68 BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA1 IHF FOCUS: freedom of expression and media; judicial system and independence of the judiciary; police misconduct; conditions in prisons; religious intolerance; natio- nal minorities; returnees and displaced persons; international humanitarian law; so- cial rights; women’s rights; rights of the child. The first six months of 2001 in Bosnia RS Prime Minister Ivanic (Party of Demo- and Herzegovina (BH) were marked by na- cratic Progress, PDP) appointed numerous tionalistic attacks against the constitutional Serb Democratic Party (SDS) members to order and the Dayton-Paris Peace Agree- high positions in politics and the economy. ment. The second half of the year experi- In the name of the anti-terrorist campaign, enced the consequences of the global anti- they made the Muslims responsible for the terrorism coalition formed following the 11 war and post-war situation. Mr Ivanic also September terrorist attacks in New York threatened to hold a referendum on the and Washington. possible secession of RS. During the year, the Croatian Demo- The role of the Bosniaks in govern- cratic Union (HDZ) made attempts to cre- mental bodies in the municipalities of ate a third Croatian entity. Its leadership, Bosanski Samac, Modrica and Vukosavlje in chaired by former member of the Presi- the RS was marginal and was only made dency of BH, Ante Jelavic, rebelled against possible due to the intervention of the the Constitutions of the BH and the BH Fe- Office of the High Representative (OHR) deration, demanding amendments to this and of the OSCE. end. The highest officials of the Roman The laying of the foundation stone for Catholic Church in BH fully supported the the reconstruction of the destroyed HDZ efforts. mosques in Trebinje and Banja Luka (in the The work of most authorities was char- RS) resulted in serious assaults by Serb ul- acterized by attempts to block the imple- tra-nationalists. RS PrimeMinister Ivanic did mentation of the Dayton Agreement, the nothing to prevent the assaults, police con- abuse of power, corruption and incompe- duct was profoundly unprofessional and tence. The Office of the High Represen- the International Stabilization Force (SFOR) tative dismissed more than 60 officials, refused to interfere, stating that it did not among them Mr Jelavic, as well as former wish to contribute to the escalation of vio- Prime Minister of the BH Federation and lence. Generally, the SDS was largely ac- the Bosnian Party of Democratic Action countable for violence in the RS. (SDA) Vice-President Edhem Bicakcic. Their As a response to violations in Banja dismissal, however, did not bring about any Luka and Trebinje, young Islamists gathered notable changes. in Sarajevo, carrying signs with slogans Since the November 2000 election, the from the Koran and wearing clothing typical HDZ obstructed the establishment of govern- of radical Muslims. The protests were main- ments in the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton ly peaceful. A group of young men pro- and Canton 10 (Livno), while the govern- voked Serb refugees and displaced persons ment in the Una-Sana Canton was formed as (IDPs) on the inter-entity line in Sarajevo. late as six months after the elections. In the course of the year it became The authorities in the Republika Srpska clear that the international authorities did (RS) attempted to keep control over all not have a consistent strategy for the im- public life and to reduce the transparency plementation of the key areas of the of their own activities. They blamed others, Dayton Peace Agreement, e.g. the return of including the international mediators, for refugees and IDPs, the return of property, the unsatisfactory situation in the country. physical and legal safety, security and BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA 69 equality of citizens, and arrest and punish- The global anti-terrorism campaign did ment of war criminals such as Radovan not result in an open confrontation with the Karadzic and Ratko Mladic. The two Hel- militant Islamists in BH. However, graffiti ex- sinki Committees criticized representatives pressing sympathies with Osama bin Laden of the international peacekeeping mission appeared and American flags were burned. of misconduct and abusing their position in The Council of Ministers of BH and entity the field. For example, a certain Mr Igor of governments immediately engaged in an the OSCE Mission took bribes to resolve anti-terrorism campaign, establishing, inter housing issues, and Stoja Dabic, an OSCE alia, a co-ordination body at the state level. monitor in Modrica, obstructed the return However, actions led by SFOR in co-opera- of Bosniaks to that municipality. Instead of tion with the US Federal Bureau of Investi- being dismissed, Ms Dabic was moved to gation (FBI ) and the domestic police force another position. to find terrorists were conducted in an irres- The coming into power of the Demo- ponsible manner. The