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Bosnia and Herzegovina - Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under Article 8(1) of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict: Initial periodic report of States parties [2010] UNCRCSPR 5; CRC/C/OPAC/BIH/1 (25 January 2010)
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United Nations
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CRC/C/OPAC/BIH/1
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|
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Convention on the
Rights of the Child
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Distr.: General
25 January 2010
Original: English
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Committee on the Rights of the Child
Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 8 (1)
of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights
of the Child on the
involvement of children in armed conflict
Initial periodic report of States parties
Bosnia and Herzegovina[*]
[20 August 2008]
Contents
Page
Introduction 3
Part I General measures of protocol implementation 3
Part II Prevention 19
Part III Prohibition and related issues 30
Part IV Protection, recovery and reintegration 33
Part V International support and cooperation 37
Part VI Other legal provisions 37
Introduction
On May 25, 2000, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted an
Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child
on the
involvement of children in armed conflict, which is a supplement to the
Convention on the Rights of the Child in terms of
involvement of children in
armed conflicts.
The Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, based on Decision of Parliamentary
Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina no. 34/02 of April
7, 2002, at 130th session
held on March 19, 2002 passed a decision on the ratification of the Optional
Protocol to the Convention
on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of
children in armed conflict (“Official Gazette of Bosnia and
Herzegovina”,
no. 5/02).
Since Bosnia and Herzegovina signed the Optional Protocol to the Convention
on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children
in armed conflict on
September 7, 2000, and ratified it on October 10, 2003, the reporting period
shall include the period from the
day of the Protocol ratification to the day of
report submission.
With the ratification of the Optional Protocol, Bosnia and Herzegovina
assumed an obligation to take all appropriate measures and
ensure that members
of armed forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina, who have not reached the age of 18,
do not take direct part in hostilities,
are not subject to compulsory
recruitment into armed forces and to adopt legislative measures to prohibit and
criminalize such practice.
In accordance with Article 8 paragraph 1 of the Optional Protocol to the
Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement
of children in armed
conflict, Bosnia and Herzegovina submits the first initial report to the
Committee for the Rights of the Child
on the measures that were taken to
implement provisions of the Optional Protocol.
The submitted Initial Report gives an overview of legislative,
administrative, judicial and other measures applied in Bosnia and
Herzegovina,
related to provisions of the Protocol.
The Report is prepared based on revised guidelines for the Preparation of
Initial report from September of 2007, which the States
parties submit under
Article 8 paragraph 1 of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights
of the Child on the involvement
of children in armed conflict.
Based on the national legislation in Bosnia and Herzegovina there is a
general prohibition on child recruitment.
Part
I
General
measures of protocol implementation
Definition of a
child in the national legislation
The definition of a child in the legislation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in
some laws may be identified as directly taken from the
definitions in the
Convention on the Rights of the Child, or as a complex indirect definition that
decides on a right of the child.
In terms of the criminal responsibility, the protection of the child as
witness, the civil status of the child, the right of the
child to work and
health care of the child, there are certain age limits within 18 years of age,
which establish certain rights or
obligations of a child, however, a child in
Bosnia and Herzegovina is considered to be any person younger than 18, when
he/she becomes
an adult and receives legal responsibility.
1. Description of the report preparation
process
- Information on
political structure, basic elements of legal system and other statistical
information on Bosnia and Herzegovina, are
presented in the core document. The
core document of Bosnia and Herzegovina was submitted to the Office of the High
Commissioner
for Human Rights under no. HRI /CORE / 1 /Add 89 / rev. 1.
- In the first
stage of report preparation, the Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees of Bosnia
and Herzegovina, as the implementer
of activities, appointed a three-member
working group tasking them with taking all actions and measures necessary to
ensure involvement
of relevant governmental and non-governmental institutions
and international organizations in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the development
of
this report.
- After the
members of the working group, appointed by the relevant institutions at all
levels of government in Bosnia and Herzegovina,
drafted the first working text
of the report, on April 7, 2008, a public debate was organized and attended by
the members of governmental
and non-governmental sector and international
community. The public debate was organized with an aim of informing a broader
social
community with the obligations which Bosnia and Herzegovina assumed by
ratifying the Protocol, giving final proposals and comments
to the draft text of
the report, to finalize it and send to the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and
Herzegovina for deliberation and
decision. The remarks and suggestions presented
in the public debate are an integral part of this text. The public debate was
attended
by the representatives from the following
institutions/organizations:
Representatives of government
institutions
- Ministry
of Human Rights of Bosnia and Herzegovina (as coordinators of
activities)
2. Ministry of Defence of Bosnia and Herzegovina
3. Ministry of Justice of Bosnia and Herzegovina
4. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina
5. Ministry of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina
6. Agency for Gender Equality of Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Office
of the National Coordinator on Fighting Human Trafficking and illegal
immigration of Bosnia and Herzegovina
8. Ombudsmen for Human Rights
of Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Joint
Commission for Human Rights, Rights of the Child, Young People, Immigration,
Refugees, Asylum and Ethics of the Parliamentary
Assembly of Bosnia and
Herzegovina
10. Ombudsmen of Republika Srpska
11. Ombudsmen of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
12. Government of Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina
13. Department for Education of Brčko District of Bosnia and
Herzegovina
14. Department for Health of Brčko District of Bosnia and
Herzegovina
15. Public Prosecutor Office Brčko District of Bosnia and
Herzegovina
16. Ministry of Health and Social Protection of Republika Srpska
17. Ministry of Interior Affairs of Republika Srpska
18. Ministry of Education and Culture of Republika Srpska
19. Ministry of Justice of Republika Srpska
20. Republic Prosecutor Office of Republika Srpska
21. Federation Ministry of Health
22. Federation Ministry of Education and Science
23. Federation Ministry of Labour and Social Policy
24. Federation Ministry of Interior Affairs
25. Federation Prosecutor Office
26. The University Department of Political Science Sarajevo
27. The University Department of Criminal Sciences Sarajevo
Representatives of non-governmental associations
1. Vesta Tuzla
2. Research and Documentation Centre
3. Žena BiH Mostar
4. Naša djeca Sarajevo
5. BiH journalists
6. Zemlja djece Tuzla
7. Interreligious Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina
8. Helsinki Committee of human Rights of Bosnia and Herzegovina
9. Children Pillars of the World Sarajevo
10. Budućnost Modriča
11. La Strada Mostar
12. Lara Bijeljina
13. Medica Zanica
14. Association of Women BiH Mostar
15. Zdravo da ste Banja Luka
16. Press Council
Representatives of international community
1. Save the Children UK
2. International Committee of the Red Cross
3. Save the Children Norway
4. UNICEF
- The role of
international organizations (UNICEF, Save the Children UK, Save the Children
Norway, UNICEF, ICRC and others) in the promotion
of the rights of the child in
Bosnia and Herzegovina and development of this report will be discussed in the
part describing international
cooperation
- The following
governmental institutions participated in the development of the report:
- Ministry of
Human Rights and Refugees of Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Ministry of
Defence of Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Ministry of
Justice of Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Ombudsmen for
Human Rights of Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Ombudsmen of
Republika Srpska
- Ombudsmen of the
Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Government of
Brčko District of Bosnia and
Herzegovina
1.1 Description
of the competence of government institutions
- Ministry of
Human Rights and Refugees of Bosnia and Herzegovina has the competence to
implement activities prescribed under the law
related to the promotion and
protection of individual and collective human rights, as well as other
activities prescribed in the
law, which also include coordination and
preparation of reports to relevant local bodies and institutions and
international institutions
and organizations on the implementation of
commitments from international conventions and international instruments in the
sphere
of human rights.
