnic principle to the detriment of rights and freedoms of an individual citizen. It is an absurd, that in one country all the three majority peoples are simultaneously minorities. Bosniaks and Croats are in minority in the RS, Serbs in the BH Federation. Therefore, a full support should be given to the initiative of Serb Civic Council in BH in which it was demanded that all three constitutions be amended in order to ensure legal equality to all three peoples and all citizens on the entire territory of the state. The foundation for this lies in the provisions of the BH Constitution, thus, such amendments can be made even by a decision of the Constitutional Court of BH.
At the beginning of October, the main Ombudsperson in BH Dr. Gret Haler brought a decision to start investigation against the Republic of Srpska, on the basis of complaints submitted by seven Bosniaks from Srebrenica, three of whom were sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment, and four of them to one year of imprisonment each. The Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BH many times expressed its concern over the irregularities during arrest, investigation, and court proceedings to people from Srebrenica who were seriously physically maltreated as well. Human Rights Chamber in BH brought a decision according to which the Republic of Srpska violated the rights to personal safety of the Matanovia family. Namely, three members of the Matanovia family (father, mother and son, Catholic priest) were arrested in September 1996 after which there are no news about them. Zlatko Memovia, sentenced for war crimes on no valid grounds, was released from prison in RS, at the end of October, after the intervention of the Office of Ombudsmen in BH. The representatives of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BH, in the course of this period, with the assistance of the international community, visited Ivan Mijaeevia in a prison in Doboj, who was arrested by the police of Serb entity because he, allegedly committed war crimes. The agreement of the Hague Tribunal Prosecutor was not received in this process, although without such agreement Mijaeevia could not be arrested. Other violations of rights, such as the right to defense were registered. Although the main hearing was already scheduled, Mijaeevia was set free, precisely, he was exchanged. The violations of his rights as well as the rights in the case of "Zvornik trial", during which the accused was deprived of the right to defense, show how serious the situation is in the field of human rights in the Republic of Srpska. The court in Teslia, small town in the Republic of Srpska (central Bosnia) amnestied eight Bosniaks, reported AIM. They were accused for acts which foreseen sentence of three to ten years of imprisonment. The eight former inhabitants of Teslia were accused for illegal possession of fire-arms and ammunition.
The Human Rights Chamber in BH unanimously decided that the execution of death penalty over Sretko Damjanovia would imply the violation of the European Convention for Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Damjanovia has been imprisoned under death penalty brought by the Court Martial in 1993 on the charges for war crimes. The Chamber, among else, implied that Damjanovia was sentenced for murders of two brothers who were later found alive. Almost for two years, two Serbs were kept in a prison in Zenica unlawfully, out of which they were set free at the beginning of August. They were arrested by the BH Army in September, and were kept in prison without any legally founded court proceedings being conducted. The Steering Board of the Coordination Center for Human Rights expressed its great concern over the fact that the Cantonal Court in Sarajevo