Ensuring Respect for Human Rights

Fighting discrimination - the ombudsmen

Before the 1992-95 war, Mirjana Malic, a Bosnian Serb university professor, was employed at Sarajevo's College of Dental Medicine. On May 2, 1992, she had to stop working as Sarajevo was under constant shelling. Clearly the war prevented her from coming to work. Nevertheless the college terminated Mirjana's employment on the basis of absence without leave for more than 20 working days.

Mirjana tried to appeal the decision in July 1992, but received no response from the Dean of the College. Finally, four years later, on February 23 1996, Mirjana lodged a claim with the Ombudsmen of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. After investigating her complaint, the Federation Ombudsmen concluded that Mirjana had been discriminated against the basis of her ethnic origin. Effectively, since the war ended, the College had re-employed four Bosniak professors, but did not re-employ Mirjana, a Bosnian Serb.

On January 15, 1997 Mirjana's case was referred to the Human Rights Chamber at the request of the Ombudsmen. In April 1998, the Human Rights Chamber decided that Mirjana Malic had been dismissed because of her ethnic origin. She was reinstated and since September has been teaching again at Sarajevo University. But working there is far from easy. "Formally, I have been reintegrated into the University staff" explains Mirjana Malic. "But in reality, I have no contacts with the other professors. I'm not invited to the professor's meetings. There is a clear embargo from their side. It's hard, but I'm glad I can continue to do my job. At least I have very good contacts with my students." She also works for the Helsinki Citizens' Assembly in Bosnia and Herzegovina, an organisation involved in activities aimed at strengthening democracy and civil society. Some of her projects were funded by the European Commission, such as an awareness campaign before the elections or the "women's caucus" where women from all ethnic backgrounds gather monthly to discuss political, social and economic issues.

Majority of claims on property issues

Since 1996, the European Commission has given substantial financial support to the Office of the Ombudsperson and the Human Rights Chamber, which together form the Commission on Human Rights. The amount totals euro 2,9 million since 1996. By December 1998, there had been 1,482 cases registered with the Human Rights Chamber, of which 105 were referred from the Ombudsperson. Among the top five issues leading to a claim are : JNA apartments (542 cases), property issues (535 cases), frozen bank accounts (357 cases), abandoned property (258 cases) and employment (53 cases). 

Reconnecting peoples

Roads, airports and bridges

Mostar and Banja Luka airports are open again. Rail links have been reestablished. Kilometre after kilometre of roads have been repaired. And major bridge-rebuilding projects have been launched. At last the European Commission's efforts to help rebuild Bosnia's essential infrastructure following the Dayton accords are bearing fruit.

All in all the Commission has dedicated almost euro 68 million to these major infrastructure works, which are aimed at reconnecting Bosnia's populations with each other and with their neighbouring countries and ensuring a better circulation and freedom of movement in the country. The work is increasingly being put in the hands of local enterprises. Over the past three months, 80 per cent of the contracts were awarded to local enterprises, which has the knock-on effect of stimulating economic recovery in the sectors concerned.

50 bridges destroyed during the war

Bosnia's mountainous terrain and the many rivers which run through the country and along its borders mean that bridges have a crucial role in Bosnia's road and rail network. That can explain why almost half of the Commission's infrastructure-rebuilding budget ­ euro 31 million - goes on rebuilding seven bridges.

More than 50 bridges were destroyed during the 1992-95 war, being easy targets allowing warring parties to cut Bosnia's communities off from one another. All the large bridges on the Sava river, which runs along the northern frontier between Bosnia and Croatia were destroyed, for example.

The Commission will rebuild four bridges on the Sava: the Gradiska, Brcko, Samac and Raca bridges. Work on the first three bridges will start at the beginning of this year. The authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia are in the middle of discussions on the design of the Raca bridge. Last October work also started on the Karuse bridge, which is in Doboj, in the Republika Srpska near the inter-entity boundary line (IEBL). The bridge, which should largely facilitate circulation between the entities, will be finished in October 1999.

The Commission has entrusted the design and the supervision of the work to a team of civil engineers working within the so-called " bridge reconstruction unit. " On the team is Bisera Karalic, who worked on the design of many bridges in the former Yugoslavia before the war. She planned the new bridge at Karuse in 1991, but the work was interrupted by the war (see photo). From her job within the European Commission's bridge reconstruction unit she will be finally, eight years later, able to see her project succeed. When the Karuse and Samac bridges will have been rebuilt, the north-south link between Sarajevo, Croatia and Hungary will be considerably improved. The bridges which will be rebuilt with the support of the European Commission are: Brcko bridge, Gradiska bridge, Karuse bridge, Samac bridge, Raca bridge. The Commission is also planning to rebuild the Kostanica and Jasenovac bridges at a later stage.

Bosnia and Herzegovina within Europe (Annex VI of the PIC Madrid Declaration)

In its final declaration, the December 1998 Madrid Peace Implementation Council made a specific reference to the relations between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Europe

Destination Europe: strategy towards the European institutions

(Annex VI of the December 1998 Madrid Peace Implementation Council (PIC) Declaration)

1. BiH is a European country. Its citizens are Europeans. BiH's future lies in closer relations with Europe and Europe has a huge stake in BiH's well-being. The Council strongly believes that peace, economic and political reform, and stability will be reinforced in BiH by stronger links with the European institutions.