- Ministry of
Defence of Bosnia and Herzegovina has the competence to create and maintain
defence capacities in order to ensure protection
of the sovereignty, territorial
integrity, political independence and international subjectivity of Bosnia and
Herzegovina. Also,
Ministry of Defence of Bosnia and Herzegovina has the
competence to represent Bosnia and Herzegovina in international relations
related
to the issue of defence, oversight of all the subjects of Defence Forces
of Bosnia and Herzegovina, developing, reviewing and updating
defence policy of
Bosnia and Herzegovina approved by the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina and
adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly
of Bosnia and Herzegovina, development and
approval of policies and regulations in terms of the organization,
administration, training,
equipping and the use of Defence Forces of Bosnia and
Herzegovina, ensuring that Bosnia and Herzegovina complies with international
obligations related to the issues of defence, activation of the reserve units
for all operations, except the planned training, deployment
or the use of any
part of Defence Forces outside Bosnia and Herzegovina for all training
operations or activities, establishment
of the procedure for the approval of
military support to civil authorities in case of natural disasters, upon the
approval of the
Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, establishing the
procedures that ensure transparent functions of the Ministry of Defence of
Bosnia and Herzegovina, and other competencies defined under the law.
- Ministry of
Justice Bosnia and Herzegovina has the competence over administrative functions
related to judicial bodies at the state
level, international and inter-entity
judicial cooperation, ensuring that the legislation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
and its implementation
at all levels be congruent with the commitments of Bosnia
and Herzegovina stemming from international agreements and to act as the
central
coordination body to ensure harmonization of legislation and standards of
judicial system between the entities.
- Ombudsman for
Human Rights of Bosnia and Herzegovina is an independent institution established
with an aim of promoting good administration
and the rule of law, protection of
rights and freedoms of physical and legal entities, as enshrined particularly in
the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina and international agreements that are
in the supplement to this Constitution which will in that respect supervise the
activities of the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, its entities and the
Brčko
District. Ombudsman for Human Rights of Bosnia and Herzegovina is
competent to: deliberate cases related to poor functioning or violations
of
human rights and freedoms committed by any organs of the government, including
when an appeal is received or ex officio. The competence
of the institution
contains the power to conduct investigations in all appeals related to poor
functioning of the court system or
improper processing of individual cases and
to recommend appropriate individual or general measures. Ombudsman may refer the
cases
of alleged violations of human rights to the highest court bodies in
Bosnia and Herzegovina which are competent for the issues of
human rights,
congruent to the rules that regulate filing of appeal to these bodies, whenever
it finds that it is necessary for an
effective implementation of its duties.
Decisions of ombudsman or the Institution cannot be appealed.
- Ombudsman of
Republika Srpska – protector of human rights has the competence to resolve
specific problems that an individual
or a child may have toward the organs of
authority. Ombudsmen in their reports and recommendations bind the governments
and the parliaments
to remove discriminatory regulations or administrative
practices that result in broad violations of rights and by making their reports
public in the media, generally raise awareness of human rights and influence the
conduct and responsibility of the authorities. The
Ombudsman of Republika Srpska
has a special Department for the Rights of the Child. Through the special
project on the protection
of the rights of the child, the ombudsmen are
permanently fighting for the protection of human of fundamental and all other
rights
and freedoms of the child, and especially the rights of children
refugees, displaced people and socially vulnerable categories, by
promoting the
rights of the child to life, personal safety and freedom of movement, analysis
and singling out of key causes behind
dysfunctional structures of authority when
passing decisions that affect children.
- Institution of
Ombudsman of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina was established under the
Constitution of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and in chapter II B. of the
Constitution the appointment of three ombudsmen is planned. Ombudsmen are
obliged to protect human dignity, rights and freedoms guaranteed under
the
Constitution of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, instruments for the
protection of human rights listed in the Annex to the Constitution and
constitutions of cantons. The Constitution of the Federation of Bosnia and
Herzegovina prescribes that ombudsmen are independent in performance of their
functions and no person
or body of authority can interfere in these functions.
Ombudsmen can examine the activities of any institution of the Federation,
canton or municipality, as well as the actions of any other institution or an
individual that denied human dignity, rights and freedoms,
including the
perpetration of ethnic persecution or maintaining of its consequences.
Note: Right now there is a procedure to transfer the
competences from the institution of entity ombudsman to the institution of the
Ombudsman
of Bosnia and Herzegovina. With respect to the transfer of competence,
it must be noted that the Parliamentary Assembly of the Federation
of Bosnia and
Herzegovina adopted the Law on Cessation of the Institution of Ombudsman of the
Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
and the transfer of its competence onto the
Institution of the Ombudsman of Bosnia and Herzegovina (“Official Gazette
of the
Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina” no. 51/07). The draft of this
same law in Republika Srpska was put on the agenda of the
National Assembly of
Republika Srpska, and after being accepted by the Board for Representatives,
Proposals and Social Oversight
of the National Assembly of Republika Srpska, it
was withdrawn by the institution that proposed the law. In the meantime the
House
of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina
appointed an ad hoc Commission, tasked with publishing
a public vacancy for the
appointment of ombudsman of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In February 2008, the
Commission passed a decision and
the feasibility study for the establishment of
a special department for the monitoring of the fulfilment of the rights of the
child
at the Institution of ombudsman of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which will soon
be established. At the moment when this report was written,
the procedure for
the appointment of ombudsmen of Bosnia and Herzegovina was not finalized.
- Brčko
District of Bosnia and Herzegovina (see CORE document) is a unique
administrative unit of local self-management, under
the sovereignty of Bosnia
and Herzegovina. The competence of the District when it comes to the issues of
local self-management are
the result of delegating the entire the competence of
both entities to the government of the District in all administrative issues
on
the territory of the pre-war municipality, as defined in the Statute, i.e. the
delegating of the competence that the entities
and three municipal governments
previously performed.
The entities within the District exercise only
those functions and the competence entrusted to them under the provisions of
this statute
at the moment when it took force. The District authorities shall
not give or entrust none of the entities with any function of management
or
authority which was not separately awarded or entrusted in the provisions of
this statute at the moment when it took force. The
Constitution of Bosnia and
Herzegovina, as well as the applicable laws and decisions of the institutions of
Bosnia and Herzegovina, are directly
applicable on the entire territory of the
District. The laws and decisions of all authorities in the District must be in
accordance
with the applicable laws and decisions of the institutions of Bosnia
and Herzegovina.
The previous Statute of the Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina
regulated the military and alternative service in the manner
that the residents
of the District were not subject to the compulsory military service or another
entity service and they could not
voluntarily participate in military services
of the entities. The residents of the District could not belong to a reserve
force in
the militaries of the entities. An alternative service in the entity
military services may be legally prescribed for the residents
of the
District.
The amendments to the Statute of the Brčko District of Bosnia and
Herzegovina (Article 7 of the Statute) which took force on
February 2, 2007,
prescribed that the only military forces whose presence is allowed on the
territory of the District are the armed
forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina and
international and other armed forces present in accordance with an agreement
with Bosnia and
Herzegovina on deployment of forces or under an authorizing
document of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the European Community
or
the United Nations Security Council. No other forces of any kind, including, but
not limited to the entity or paramilitary forces
will be allowed presence in the
District (Amendments to the Statute of Brčko District are enclosed with the
report).
2. Legal status of the Optional Protocol in
the national legislation
- The Optional
Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of
children in armed conflict in the legal system
of Bosnia and Herzegovina has the
same position as the local laws, and can be directly applied if at odds with
internal legislation.
- Namely, Bosnia
and Herzegovina belongs among the ranks of monistic states, which would consider
the signed (and ratified) international
agreements as a part of unified legal
order of the state, equally along with the local legislation. Provision from
Article III.3.b)
of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina which prescribes
that “the general principles of international law shall be an integral
part of the
law of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Entities”, one can infer
that the general principles of international law are a part
of the legislative
system of Bosnia and Herzegovina not when it is about a concrete international
agreement, but they exist per se
and constitute the key part of the legal system
in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
- Bosnia and
Herzegovina is a signatory to all international agreements in the scope of human
rights, including the international instruments
that exclusively promote and
protect the rights of the child, and the country is obliged to implement
them.
- International
standards on human rights and freedoms and the Convention on the Rights of the
Child with additional protocols bind
the authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina
to create and adopt specific instruments and ensure mechanisms for their
implementation
with an aim of promoting and protecting the rights of the child.