did not fulfill the minimum standards for fair trial to Ibrahim ?edovia. At the beginning of May, he was arrested during the session of the House of Representatives of the BH Federation Assembly he was a deputy of. That act is contrary to the BH Constitution. The Helsinki Committee has previously warned of the violation of ?edovia's rights who is a functioner of the party of Fikret Abdia. At the end of August, he was visited in prison by the representatives of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights together with the officials of the OHR and IPTF. On that occasion ?edovia lodged a complaint because he was not enabled to make normal contacts with lawyer, because the number of prosecutor's witnesses was increasing who however, in majority of cases, did not know anything about his activities but were explaining the situation in that region and conflicts during the war, this practically showing that it was an investigation against Fikret Abdia and his Democratic People's Community. On the other hand, it is impossible to organize hearing of Defense witnesses, for they are afraid for being arrested. At the beginning of November, the UN Mission expressed its concern over the slowness in reaching the justice in a "case of Subotia". Namely, in March this year, as we already said, a wild mob of Bosniaks, refugees from east Bosnia had beaten to death an 80-year old Serb, who was visiting grave tombs of his closest relatives, near Visoko (central Bosnia).
The election of the cantonal and municipal judges as well as prosecutors in Sarajevo, in April, was done contrary to the provisions of the BH F Constitution.
The greatest number of complaints arriving to the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BH and other institutions acting in this field refer to disrespect of rights to property and tenancy rights of citizens. The Commission for Return of Property to expelled and displaced persons has brought decisions for 1.000 cases, however, there is no realization of any decision till now. The Human Rights Chamber in BH admitted the right to four citizens who had bought the apartments from the former Yugoslav Army on the basis of the law valid before the war. However, former Presidency of the Republic of BH retroactively annulled those contract on apartments. The Chamber practically put again these contracts in force. The Human Rights Chamber in BH ordered the bodies in RS to undertake all necessary measures in order to return the apartments to two citizens of Banja Luka. The Peace Mission intervened many times in case of disagreement with the draft laws on apartments in the BH Federation, asking for such norms to be adopted which would not prevent expelled persons and refugees from returning to their apartments. Possibility to return to one's home is closed by sales contract. Thus, at the end of October, Oslobo?enje discovered that actually all street was sold in a suburb of Sarajevo, the owners of which were mainly Serbs. In 1996, in the area of Sarajevo, 321 houses were sold, the owners of which were mainly Serbs. Such situations also refers to 144 apartments, 248 business premises, 153 garages, 47 land parcels, etc.
There is no enough legal and material protection for war veterans and handicapped persons, older persons and retired as well. There are many abandoned children and there are cases of infanticide. Only in Tuzla, from the beginning of war, at least 70 children were abandoned. There are abuses in employment as well. The main inspector of the work in BH drew attention to directors of firms that about 250.000 workers who are on a waiting list for a job are entitled to be regularly compensated for social security and pension fund, notwithstanding the fact that they are jobless at present.