2. The Council urges BiH to make every effort to meet the entry criteria as the first step towards closer association with all of the European institutions. It pledges its assistance in helping BiH to do so. But it gives notice that the standards are high and will not be relaxed to secure admission. It is up to BiH to meet those standards. In the view of the Council there is no reason why, with sufficient effort, this should not be possible given sufficient political will. The pace of integration of BiH into European structures will be governed by its performance in implementing its Dayton obligations.

3. The Council of Europe: the Council urges the High Representative closely to monitor BiH's progress in meeting the criteria for membership of the Council of Europe. It stresses the need to ensure that BiH is in a position to meet these criteria as soon as possible, so that the High Representative is able to recommend to the Council of Europe that it decide on the issue of BiH accession. But to do so, BiH must move fast. There remains a great deal to be done. The necessary steps include:

- adoption of a Permanent Election Law;

- continued revision of legislation to ensure compliance with the European Convention on Human Rights;

- adoption of legislation to achieve a professional and independent prosecutorial and judicial system;

- full co-operation and compliance with Annex 7 in the implementation of the property laws by the authorities in both Entities;

- completion of police certification, establishment of a multi-ethnic, professional police and full compliance with UN IPTF decisions;

- continuation of reform of the media and development of media and broadcasting legislation consistent with European best practice;

- putting in place mechanisms to ensure full functioning of human rights institutions, including the enforcement of the decisions of the Human Rights Chamber and the Commission for Real Property Claims; full cooperation with and response to reports by the BiH Ombudsperson and Federation Ombudsmen; and the establishment of an RS Ombudsmen's Office in accordance with the Federation model.

4. European Union: The Council welcomes and supports the ongoing efforts by the European Union aiming at an intensification of relations between the EU and BiH, in accordance with the EU's regional approach and conditionality policies and with the EU's Declarations of 8 June and 7 September.

5. The Council expresses its satisfaction at the readiness of the European Union, as stated in its Declaration of 8 June, to establish closer and more intense relations with BiH and at the establishment of an EU/BiH Task Force, with the aim of helping BiH to become a fully-functioning State and to meet some of the technical prerequisites to closer co-operation with the European Union.

6. In addition to building on the implementation of this Declaration and on the work of the Task Force, the Council expresses the hope that in 1999:

- the European Union and BiH reinforce and make a more active use of the EU/BiH Consultative Task Force. The Council welcomes the fact that issues such as judicial reform, education, media, good government and economic reform have a priority in the work of this Task Force. The Council invites the BiH authorities to follow up the recommendations of the Task Force.

7. The Council welcomes the intention of the European Union to intensify the dialogue on political and economic issues with BiH in order to ensure the closest involvement of the European Union in civilian implementation of Dayton agreement, which will contribute to stability and cooperation in BiH and to bringing BiH closer to European standards.

1KM = 0.51 Euro

The euro is good news for BiH

The launch of Europe's single currency, the euro, is a significant event also for Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Bosnian "Konvertibilna marka", which was introduced last June, is fixed at one-to-one against the German mark under a strict currency board regime. This means that the Bosnian marka is now also linked to the euro, the new currency of 11 western European countries.

A European Commission DG II official, expert in the international aspects of the European Monetary Union (EMU), Mr. Denis REDONNET, came to Sarajevo on 18th January and delivered a key-note speech at a seminar on the "Introduction of the Euro and its Impact on the Economy and the Currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina". The seminar was jointly organised by the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany on behalf of the German Presidency of the EU, the Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the European Commission Representation Office to BiH. It was attended by the banking community of BiH, representatives of the World Bank, the IMF, the EBRD, CAFAO, and the local press and diplomatic corps.

The Governor of the Central Bank of BiH, the New Zealander Mr. Peter NICHOLL, and the DG II official, Mr. REDONNET, addressed a whole array of issues that arise in this context. The seminar provided answers to crucial questions such as: "What does the advent of the euro imply at this stage for the nature of the exchange rate arrangements of the KM? What does the phased process of introduction of the new currency and the transitional period between now and the year 2002, mean for economic operations in BiH? What could the removal of the DEM and the introduction of euro notes and coins mean for this country?" etc.

Significant benefits

Both the Governor and the European Commission expert reassured their audience that the advent of the euro will not endanger the stability of the new local currency. On the contrary, they outlined the significant benefits that it will actually entail for the economy and the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Currently, the bank's foreign assets are all held in German bank deposits. The introduction of the euro will allow the bank to invest in either German mark or in euro instruments without taking an exchange rate risk, Nicholl said. "The euro should have positive impacts by tying the KM (Konvertibilna Marka) to an even larger currency area and by encouraging the development of even stronger and deeper European financial markets," he said.

Publisher: Hans Jørn Hansen, European Commission ­ Directorate General External Relations 200 rue de la Loi / Wetstraat B - 1049 Brussels

Design and Editorial coordination: Strat&Com + 32 2 649 62 82

Europe for BiH
Quarterly newsletters published by the European Commission on its actions in Bosnia and Herzegovina
No 6, February 1999

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