- The Convention
on the Rights of the Child (CRC) (1989) Bosnia and Herzegovina acceded on March
6, 1992, and the Convention in Bosnia
and Herzegovina became applicable based on
the Law on ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the
Child (“Official
Gazette of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina”,
no. 2/92 and 13/94).
- The standards of
protection of the rights of the child enshrined in the Convention on the Rights
of the Child and its protocols represent
the foundation to harmonize legislation
and practices in Bosnia and Herzegovina with these standards and
principles.
- With the
ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the
Child on the involvement of children in armed
conflict (Decision on ratification
of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the
involvement of children
in armed conflict (“Official Gazette of Bosnia and
Herzegovina – International agreements, no.5/02), Bosnia and Herzegovina
has assumed an obligation to take measures necessary to implement the rights
prescribed in the protocol.
- Within the legal
and political structure, Bosnia and Herzegovina placed a particular importance
to the protection of the rights of
the child, since in its legal system it has
given preference to the application of international documents that concern the
protection
of the rights of the child (Convention on the Rights of the Child and
its protocols), compared to the local laws.
- However, the
practice shows that the courts and administrative bodies in Bosnia and
Herzegovina, which resolve cases involving the
rights of the child, do not give
the preference to international documents or do not take them into
consideration.
- We observe
positive examples of direct application of international documents by the
Chamber of Human Rights of Bosnia and Herzegovina,
however in all the
proceedings and judgments conducted so far by the Chamber of Human Rights, or
the Commission for Human Rights
at the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and
Herzegovina, or the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and
Herzegovina,[1] there is no single
judgment that the Court/Commission based on the Optional Protocol, or the
violations of the rights of the child
– the rights guaranteed under the
protocol.
3. Implementation of the
Optional Protocol with regard to all territories and persons under the
jurisdiction of the State party
- By signing the
international documents in the sphere of human rights, Bosnia and Herzegovina
demonstrated its readiness to embrace
the standards of human rights which will
be based on modern democratic principles and the precepts of the rule of law on
its entire
territory, including the provisions of international law that concern
protection of children in general, as well as the prohibition
of child
recruitment.
- When it comes to
the place the Protocol has within the National legislation, the Constitution of
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Constitution of the Federation of Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Constitution of Republika Srpska and constitutions of
entities/cantons, prescribe that the governments of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the
entities
and cantons would take all measures necessary to protect human rights
and fundamental freedoms prescribed in the constitutions in
force in Bosnia and
Herzegovina. International agreements made, confirmed and published in
accordance with the constitutions in Bosnia
and Herzegovina, make a part of
internal legal order, and by their legal power they are above the laws and if
the provisions of international
agreements and covenants are not in accordance
with the internal applicable legislation, they can be directly applied.
- The domestic
constitutional and legal framework, through which the Protocol is being
implemented include the constitutions, laws,
bylaws and other general documents,
and the rights of the child are also promoted through various action plans,
strategies, etc.
- Provisions of
the Protocol that speak of the prohibition of child recruitment, in Bosnia and
Herzegovina are contained in the Defence
Law of Republika Srpska
(“Official Gazette of Republika Srpska”, no. 21/96, 46/01, 33/04)
and the Law on the Military
of Republika Srpska (“Official Gazette of
Republika Srpska”, no. 31/96), the Defence Law of the Federation of Bosnia
and Herzegovina (“Official Gazette of the Federation of Bosnia and
Herzegovina,” no. 34/04) and the Statute of the Brčko
District, which
prohibit child recruitment on the entire territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
4. Reservations the State party
made at certain provisions of the Protocol
- When signing and
ratifying the Protocol, the authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina did not make
any reservations to the
Protocol
5. Setting the age at the
ratification or accession to the Protocol
- The Presidency
of Bosnia and Herzegovina when passing the Decision on ratification of the
Optional Protocol to the Convention on the
Rights of the Child on the
involvement of children in armed conflict (“Official Gazette of Bosnia and
Herzegovina – international
agreements”, no. 5/02) adopted
provisions of the Protocol in its original text and without placing any
reservations to certain
provisions, thus confirming the commitment of
authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina to ensure that the people/children younger
than
18 do not fall under compulsory recruitment to armed forces, and this same
provision is the integral part of the applicable national
legislation
6. Governmental
departments or bodies having primary responsibility for the implementation of
the Protocol and coordination mechanisms
established between them, as well as
the civil society, including the media and the academia
- The
constitutional and legal order of Bosnia and Herzegovina established the
competence of government institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina
in specific
spheres of social life and they are divided to state, entity, cantonal and
municipal levels of government, including
the Brčko District of Bosnia and
Herzegovina, as a separate administrative unit.
- The issues of
protection of the rights of the child fall under the competence of the entities,
cantons and Brčko District of
Bosnia and Herzegovina, while at the state
level there are the organs that are mostly dealing with the promotion of the
rights of
the child.
- At the level of
Bosnia and Herzegovina, by a decision on the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and
Herzegovina in 2003, the Council for
Children of Bosnia and Herzegovina was
established. The Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees of Bosnia and Herzegovina
is in charge
of administrative and technical support for the operations of the
Council for Children. The activities of the Council for Children
of Bosnia and
Herzegovina are aimed at monitoring the implementation of the Action Plan for
Children of Bosnia and Herzegovina 2002–2010.
The starting framework for
the development of the Action Plan for Children of Bosnia and Herzegovina was
the World Children Summit
which established general goals, which include the
protection of children from war, i.e. the protection of children from the
horrors
of armed hostilities.
Ministries and bodies at the
level of Bosnia and
Herzegovina[2] which are,
within the prescribed legal competences, responsible for the implementation of
the Protocol, include:
1. Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
2. Ministry of Defence of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
3. Ministry of Justice Bosnia and Herzegovina.
4. Ombudsman for Human Rights of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
5. Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
- The
Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina is established based on Article
VI of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina and it is defined as the
independent guardian of the Constitution and the institutional guarantee of
human rights and freedoms enshrined in the Constitution (Article II item 2 of
the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina prescribes that the rights and
freedoms laid out in the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental
Freedoms and its protocols are directly applied in Bosnia and Herzegovina and
that these documents have the priority over all other
laws) and international
documents that are listed in the Annex I of the Constitution of Bosnia and
Herzegovina.
7. Council for Children of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
- The
Council for Children is established at the level of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as
an independent body and has the consultative and
coordination character. The
competences of the Council for Children of Bosnia and Herzegovina include the
monitoring of the implementation
of the Action Plan for Children of Bosnia and
Herzegovina 2002–2010.
Ministries and bodies at the
level of Republika Srpska responsible for the implementation of the
Protocol:
- Ministry
of Family, Young People and Sports of Republika Srpska – has the
competence to perform professional affairs related
to promotion of family
values, analyzes demographic trends, monitors and evaluates programs and
projects of associations aimed at
the betterment of children and families, and
participates in the training of experts working with children, young people and
their
families.
- Ministry
of Health and Social Protection of Republika Srpska, and within the Ministry
– the Sector for Family, Child and Social
Protection, has the competence
to perform administrative and other professional affairs in the fulfilment the
rights from the sphere
of social, family and child protection, participates in
the development, preparation and implementation of strategic documents and
programs from the sphere of social, family and child protection, monitors and
encourages development programs of social, family and
child protection,
harmonizes legislative provisions with the standards of social protection
applied in the European Union.
- Ministry
of Education and Culture of Republika Srpska has the competence for the
pre-school, primary and secondary education and upbringing,
prepares the
programs of educational cooperation with other countries and international
organizations and implements international
agreements in the sphere of education
in accordance with the Constitution of Republika Srpska and the Constitution of
Bosnia and Herzegovina. Within the school curricula there is a subject titled
The Basics of Democracy and Human Rights.