Implementation of elections

Local elections in BH were held on 13 and 14 September without the preconditions for fair and democratic elections, was said in the statement issued by the International Helsinki Federation, Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BH and the Norwegian Helsinki Committee. The pre-election period was basically characterized by restricted freedom of movement, restricted possibility or no possibility at all for political parties of opposition to campaign in certain parts of the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, unequal access to media , and the presence of indicted war criminals, the majority of whom have not yet been handed over to the International War Crimes Tribunal in the Hague. The ruling nationalistic parties used various methods of intimidation, exerted pressure over opposition candidates, and manipulated the media in order to ensure electoral victory. At the same time, HDZ and SDS, Croatian and Serb nationalistic parties, kept open the possibility of boycotting the elections all until the moment of the beginning of the elections, as a form of pressure over the voters and over the OSCE.
In spite of the fact that the electoral rules were adopted immediately following the scheduling of the elections, the OSCE reinstated a number of candidates who had been removed from the lists of candidates because of their disrespecting electoral rules, and this was inadmissible.
While the electoral process itself passed without significant difficulties, it should be noted that there were many cases of duly registered individual voters not appearing on lists of voters. In the Republic of Srpska, for example in Pale and Doboj, posters bearing pictures of Radovan Karad?ia were displayed, even in the vicinity of the polling station.
However, the biggest problem appeared concerning the voting of displaced persons and refugees who intended to vote in places where they had lived before the war. In Pale, the local police tried to prevent these people from coming to the polling stations, under excuse that they could not guarantee their security. In Drvar, obstacles were posed to displaced persons coming to the polling stations, and there were cases of slowing down the electoral process in order to have the lesser number of refugees and displaced persons voting.
Since the local elections are understood as a phase in the implementation of the Dayton Peace Accord, and thus within that context as the beginning of the process of return of refugees and displaced persons to the places where they had lived before the war, the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights, the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BH and the Norwegian Helsinki Committee expressed their belief that international community should use all the means necessary for the implementation of the results of the elections. This refers especially to those places where electoral victory or significant presence in local government is expected from those parties which operate outside the territories in which such governmental authorities are to be established. The implementation of electoral results will determine the character of elections which should not legalize the results of ethnic cleansing, but which should be an introduction into the process of return and thereby into a normalization of the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, concluded the three associations for human rights.
Warning that it is important to implement the local elections proved more than justified. Namely, newly elected governmental authorities have not yet been constituted in some troublesome communities. The existing authorities in the municipality of Srebrenica in east Bosnia - RS (until elections the ruling party was the Serb Democratic Party of Radovan Karad?ia) threatened to arrest some deputies of the Coalition for BH, which is led by the Party of Democratic Action as the strongest political organization of Bosniaks in BH and which won enough votes to establish its own municipal government if its appointees appear in Srebrenica. The Local leaders of the Croatian Democratic Community in ?epee (central Bosnia) arranged forcefully to prevent the municipal council from being constituted on the basis of local elections at which the Coalition for BH had won. About thousand people were incited by means of a radio station physically to prevent the implementation of the electoral results. There is a resistance to implement the results in Velika Kladuša, north-west Bosnia, where SDA was defeated by the DNZ of Fikret Abdia.
The results of the elections show that the national parties still dominate, but that their influence is waning. It is so especially in the case of the Serb Democratic Party which was opposed with success by vaguely articulated alternative block; yet however, at the same time, another party of ultras - Serb Radical Party made a step forward. The Party of Democratic Action within the Coalition for BH lost a part of the trust of voters, while the position of the Croatian Democratic Party remained stable. An important fact is that the parties based in Sarajevo have won the mandates in 42 out of 61 municipality in RS in total. In one of the municipalities (Srebrenica) Coalition for BH won, while in 11 other municipalities it won more votes than other parties. This means that there is a possibility for Bosniaks, and partly for Croats, to come back at least politically in RS, although the electoral results do not correspond to ethnic structure of the population from before the war.
In November, extraordinary elections were held in the RS for their People's Assembly. Ultranationalistic block (Serb Democratic Party - 24 mandates, Serb Radical Party-15 seats) did not succeed in winning majority in the Parliament. The further decline of influence of SDS and stabilization of the standing of SRS is visible. The parties representing the Croats did not win a single seat in the Parliament of the Entity, while the Coalition for BH won 16 mandates and represents second in power group in the People's Assembly in the RS. A new party, the Serb People's Alliance of Biljana Plavšia, won 15 mandates. The party to decide the outcome will be the Socialist Party of the RS. Response of the voters was hardly 60 percent and it is apparent that the parties based in Sarajevo, this time also did not achieve results which would at least approximately correspond to the structure of population in the RS from before the war. The reason for this lies in the fact that the electoral rules have to a considerable extent recognized the effects of genocide and ethnic cleansing, undemocratic pre-electoral procedures, the lack of awareness of a significant part of the electoral body, which had been disheartened both by the present situation and by the implementation of the Peace Accord and previous elections, as well as inadequate activities of parties based in the BH Federation among the refugees and displaced persons. The elections in the RS and local level elections in BH and elections for People's Assembly in the RS have albeit created a new political situation, but still the key problem resides in the realization of the will of voters and the actual functioning of new bodies of governmental authorities.

