Bosna I Hercegovina the Seventh and the Eight Periodic Report on the Implementation of the International Convention on the Elimi
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BOSNA I HERCEGOVINA Ministarstvo za ljudska prava i izbjeglice Ministry for Human Rights and Refugees THE SEVENTH AND THE EIGHT PERIODIC REPORT ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION ON THE ELIMINATION OF ALL FORMS OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION (CERD) IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA Sarajevo, June 2008 Sarajevo, Trg Bosne i Hercegovine br. 1, Tel./Fax: 033/206-655 TABLE OF CONTENTS A – Introduction .....................................................................................3 Recommendation No. 8: ......................................................................4 Recommendation No. 9: ......................................................................5 Recommendation No. 10:....................................................................7 Recommendation No. 11:..................................................................10 Recommendation No. 12:..................................................................10 Recommendation No. 13:..................................................................11 Recommendation No. 14:..................................................................21 Recommendation No. 15:..................................................................22 Recommendation No. 16:..................................................................25 Recommendation No. 17. ..................................................................50 Recommendation No. 18:..................................................................54 Recommendation No. 19:..................................................................61 Recommendation No. 20:..................................................................62 Recommendation No. 21:..................................................................68 Recommendation No. 22:..................................................................74 Recommendation No. 23:..................................................................76 Recommendation No. 24:..................................................................83 Recommendation No. 25:..................................................................90 A LIST OF LEGISLATION: .................................................................93 A LIST OF ACRONYMS:.....................................................................94 Annex: Tables and charts .................................................................95 Strana 2 A – Introduction 1. The Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination in Geneva, pursuant to Article 9 of the International Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, at its meetings (1735 and 1736), held on 22 and 23 February 2006, examined all reports presented by BiH, starting with the initial one to the sixth periodical report of Bosnia and Herzegovina, for the period 1994 - 2004, each report separately, but treating it as a single document (CERD/C/464/Add.1). According to the established practice of the UN committees, following the adoption of mentioned documents, the responsible UN committee, at its 1754 and 1755 meeting (CERD/C/SR.1754 and 1755), held on 8 March 2006, adopted the Concluding Observations and Recommendations of the Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination obligating BiH to prepare the seventh and eighth report on the progress or negative trends that the country is facing with in relation to the subject matter by 16 July 2008. 2. From the recommendations and concluding observations it can be noted that the Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination with due attention reviewed and took note of all factors and obstacles impeding the implementation of the International Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination, this primarily relating to the organisational structure of the society, the fundamental rights of which are based solely on ethnic grounds, which in practice very often leads to direct violation of the Convention or jeopardise its full implementation. Also, the Committee appreciates positive steps undertaken by BiH in the field of meaningful legislative and institutional reforms aimed at eliminating all forms of racial discrimination. In particular, it appreciates the progress made by the state in reducing the number of post-war ethnically-based incidents, which were common during the return of refugees and displaced persons, when the return was impeded by force, threats or other impediments to return of refugees and DPs to their homes of origin. The efficiency of authorities in prosecuting and punishing the perpetrators of incidents in accordance with articles 145 and 146 of the BiH Criminal Code was welcomed. 3. Indubitably, the Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination expressed major concern over the issues that the State party must address without delay. According to the Concluding Observations, the Committee recommended to the State party that it submit report on the issues raised below by 16 July 2008. Strana 3 Recommendation No. 8: The Committee recommends to the State party that it endeavour to collect disaggregated statistical data on the ethnic composition of its population and establish adequate mechanisms for monitoring acts of ethnically motivated discrimination and violence among its different ethnic groups. 4. Item 8 of the Concerns and Recommendations of the Committee pointed to the lack of updated statistical data on the ethnic composition of the population, as well as on the number and nature of reported acts of racial discrimination within the territory of the State party. It is a fact that the last census in BiH was conducted in 1991. Also, the armed conflict caused significant ethnic-based demographic changes, therefore, under such circumstances it is very difficult to make a merits-based assessment of the degree and recurrence of ethnic discrimination within the territory of the State party. Taking the issue seriously, on the basis of comprehensive analysis, estimates and official data maintained by the state and entity statistical institutes, as well as the data collected by international and national NGOs, the relevant authorities and institutions of the State party are making efforts towards establishing adequate monitoring mechanisms for ethnically-motivated discrimination and potential violence among different ethnic groups. It should be stressed that the situation is improving in a sense that that the public is duly informed on each incident and relevant authorities timely involved in resolving them, and all this is followed by appropriate public reaction and condemnation. Recent murders of an elderly woman and a young boy committed by a group of minors in Sarajevo testifies to this, when the citizens following the incidents protested strongly demanding the resignations of City authorities and the improvement of security situation and its adequate treatment in the future. There is also the case of Fata Orlovic, at whose land the Orthodox Church was unlawfully constructed. This problem has also been taken seriously and relevant authorities together have reached an agreement with the representatives of the Orthodox Church to reallocate this unlawfully constructed building to other more appropriate site. Also, a positive example is the action of authorities in case of reallocation of Roma settlement from the first (I) water protection zone Ilidža Sarajevo, which by uncontrollable construction grew to a settlement of 44 families or 236 inhabitants, jeopardising the first (I) water protection zone supplying the City of Sarajevo. It has been established that there has been no discrimination in this case since the non-Roma population living on the other side of the road does not jeopardise the water protection zone as their settlement has been constructed according to the urbanistic plan. According to the agreement reached by municipalities of Sarajevo City, the Roma will, with their consent, be provided with adequate flats and the problem will thus be solved without any discrimination. 5. There has been a number of attacks on religious property in recent times, but owing to due and timely reaction of responsible authorities the perpetrators of these acts of violence have been increasingly identified and prosecuted, which leads to a more seldom occurrence of such incidents. Strana 4 6. The 2005-2008 Work Plan of the BiH Statistics Agency provides for the commencement of census in BiH. To that end, in 2006 and 2007, the Statistics Agency, in cooperation with the UNFPA, has developed the Census Preparation Concept Paper. This document contains all tasks and activities required for the conduct of census. The census is planned to be conducted in 2011, since the majority of countries in the region will also have their censuses conducted in 2011. The 2011 census will contain the question of ethnicity as all previous censuses in BiH also contained this question. This question also derives from the Law on the Protection of Rights of Minorities (»BiH Official Gazette», No: 12/03), as well as from the BiH Election Law. 7. The polls conducted in BiH (the poll on poverty, the poll on consumption in households, the poll on labour force) did not contain the question on ethnicity because all these polls were random and as such did not cover the entire population, but only some groups (e.g. the poll on labour force involved the population of working age, that is the population aged 15 to 64 and the responses concerning the members of the household were normally provided by one member of the household). The census includes all individuals and each