- Ministry
of Justice of Republika Srpska has the competence to process requests of local
and foreign courts and other state bodies
in providing of international legal
aid, gives professional opinion in terms of international agreements that
concern providing international
legal aid in civil and criminal matters,
prepares opinions to draft documents of international agreements and proposals
of laws that
regulate issues with a foreign element, engages in communication
with the International Criminal Tribunal in the Hague in accordance
with the
law, actively participates in the process of application, development and
adoption of legal projects that fall under its
purview, gives professional
opinion in terms of legal projects at the request of other ministries and other
competent organs.
- Ministry
of Interior Affairs of Republika Srpska – has the competence for operative
and professional, administrative and legal
and affairs that ensure the
protection of life, individual security, human rights and civil liberties,
protection of constitutional
order from violent threats and changes and security
of the Republic in accordance with the law, protects all types of ownership,
prevents perpetration of criminal offences, detects criminal acts, finds,
apprehends and surrenders perpetrators of crimes to relevant
organs, etc.
- Ombudsmen
of Republika Srpska – protector of human
rights.[3]
- Council
for Children of Republika Srpska – as a permanent, counselling body of the
government in charge of promoting and protecting
the rights of the child in
Republika Srpska in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Rights
of the Child.
- Public
Funds for Child Protection of Republika Srpska – is a part of consistent
system of child protection in Republika Srpska.
The system of child protection
rests on the rights and duties of parents to take care of the upbringing and
raising of their children,
the rights of the child to living conditions that
would allow a proper psychophysical development.
Ministries and
bodies at the level of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina responsible for
the implementation of the Protocol:
- Ministry
of Interior Affairs of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina – has the
competence and works on the prevention and
detection of criminal offences
including the international crime and terrorism, illicit trade in narcotics and
organized crime and
other criminal offences that fall under the purview of the
Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, opens and publishes INTERPOL international
and Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina search warrants, cooperates with the
relevant prosecutor offices in terms of processing
of criminal offences,
protection of human rights and civil liberties in the sphere of interior
affairs, performs other affairs that
fall under its purview as established by
the Law on Interior Affairs and other regulations.
- Ministry
of Labour and Social Policy of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina –
has the competence over the labour and employment
policy, international
conventions in accordance with the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina,
agreements and bilateral agreements in the sphere of employment, social security
and solidarity, protecting
of civilian war victims, protection of families,
adoption and guardianship, social welfare and other affairs prescribed in laws
regulating
this sphere.
- Ministry
of Displaced People and Refugees of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina has
the competence to gather and process the
data on refugees and displaced people,
coordinates reconstruction activities together with registration and supervision
of non-governmental
organizations, creates conditions for the return of
displaced people to their places of residence, including the construction,
reconstruction,
repair and refurbishment of homes and other housing facilities
for the accommodation of refugees and displaced people, runs the maintenance
of
regional centres that provides assistance in performing of these activities and
other affairs regulated under the law.
- Ministry
for the Issues of Veterans and Disable Veterans of the Defensive-Liberation War
of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
has the competence to establish a
unified policy and prepare rules that regulate fundamental social and status
issues of military
disabled people, families of fallen soldiers and veterans and
unemployed veterans as well as the veterans of other homeland wars
and
participants of liberation fronts and protection of war and peace time military
disable people; protection of the members of
the families of the killed, missing
or dead, as well as the war and peace time military disabled people who died,
conducts administrative
and financial supervision of enforcement of laws and
other regulations in the sphere of defence soldiers and disability protection
in
accordance with the Constitution and the law.
- Ministry
of Health of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina has the competence to
perform administrative, professional and other
affairs as established under the
law that relate to the jurisdiction of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
in the sphere of
health.
- Ministry
of Justice of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina has the competence in the
sphere of judicial institutions and administration,
administrative supervision
over the work of judicial administration and the Federation of Bosnia and
Herzegovina administration bodies,
association in political organizations and
associations of citizens, supervision over the enforcement of criminal
sanctions. Also,
The Bureau for Public Administration, which is active as an
organ within the ministry has the competence, inter alia, over the development
of the system of local self-management, election system, political and
territorial organization of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
and
development of appropriate regulations on these issues as well as development of
cooperation with relevant international organizations
in accordance with the
Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, including the local government bodies
and their associations on issues from their competence.
- Ombudsman
for Human Rights of the Federation of Bosnia and
Herzegovina.[4]
Ministries
and bodies at the level of canton responsible for the implementation of the
Protocol:
- All
cantonal authorities in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the
implementation of obligations which guarantee and enforce
implementation of
human rights, shall take all measures necessary and act in accordance with the
competences and principles set forth
in the
Constitution.
Responsibility in terms of the obligation to
implement provisions of the Protocol of the organs and services in the
Government of
Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina:
- The
Statute of Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina and its amendments
established that each individual is entitled to all
the rights and freedoms
guaranteed in the Constitution and laws of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Laws
of the District without any type of discrimination. The Statute prescribes that
the
residents of the District do not fall under the obligation to serve military
or another entity service and they cannot voluntarily
participate in the
military services of the entities. The residents of the District cannot belong
to a reserve force in the militaries
of the entities.
Responsibility of municipalities in terms of implementation of
Protocol provisions:
- Municipal
authorities take all necessary steps with an aim of ensuring the protection of
rights and freedoms to all people within
the territory of the Federation of
Bosnia and Herzegovina listed in Articles II. A. 1 through 7 and the instruments
in the supplement
to the Constitution of the Federation of Bosnia and
Herzegovina, which concern the fulfilment of the following rights: to life, to
liberty, while the
arrest and detention are allowed under the law, to equality
before the law, to be free from discrimination based on the race, skin
colour,
gender, language, religion or belief, political and other affiliation, ethnic or
social origin, to a fair criminal proceedings,
to prohibition of torture, and
cruel or inhumane treatment or punishment, to privacy, to the freedom of
movement, to asylum, to protection
of family and children, to property, to
freedom of speech, press, opinion, conscience and belief, to free belief,
freedom of gathering,
associating, freedom not to associate and other rights.
The actions of governmental and non-governmental sector in
terms of cooperation and joint action in the field of complying with
the
obligations from international agreements (Protocols) and respect of human
rights:
- The network of
international organizations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which act in the field of
protection of the rights of the child,
is rather developed and the contribution
of non-governmental organizations in Bosnia and Herzegovina to informing and
educating the
public in Bosnia and Herzegovina on the rights of the child is not
negligible.
- Also,
non-governmental organizations are permanently warning the authorities of some
difficulties and obstacles that exist in the
society of Bosnia and Herzegovina,
which concerns the rights of the child.
- Activities of
non-governmental sector in this sphere are related to the training, counselling
work, prevention activities, psychological
counselling, social integration,
encouraging and empowering children to participate, joint action with the
centres for social welfare
to train mentally sound parents and reinforce the
parent-child relationship, etc.
- Non-governmental
organizations most often identify problems in the field, after which they
present them to responsible institutions
and the local community, so that
through the joint-partner action a solution to the current problems would be
found.
- Thus, for
example, a non-governmental organization “Naša djeca” (Our
Children) seated in Sarajevo, implements projects
that can be divided into
several segments, including: the training of child case providers, training of
children and participation
of children in promotion and protection of the rights
of the child, issuing and printing of the manuals to promote the rights
enshrined
in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, monitoring and analysis
of compliance with human rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina,
etc.
- There is also a
whole array of non-governmental organizations which in the same or similar
manner train the staff and inform the boarder
public on the rights of the child
guaranteed under the Convention and its protocols. A non-governmental
organization “Budimo
aktivni” (Let’s Be Active) was one of the
representatives of Bosnia and Herzegovina and partner of UNICEF in Bosnia and
Herzegovina to participate at the preparatory conference of the United Nations
General Assembly dedicated to children held in 2000,
and also the World Summit
for Children in 2002.
- In the sphere of
cooperation of governmental and non-governmental sector, it is important to note
that the Council of Ministers of
Bosnia and Herzegovina at 8th session, held on
April 26, 2007 adopted the Agreement on Cooperation between the Council of
Ministers
of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the non-governmental sector in Bosnia
and Herzegovina.