Position of media

Media reflect the environment and the relations of political powers in BH, while the attitude of media toward human rights tells of the character of their editorial policy and their founders. Generally speaking, the issue of human rights is becoming ever more present in media, even in those politically dependent ones. The number of information, analyses and editorial comments which treat this subject matter in an objective way is on the increase. Yet, however, part of media still maintain the policy either to ignore the subject, especially in the area concerning the activities of NGOs, or one-sidedly to use the information by publicizing cases of violation of human rights on the part of "those others". In any case, media have become a key element for informing about the situation with human rights and their protection, with educational elements being brought in and developed.
Last year, a particular war has been taking place in the area of media as well. War momentum has been retained especially in electronic media under the control of the Serb Democratic Party and the Croatian Democratic Community (Serb Radio-TV House and Croat TV Mostar), while the media intolerance under the guidance of the Party of Democratic Action is particularly expressed in the weekly "Ljiljan" In such a situation the Peace Mission in BH has physically prevented SRT from broadcasting from Pale studio, while the Banja Luka studio continued working. The editor-in-chief of the HRTV Mostar was demanded to read the apology for war-mongering, nationalistic and even fascist work of this media. The inflammatory actions were taking place in Drvar as well, where the Croats settlers were invited by the HDZ through the local radio to prevent the return of the Serbs who used to live in that town. The HDZ in ?epee did something similar when, over the local radio, it initiated gathering of about thousand people, who physically prevented the newly elected municipal assembly, in which the majority was won by the Bosniaks, from constituting. Two sarajevan women journalists were beaten up on the occasion.
D?emaludin Latia, writer, President of the editorial board and close collaborator of Alija Izetbegovia, apologized in Ljiljan for attacking his colleague writer Marko Vešovia in a text full of ethnic and religious intolerance. Marko Vešovia, of Montenegrin origin, has uncompromisingly fought in media against the Serb and Montenegrin nationalism. There is an increasing number of court cases where the journalists and journals are sued, and there are cases of journalists suing each other.
Unimpeded work of journalists and freedom of media, so necessary for establishment of dialogue among the three sides in BH and for the realization of the provisions of the Dayton Accord, have been seriously brought in question through a series of incidents happening in the previous period. Thus, a group of Bosniak journalists (in January) while waiting for a press-conference at the Pensioners' House in west Mostar, was exposed to insults and threats by gun of a drunken Croat extremist in front the eyes of policemen and other guests. Few days later, on the trunk-road near Mostar (territory controlled by the HDZ) a surprise attack was made on Director of the independent news agency ONASA and editor-in-chief of the independent magazine Dani (both from Sarajevo). In Sarajevo there was an attempt to drive the journalists of the independent magazine Dani out of their premises by tear-gas, made by four men who had an intention to occupy the premises. Near the place of Mahala, in IEBL, the police of the Republic of Srpska (in February) took a camera and taped material from a Radio and TV crew from Tuzla-Podrinje canton in front of the very eyes of SFOR and IPTF, and until today these were never returned. In April, when passing through west Mostar, the editor of national weekly Ljiljan from Sarajevo was arrested, kept detained for several hours and harassed, without giving any cause. In the second half of July, in Tuzla, a retired journalist of Front slobode Vitomir Pavlovia was beaten up; against him a local paper Zmaj od Bosne, proponent of Bosniak extremism, initiated a witch-hunting campaign.
In Sarajevo, in the beginning of June, the cantonal police confiscated from street sellers the bi-monthly satirical paper Polikita, published in Lukavac. The police justified this step by the fact that the paper "had insulted persons and the state of BH in a vulgar way". The Prime Minister of the cantonal government supported the action of the police, claiming that it had acted according to the law.
The international authorities intend completely to reconstruct the media network in BH, in an effort to promote supply of objective information as primary motive and journalistic freedom. There is a will that the media enter the stage of tolerance and circulation of people and ideas throughout BH instead of waging war by words. The European Union has introduced a post of media supervisor in BH.
The activity of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BH was strongly covered in independent media. Other media are also slowly opening toward this institution. The development of independent media, especially in the RS, is of great importance. In that sense, very valuable is the lifting of media blockade which, among else, is being realized through the cooperation of dailies of Veeernje novine from Sarajevo and Nezavisne novine from Banja Luka.

Conclusion

The constitutional, legal and political context in BH, in a climate of inadequate efficiency of Peace Mission in civil sector and in the field of war crimes, decision making outside institutions, does not favour the efficient protection of human rights, the status of which is unsatisfactory. Yet however, the issue of human rights has become unavoidable in everyday life in BH and the political factors can less and less ignore the subject. As mentioned earlier, the role of media in this is of great importance. In order essentially to improve the situation in this area it is necessary to raise the quality of the complete Peace Mission, insist on the responsibility of domestic factors and give support and help to NGOs which are active in the area of promotion and protection of human rights.

No. 14A-01/98

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