Helsinki Committee cratic Alliance for Changes, which main- in BH warned against human rights violati- tained a kind of partnership relation with ons such as unfounded arrests, interroga- the international institutions at the state tions, detentions, and the illegal revocation and federation level, did not bring about of citizenship in violation of valid legal pro- any visible moves towards the re-establish- cedures. It also stated that no one should ment of the rule of law. The authorities did be extradited to a country where they could not succeed in creating an independent ju- face the death penalty or other forms of in- diciary and a neutral administration that human or degrading treatment or punish- would treat all citizens in an equal manner. ment. The process of harmonizing the Constitu- tions of the entities with the BH Constitu- Freedom of Expression and Media tion had not been finalized by the end of Editorial boards and journalists contin- 2001. Reforms of the judicial system, po- ued to face pressure, threats and physical lice force and media were carried out slow- attacks. The “Free Media” SOS-line for jour- ly and in some fields they were completely nalists registered 96 complaints between manipulated by national oligarchies. Des- January and mid-November 2001. The lo- pite the support of the international bodies, cal independent media in particular was the Democratic Alliance for Changes was suppressed in various ways, while those powerless against the SDS, HDZ and SDA founded by the municipalities and Cantons because of its heterogeneous composition, were loyal to local authorities and their pro- individualism and incompetence. fessional standard was low. Trade unions The socio-economic situation wors- either were not organized to deal with situ- ened: over 60% of the population lived be- ation of journalists or were manipulated by low the poverty line. Unemployed, pen- employers. No progress was made in the sioners and disabled persons formed the nation-wide organization of journalists. most vulnerable social groups. The deterio- The process of issuing long-term li- rating social circumstances particularly af- cences to electronic media in BH contin- fected women, who suffered various forms ued. However, the Regulatory Communi- of discrimination. cation Agency refused to issue such li- The return of refugees and IDS intensi- cences to a number of radio and TV sta- fied but remained at an unsatisfactory lev- tions. el. Spontaneous return did not have ade- The Helsinki Committee in BH pointed quately organized support and the safety of out both to the OHR and to the public that returnees could not be guaranteed. the reformation process of the RTV BH and 70 BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA the radio-television broadcasting system of ficking were subjected to threats and as- BH was very slow and inadequate, mainly saults. According to the OSCE telephone due to poor work by foreign mediators. hotline, 35 journalists in RS reported that Radio of the BH Federation and Federation they had received threats by telephone and TV started to operate on two channels, and were otherwise under pressure. The newly a decision was made to appoint a man- adopted RS Law on Access to Information agement for the Public Broadcasting sys- did not facilitate the work of journalists. tem at the BH level (PBS). N The OSCE Mission asked the Bosniak The BH Press Council started to work member of the Presidency, Halid Genjac, to as a self-regulating organization with the discipline his advisor Ademir Jerkovic, who aim of reviewing the principles of the Press had verbally pressured Emir Felic, journalist Code, adopted in April 1999. with the BH Press, demanding him to give A media war between Bosniaks and more attention to Jerkovic in their news. Croatians raged in Mostar. Furthermore, all electronic and print media in this territory N A powerful explosive device was were under the control of the HDZ. In the thrown into the apartment of Zoran Sovilj, a Una-Sana Canton, media outlets were di- journalist of Kozarski vjesnik, in Prijedor on vided between the SDA and the Democra- 20 November. Nobody was injured, but tic National Union (DNU). there were substantial material damages. It N Croatian Radio Tomislavgrad (Tomislav- was believed that the attack was linked to grad) was fined for spreading intolerance Sovilj’s articles on different scandals in against others and against the International Prijedor, some of them related to illegal Peace Mission. prostitution and trafficking in women. Prior to the attack he had received public and N The Croatian RTV’s (Mostar) licence telephone threats. was suspended for 90 days for inciting na- N tionalism. Journalist Ljuba Dikic was threatened to be lynched after her son, Ivica Dikic, a N Former editor-in-chief and deputy editor- journalist himself, had written in the in-chief of the daily Oslobodjenje were char- Croatian independent weekly Feral Tribune ged with allegedly abusing their positions.