- The Agreement
between the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the
non-governmental sector provides the framework that
will help the streamlining
of joint action of the government and non-governmental sector at all levels of
government in Bosnia and
Herzegovina, from local communities (municipalities) to
the level of the state (Bosnia and Herzegovina). This Agreement affirms
determination
of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina and
non-governmental sector to strengthen their commitments and responsibilities
in
fulfilling the roles they assumed in development and providing of public policy
and that the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and
Herzegovina takes the obligation
to strengthen its role in the promotion of voluntary and other social actives in
all areas of social
life in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
- The Agreement
represents a memorandum on relations between the Council of Ministers of Bosnia
and Herzegovina and non-governmental
sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is not
a legally binding document. Its power rests on the acceptance/consent of the
Council
of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina and non-governmental sector,
through their mutual consultations. In the beginning, the Agreement
will be
applied to the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina and its ministries
and centralized departments. In practice
this Agreement will be valid where the
governments of entities, cantons and municipalities establish a relationship
with the non-governmental
sector. The Agreement will be applicable to the whole
array of organizations from the non-governmental sector.
7. Training on human rights, i.e.
the provisions of the Protocol that are provided to all relevant professional
groups
In terms of acquiring the basic knowledge about the rights of the child
through the education in military schools, the following
text provides a
description of the training in military schools at the level of Bosnia and
Herzegovina and the entities:
(a) On the territory of Republika Srpska, in the period from 1992 to 2006,
there were no military schools that would be under the
management of the
Military of Republika Srpska. The education of the staff to fill the units of
the Military of Republika Srpska
(hereinafter: the MRS) was conducted in the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (hereinafter: the FRY) under the following: The
needs
for non-commissioned officers were secured through the one-year specialist
education in secondary military schools of the FRY. To
these schools, the
individuals who graduated from secondary civil schools were sent (III or IV
level), following the medical examination
of their health. Upon the completion
of the one-year specialist education, these individuals were deployed to the
units of the MRS.
The needs for commissioned officers were secured through the
education at the military Academy in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
To this
school, the individuals who graduated from secondary civil schools were sent
(III or IV level), following the medical examination
of their health. After they
completed four-year or five-year schooling, these individuals were deployed in
the units of the Military
of Republika Srpska. The education curricula of
non-commissioned officers and commissioned officers also had the subjects on
International
Humanitarian and War Rights, including the areas relevant for the
fulfilment of the rights of the child from the Convention on the
Rights of the
Child and the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on
the involvement of children in armed
conflict.
(b) On the territory of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the
reporting period there were no secondary military schools,
and no Military
Academies that were managed by the ministry of Defence of the Federation of
Bosnia and Herzegovina, and this also
includes the Military of the Federation of
Bosnia and Herzegovina. To secondary military schools and military academies
outside Bosnia
and Herzegovina (Turkey) with the ministry of Defence of the
Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina acting as an intermediary, a smaller
number
of students were sent who completed primary or secondary school, and upon the
completion of secondary military school (that
lasts at least four years), these
individuals were engaged in the military of the Federation of Bosnia and
Herzegovina, as non-commissioned
officers, but at any rate they were older than
18.
(c) The Defence Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina (applied as of January 1,
2006) prescribed that the Minister of Defence passes regulations
on schooling
and education in the Armed Forces. Article 14 of the Law on Service in the Armed
Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina prescribes
that a non-commissioned officer
enters the armed forces in the initial rank of a non-commissioned officer upon
the completion of
education in a military of civil school, while a commissioned
officer in the initial rank of an officer enters upon the completion
of military
academy or after acquiring a high professional vocation and completion of the
basic training for commissioned officers.
Article 159 of the Law on Service in
the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina prescribes that provisions on
discipline responsibility
also apply to cadets in a military school. A
discipline proceedings has two instances and allows filing of appeals and there
is also
a pardon for military discipline sanctions. On the territory of Bosnia
and Herzegovina there is still no secondary military school
or a military
academy for the education of non-commissioned and commissioned officers.
Training of judges on the provisions of international agreements from
the sphere of human rights, including the training on the
rights prescribed
under the Protocol:
- On May 22, 2002,
the High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina passed the Law on the Judicial
and Prosecutorial Training Centre
of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
and Law on the Judicial and Prosecutorial Training Centre in Republika Srpska.
These
laws establish the centres and prescribe the status and the activities of
both centres, management organs, funds for operations,
and the manner and method
under which the centres will perform the training of judges and prosecutors and
people intending to enter
the profession of a judge or prosecutor. The purpose
of the centre is to, under the supervision of the High Judicial and
Prosecutorial
Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina, ensure that the training
programs for judges and prosecutors be established and implemented along
the
lines of openness, professionalism and impartiality, which make the integral
part of performing the judicial and prosecutorial
duty. The seat of the Judicial
and Prosecutorial Training Centre in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is
in Sarajevo, while
the seat for the Judicial and Prosecutorial Training Centre
in Republika Srpska is in Banja Luka. Each year the Centres organize
professional development of judges and prosecutors. For judges and prosecutors,
the training is organized in the area of interpretation
and application of the
national subject-matter and procedural codes and international documents, code
of ethics for judges and prosecutors,
the latest professional achievements in
the area of law, court and prosecutorial practice in other countries, and other
relevant
fields. The centres create the training program based on surveys in
courts and prosecutor offices, reports of local and international
organizations,
monitoring the changes in legislation, and implementation of current laws and in
accordance with the expressed needs
and recommendations in the country, region
and the world. The centres issue annual certification to judges and prosecutors,
who have
met minimal requirements of professional
development.
Training of staff working in the implementation of
the laws on the rights prescribed in the Protocol and training of media
experts:
- Civil servants
working on the implementation of laws employed at all levels of government in
Bosnia and Herzegovina, especially servants
working with children or for
children, are obliged to undergo various sorts of training, among which there
are specialized training
sessions in the sphere of the rights of the child,
organized by the civil servant agencies (the state and the entity agencies) and
international organizations present in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as the
non-governmental organizations. Media experts also
undergo specialized training
in accordance with their role in the national promotion of rights established
under the Convention on
the Rights of the Child and the Optional Protocol to the
Convention.
8. Disaggregated data on
the number of children under the age of 18 voluntarily recruited into the state
armed forces, children recruited
and used in hostilities by armed forces in the
country, number of children charged for war crimes and the number of children
victims
of practices prohibited by the Optional Protocol among refugee and
asylum seeking children
- In Bosnia and
Herzegovina there is a general prohibition of recruitment of children under the
age of 18 and that is why we do not
have the required data. Taking into account
the fact that Bosnia and Herzegovina in the 1992–1995 period, passed
through tragic
conflict and that so far there have been proceedings against the
accused of war crimes by the International Criminal Court and local
courts, in
no case that was processed the accused were children and the people accused of
war crimes were not charged with having
involved children in armed conflict.
9. Independent national human
rights institutions and the role they play in the implementation of the
Protocol
- National
institution for human rights and their role in the implementation of provisions
of Protocol are described in item 6 (Governmental
departments or bodies having
primary responsibility for the implementation of the Protocol of this part of
the report
10. Analysis of the
factors and difficulties affecting the degree of fulfilment of obligations of
Bosnia and Herzegovina government
under the Optional Protocol
- Bosnia and
Herzegovina government does not encounter difficulties to fulfil the obligations
assumed under the Protocol, as all the
obligations the Protocol instructs are
regulated in national
legislation
Part
II
Prevention
Articles 1, 2, 4, paragraph 2, Article 6, paragraph 2
11. Measures taken, including of a
legislative, administrative and other nature to ensure that persons who have not
reached the age
of 18 years are not compulsorily recruited into the armed forces
and do not take a direct part in hostilities
- On the territory
of Bosnia and Herzegovina since 1992 to date, in order to ensure that members of
armed forces who have not attained
the age of 18 years do not take a direct part
in hostilities, the following measures have been taken:
- The
Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the constitutions of Federation of
Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska, guarantees to all citizens,
and
children in particular, all the rights and freedoms, as well as the equality of
all the citizens, thus ensuring the application
of the Convention on the Rights
of the Child.
- The
laws on defence and the laws on the military of the Federation of Bosnia and
Herzegovina and Republika Srpska that were applicable
until the enactment of the
Defence Law and the Law on Service in Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina
ensured the compliance with
Article 38 of the Convention on the Rights of the
Child.
- Bylaws
(Books of Rules, Ordinances, Decisions and Guidelines) which were applied in the
recruitment process were passed in accordance
with the laws in force, and this
has ensured the compliance with the Convention on the Rights of the
Child.
The meaning of “direct
participation”
“Direct participation” – definition in the legislation: a
person who takes a direct part is the one that permanently
or occasionally
performs duties in accordance with the Defence Law and the Law on Service in
Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina,
with an aim of taking the fight against
the enemy.
“Direct participation” – definition in practice: activity
of members of regular armed forces in the fight against
the enemy, through the
execution of orders from the Command which is responsible for their actions,
openly carrying weapons and permanent
insignia while adhering to the laws on
warfare.
Based on the constitutional, legal and bylaw regulations that were in force
during the military conflict, there was no possibility
that members of
militaries be younger than 18, and accordingly the deployment or keeping them in
the area of hostilities was not
possible.
Also, it was not possible, given the legislation, to have a capture of
members of the armed forces who have not attained 18 years.
12. Process of compulsory recruitment (from
registration up to the physical integration into the armed forces)
- Compulsory
military service in Republika Srpska was regulated under the Defence Law
(“Official Gazette of Republika Srpska”,
no. 21/96) which was
changed and amended in 2001 (“Official Gazette of Republika Srpska”,
no. 46/01), which defined compulsory
military service as a general obligation
for all military-able citizens, from the time they attain 18 years to 45 years
of age for
women and 55 years of age of men, while the time spent in the regular
armed service is reduced from 12 months to 6 months.
Amendments to
the Laws on Defence (“Official Gazette of Republika Srpska”, no.
33/04) defined compulsory military service
as an obligation to serve in reserve
forces, general obligation for all able-bodied citizens, from the time they
attain 19 years
of age to 40 years of age for men. For women it is up to 35
years of age on a voluntary basis, while the regular time in military
service is
defined as a compulsory training that takes place in the period of 4 months and
applies to all able-bodied men of the
age between 19 to 27 years of life. The
Law on Military (“Official Gazette of Republika Srpska”, no. 31/96)
prescribes
compulsory military service in more detail as an obligation that
consists of a recruitment obligation, an obligation to serve time
in the
military and an obligation to serve in reserve forces. The recruitment
obligation starts with the beginning of the calendar
year during which a citizen
of Republika Srpska attains 17 years of age and lasts until the person entered
the military time service,
or transfer into the reserve forces, if the
obligation to serve military time is regulated differently, while the
recruitment is
carried out in a calendar year during which a compulsory military
servant attains 18 years of life. The obligation to serve time
in the military
is prescribed in the period of 9 months with bearing arms, while the civilian
time of the military time is prescribed
in the period of 12 months. The recruits
who have been evaluated as able or partly able for military service are sent to
serve the
time in the military when they attain 19 years of life (recruits
enrolled at universities when they pass the end of 11th month of
the calendar
year in which they turned 27 years of age). The Laws on Amendments to the Law on
Military (“Official Gazette of
Republika Srpska”, no. 46/01)
prescribed the duration of military time service to 6 months. The same
amendments prescribe that
a recruit who attained 18 years of life may be sent to
serve the time in the military at his request.
In the Law on Amendments to the Law on Military (“Official Gazette of
Republika Srpska”, no. 33/04) the word recruit shall
be replaced with the
words “reserve force draftee”, and military draftee with the words
“reserve force draftee
to train and serve”, while the words soldier
serving time in military shall be replaced with “compulsory training
draftee
in the military of Republika Srpska or in another centres”. The
amendments prescribed that the recruitment are conducted by
the commissions
established by the Ministry of Defence in accordance with the Defence Law of
Bosnia and Herzegovina, guidelines,
regulations and orders of the Ministry of
Defence of Bosnia and Herzegovina and joint security and defence policy of
Bosnia and Herzegovina,
while the compulsory training in the Military of
Republika Srpska or other centres takes 4 months in one uninterrupted period or
in appropriate time breaks, in accordance with the training plan and
program.
- Compulsory
military service in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina The Defence Law of
the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
(“Official Gazette of the
Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina”, no. 34/04) in Article 12 prescribes
the following: “The
right and the duty to be trained for defence includes
citizens who attainted 18 years of age to the age of 60, for men, and 55 years
of life for women, if they are able to attend the
training.”
Article 61 prescribes that the compulsory military
service consists of recruitment obligation, an obligation to serve time in the
military and an obligation to serve in reserve forces of the Military of the
Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The recruitment
obligation includes all
citizens, while the obligation to serve time in military and the obligation to
serve in reserve forces includes
the citizens who are able for military service.
People who are conscientious objectors and are not ready to take part in
military
duty serve civil military time (6 months). The recruitment obligation
started with the beginning of the calendar year during which
the citizen attains
17 years of life and lasts until the person enters the military time service.
The recruitment is carried out
in the calendar year in which the recruit attains
18 years of life, while the recruit may at his personal request be recruited in
the calendar year in which he attains 17 years of life. Military time service
takes 4 months and the recruits who are evaluated as
able or partly able are
sent to military service, as a rule, in the calendar year during which they
attain 19 years of life. Recruits
who request to be sent to serve or finish
serving the military time shall be sent within three months from the day of
filing the
request, if they are attaining 18 years of life in that year.
13. Documents considered reliable which are
required to verify age prior to acceptance into compulsory military service
The documents establishing the age of a certain person in Bosnia and
Herzegovina include the personal identification card, passport
of Bosnia and
Herzegovina and certificate from record of births. The personal identification
card, passport and certificate from
the record of birth or certificates on
specific data or facts entered into the main record books, represent a public
document in
part that is related to the identity of a person, citizenship and
the age. Also, for the people who are not the adults and who under
the law are
not obliged to possess personal identification card, the identity and the age
can be established through the main book
of birth records, while the citizenship
is established through the certificate on citizenship of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Citizens
of Bosnia and Herzegovina need not have a passport, exception being
their intent to travel abroad.
- Public document
(personal identification card, passport, main record books) represent a document
which was issued in the prescribed
form by the organ within the bounds of its
competence, and which may be adjusted to electronic data processing, as well as
the document
which was issued in such a form by an institution with public
authorities (public document), which proves facts that are established
or
determined on it (Article 155 paragraph 1 of the Administrative Procedure Law of
Bosnia and Herzegovina).[5] The
regulations determining the identity (the age, citizenship, etc.) in Bosnia and
Herzegovina are as follows: the Law on Personal
Identification Card of Citizens
of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the laws on main record books applied at the level of
entities and Brčko
District of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Law on Unique
Personal Identification Number in Bosnia and Herzegovina, laws on citizenship
(Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republika Srpska, Federation of Bosnia and
Herzegovina), Law on the Place of Residence and Stay of Citizens
of Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Law on Passport of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the laws on personal
name (the Federation of Bosnia and
Herzegovina and Republika Srpska).
Competences in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the sphere of civil rights are
regulated in a divided
or exclusive competence between the institutions of
Bosnia and Herzegovina, entities and the Brčko District of Bosnia and
Herzegovina.
Institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina have the exclusive
jurisdiction over the personal identification card, place of residence
and stay,
unique personal identification number and the movement and stay of foreigners,
the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina
and the entities have divided/shared
competence over the issues or regulations in the area of citizenship, while the
exclusive competence
of entities and the Brčko District of Bosnia and
Herzegovina include the regulations on the main record books and personal
name.
- The Law on
Personal Identification Card of Citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, adopted at
the level of Bosnia and Herzegovina, regulated
the personal identification card
of citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina as an identification document and it is
uniform for all citizens
of Bosnia and Herzegovina and it is valid over the
entire territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Under this law, the personal
identification
card is a public document that proves the identity, the facts
regarding the place and the date of birth, place of residence of stay
if it
concerns a displaced person and the citizenship of Bosnia and Herzegovina. A
citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina older than 18
years with the place of
residence in Bosnia and Herzegovina is obliged to have the personal
identification card issued in the place
of residence. A personal identification
card may be issued to a citizen who is older than 15 years of life and younger
than 18 years,
who has the place of residence in Bosnia and Herzegovina, at the
personal request or the request of his parents or another representative
authorized under the law. If a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina was not
previously issued with a personal identification card, he/she
shall be obliged
to file a request for the issuance of personal identification card within 60
days after he/she attains 18 years
of life or 60 after being permanently settled
in Bosnia and Herzegovina, if he/she attained 18 years of life. A responsible
person
in the relevant organs shall be fined, if they immediately or no later
than 15 days from the day when the request was filed, fail
to issue the personal
identification card to the person who submitted the request, if it was
established that the request submitter
is entitled to personal identification
card.[6]
- Main record
books of Bosnia and Herzegovina also belong to the group of public documents
into which the legally prescribed facts about
birth, marriage and death are
entered, as well as the notes regarding these facts. The laws of the entities
and the law of the Brčko
District of Bosnia and Herzegovina and bylaws
regulated the running of the main record books of births, the main record books
of
marriages and the main record books of deaths. It is important to mention
that the previously applicable laws of the Republic of
Bosnia and Herzegovina,
that regulated this sphere, were taken over by the Federation of Bosnia and
Herzegovina, while Republika
Srpska and the Brčko District of Bosnia and
Herzegovina passed their laws.[7] The
main record books of births and deaths are maintained for each inhabited place
under the offices for the main record books, while
the municipality ensures the
running of the main record books. The birth of a child is verbally or in writing
reported to main book
registry officer to be entered into the main record book
of births in the place where the child was born. The birth of the child
is
reported within 15 days from the day of birth, and if a child was born outside a
health institution, such a birth is reported
24 hours after the birth of the
child. The guidelines on the running of main registry books that are passed by
the relevant organs
of the entities and the Brčko District of Bosnia and
Herzegovina, prescribe in detail the method of running and maintaining
the books
and records, as well as the method of issuing the certificates and excerpts
based on the main record books and the procedure
to renew destroyed or missing
main record books. The main record books are settled and verified at the end of
each year. The excerpts
or certificates from the main record books on specific
data are considered public documents. An excerpt from the main birth registry
or
a certificate on specific data or facts entered in the main record books are
issued at the request of interested party. Bosnia
and Herzegovina is the member
of the Vienna Convention on the Issue of Multilingual Extracts from Civil Status
Records from 1976,
based on which the extracts from main record books are issues
in several languages, in particular when they need to be used abroad.
The
excerpt from the main birth register contains the following data: unique
personal identification number (JMBG), last and first
name, sex, date, month,
year and the hour of birth, place and municipality of birth, citizenship, data
on parents (father and mother),
including: last and first name of father and
mother (for mother also her maiden name), name of father and mother, place of
residence
of father and mother, subsequent entries and notes, number of the
issued excerpt, date and place of issuing, signature of the authorized
person
(registry officer) and the seal of municipality in which the excerpt from the
main birth record was issued.
- Unique personal
identification number (JMBG) denotes personal identification data, and it is
issued by the relevant organs according
to the place of residence of the citizen
of Bosnia and Herzegovina, or the place of residence of displaced person in
Bosnia and Herzegovina,
while foreign citizens to whom the permanent stay in
Bosnia and Herzegovina is approved are issued with a unique personal
identification
number for a foreign citizen. The establishment, allotment,
registration, entering into the records and the use of the unique personal
identification number of a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina and foreign
citizens in Bosnia and Herzegovina are regulated under the
Law on the Unique
Personal Identification Number of Bosnia and
Herzegovina[8]. The Unique Personal
Identification Number contains of 13 numbers and contains six groups of data,
including: date of birth, month
of birth, year of birth, number of the registry
of the unique personal identification number (registration areas), combination
of
gender and the ordinal number for the people born on the same day (men
000–499, women 500–599), and the control number.
The relevant organ
shall ex officio allocate the unique personal identification number to citizens
born in Bosnia and Herzegovina,
when they are registered in the main birth
record books in Bosnia and Herzegovina. One person can be allotted with only one
unique
personal identification number, and when there is a change of the place
of residence or place of stay, the person shall keep the
unique personal
identification number. Citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina and foreign citizens
in Bosnia and Herzegovina who were
issued with the unique personal
identification number, have the unique personal identification number on all the
documents they possess
(personal identification card, passport, employment
record booklet, health booklet, bank account/card, other cards,
etc).
Article 9 of the Law on the Service in the Armed Forces of
Bosnia and Herzegovina (“Official Gazette of Bosnia and
Herzegovina”,
no. 88/05), established that a person fulfilling the
following requirements may be admitted into the professional military service:
(a) To be a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina (confirmed by the citizenship
certificate);
(b) To be of good health (proved by the health certificate);
(c) Was not convicted to a prison sentence longer than 6 months (provide by
the certificate that a person was not convicted);
(d) Was not dismissed from duty due to violation of official duty in the
last three years (certificate of the relevant organ or statement);
(e) That the person, by a final judgment, was not prohibited from performing
particular activities or duties for the time duration
of that prohibition
(excerpt from the registry of sanctions);
(f) That criminal proceedings are not conducted against that person;
(g) To have appropriate education (soldiers – Secondary Education
grade III; non-commissioned officer – Secondary Education
IV grade, or
Higher Education grade VI; and commissioned officers – University
Education grade VII);
(h) Not to be younger than 18 years, or older than 27 at the time of
admission, unless the upper age limit is neglected in accordance
with the
regulations passed by the Minister of Defence (which is proved in the
aforementioned manner and it is regulated under the
Law on Main Record Books of
Republika Srpska (“Official Gazette of Republika Srpska”, no.
18/99), Order that has a legal
power on Main Record Books (“Official
Gazette of Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina”, no. 20/92), the Law on
Main Record
Books of the Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina
(“Official Gazette of the Brčko District of Bosnia and
Herzegovina”,
no. 8/02);
(i) That the person served the time in military service or was made capable
for the duty in some other manner.
14. Legal provisions enabling the age of
conscription to be lowered in exceptional circumstances (state of
emergency)
- In Bosnia and
Herzegovina there are no legal provisions that would give authority to lower the
age for recruitment, not even in the
state of
emergency
15. Minimum age for
recruitment to compulsory military service
- The authorities
of Bosnia and Herzegovina gave the following binding declaration deposited with
the United Nations General Secretary,
which reads “The state of Bosnia and
Herzegovina shall not allow recruitment in its armed forces of any person that
is younger
than 18 years of age.”
- This declaration
is incorporated into the Defence Law of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
(“Official Gazette of the
Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina”, no.
15/96, 23/02, 18/03), the Law on Military of Republika Srpska (“Official
Gazette
of Republika Srpska”, no. 31/96, 96/01) and it is in accordance
with the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights
of the Child on the
involvement of children in armed conflict which Bosnia and Herzegovina
ratified
- The issue of
minimum age for recruitment into the compulsory military service was explained
in item 12 of this Report – procedure
of compulsory recruitment from the
entry into the registry to the entry into the armed
forces.
16. Voluntary recruitment
– guarantees ensuring that recruitment is voluntary, medical examinations
of volunteers before recruitment,
documents required to verify the age of the
volunteers, information made available to volunteers and to their parents or
legal guardians
allowing them to formulate their own opinion
- The national
legislation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the laws in force at the level of the
Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republika
Srpska, as well as at the level
of Bosnia and Herzegovina that regulate the issue of recruitment do not know of
the institute of
“voluntary
recruitment”
17. Application
of military laws or discipline to recruits under 18 and disaggregated data on
the number of such recruits being tried
or in detention
- Based on the
national legislation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, there is a general prohibition
of child recruitment
Article 3, paragraph 5, of the
Protocol
18. Minimum age for enrolment in schools
operated by or under the control of the armed forces
- With respect to
the issue of education in military schools, the answer is provided in item 7)
a,b,c) – Training on human rights
i.e. the provisions of the Protocol
provided to all relevant professional groups. As it was stated in that part of
the Report, on
the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina there were no military
schools, and the people who were sent from Republika Srpska to be
educated
outside Bosnia and Herzegovina in military schools had to have completed a
civilian secondary school (III or IV professional
grade) which in principle
would mean that they would have to attain 17 or 18 years of life, while from the
territory of the Federation
of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with the Federation of
Bosnia and Herzegovina Ministry of Defence as an intermediary, a smaller number
of students were sent – those who completed primary or secondary school.
In principle, primary school is completed in the 14th
year of life, and the
secondary school in the 18th year of life.
19. Data on schools operated by or
under the control of the armed forces of the state, data on the students
attending military schools,
compliant mechanism available to children attending
military schools
- With respect to
the data on schools that are operated by or under the control of the armed
forces of the state, the answer is provided
in item 7) a,b,c) – training
on human rights i.e. the provisions of the Protocol provided to all relevant
professional groups.
In that part of the Report it was stated that on the
territory of Republika Srpska, in the period from 1992 to 2006, there were no
military schools managed by the Military of Republika Srpska, also, on the
territory of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
in the reporting period
there were no secondary military schools, or military academies managed by the
Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Ministry of Defence, or the Military of the
Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Also, that part of the Report stated that
still
on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina there is no secondary military
school or military academy, to educate non-commissioned
and commissioned
officers.
20. State efforts to
ensure a full application of Articles 28 and 29 of the Convention on the Rights
of the Child in terms of ensuring
the right to education
- The Constitution
of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the national legislation in Bosnia and Herzegovina
prescribes the right to mandatory and free-of-charge
primary education. Taking
to account that the Convention on the Rights of the Child is the integral part
of the constitutional and
legal order of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and that the
principles of non-discrimination, the best interests of the child, the right
to
life, survival and development, respect of the child opinion, make the
constitutional principles binding upon all those who are
enforcing the laws,
especially those who are working with or about children.
21. Particulars on the measures
taken by the State Party to prevent recruitment of children by armed forces
distinct from the State
- Based on the
national legislation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, there is a general prohibition
of child recruitment.
- The Defence Law
of Bosnia and Herzegovina defines the armed forces as the only military force
organized and controlled by Bosnia and
Herzegovina, which has the active and
reserve component, and as an institution of Bosnia and Herzegovina it consists
of members from
the ranks of all three constituent ethnic groups and from the
ranks of others, in accordance with the Constitution and laws of Bosnia and
Herzegovina. From the aforementioned, it can be seen that on the territory of
Bosnia and Herzegovina, there
are no armed groups, nor are there any groups that
have found a refuge on its territory. In Article 7 and 8 of the same law, it is
prescribed that Bosnia and Herzegovina ensures a transparent, democratic, civil
control over the armed forces. On the basis of these
provisions, it can be
concluded that in Bosnia and Herzegovina there are no negotiations between the
state and the armed
forces.
22. Identification of
children who are, due to their economic and social status, vulnerable to
practices that contravene the Protocol
- The principle of
non-discrimination is a constitutional principle protected in Article II item 4
of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina which reads: “The enjoyment
of the rights and freedoms provided the Constitutions or in the international
agreements listed in Annex I to the Constitution (the Convention on the rights
of the Child also makes the Annex I of the Constitution) shall be secured to all
persons in Bosnia and Herzegovina without discrimination on any ground such as
sex, race, colour, language,
religion, political or other opinion, national or
social origin, association with a national minority, property, birth or other
status.
Also, in all other constitutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina there is the
same provision prohibiting discrimination and mandating equal
rights regardless
of whether the person is a minor or has come of
age.
23. Information on the measures
taken to prevent attacks on civilian objects protected under international
humanitarian law and other
international instruments, including the places that
generally have a significant presence of children
- In Bosnia and
Herzegovina, in order to organize the system of protection and rescue, the
entity administration of civil protection
have been established and they are
operatively functioning. They include the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Administration
of Civil Protection, Republic Administration of Civil Protection
of Republika Srpska, Department for Public Safety of the Brčko
District of
Bosnia and Herzegovina (Civil Protection Service), and also at the level of
Bosnia and Herzegovina the Sector for Civil
Protection within the Ministry of
Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Sector for Civil Protection within the
Ministry of Security
of Bosnia and Herzegovina has the competence to implement
international obligations and to cooperate in the implementation of civil
protection, coordinate efforts of entity civil protection services in Bosnia and
Herzegovina and harmonize their plans in case of
a natural or other disaster
that would affect the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina and to pass programs
and plan for protection
and rescue. In the area of civil protection Bosnia and
Herzegovina joint the membership of international organizations and institutions
in the area of protection and rescue, including:
International Civil
Defence Organization – ICDO, Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical
Weapons – OPCW, Stability
Pact for South-Eastern Europe – DPPI,
Civil Military Emergency Preparedness Council for South-Eastern Europe –
CMEPC
SEE, presided over by Bosnia and Herzegovina during 2007, Partnership for
Peace – Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council and the
Committee for Civil
Protection and relevant institutions. Bilateral agreements in the area of
protection and rescue were signed and
the standard operative procedures on
border crossings in case of a natural and other disaster with the Republic of
Croatia and Montenegro,
while the agreements with the Republic of Macedonia and
the Republic of Serbia are in the conclusion procedure. Memorandum of
Understanding
and Cooperation in the area of protection and rescue was signed
with the Danish Emergency Management Agency – DEMA (the Memorandum
ensures
a package of assistance and support for the development of the protection and
rescue system in Bosnia and Herzegovina) and
Italian National Agency
“FORMEZ”. The Strategy of Bosnia and Herzegovina to fight terrorism
2006–2009 was also
developed as well as coordination to develop the
national Program of protection from chemical weapons and response to incidents
and
accidents involving chemicals. Also, interstate cooperating was improved
with neighbouring countries and coordination of all structures
in the system of
protection and rescue in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
24. Campaigns and other measures taken to
promote public awareness of the principles and provisions of the
Protocol
- In the school
curricula in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in both the primary and secondary schools,
there is a subject titled “The
basics of democracy and human
rights”, providing the children of primary and secondary schools with the
basic knowledge of
the provisions of the Convention of the Rights of the Child
and its protocols. Also, the subject Democracy and Human Rights is taught
in the
curricula the law and others departments in the universities in Bosnia and
Herzegovina.
- The Council for
Children of Bosnia and Herzegovina, active within the Ministry for Human Rights
and Refugees of Bosnia and Herzegovina,
has also taken a series of activities to
raise public awareness on the rights of the child, such as development of
publications and
brochures, organization of public campaigns for public
education on the rights of the child, such as for example the Action Plan
for
Children 2002 – 2010, Strategy to combat violence against children,
Strategy to fight HIV/AIDS, Strategy against the abuse
of drugs, analysis of
child protection in social sector, analysis of the fulfilment of the right to
education among children, campaign
against child abuse in political purposes,
etc.
- The network of
non-governmental organizations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, who are active in the
field of protection of the rights of
the child, is rather developed and its
contribution in the informing and educating of the public in Bosnia and
Herzegovina on the
rights of the child is not negligible. Also, non-governmental
organizations permanently warn the authorities about certain difficulties
and
obstacles that are present in the Bosnian-Herzegovinian society, and affect the
rights of the child. Activities of the non-governmental
sector in this sphere
concern the training, counselling work, preventive work, psychological
counselling, social integration, encouragement
and empowerment of child
participation, joint action with the centres for social work aimed at educating
mentally healthy parents
to strengthen the parent-child relationship, etc. In
projects implemented by government and non-government sector children mostly
do
participate, especially in those project that concern the training in the area
of the rights of the child and international humanitarian
law. Non-governmental
organizations most often identify problems on the ground and present them to
relevant institutions of the government
and local community, so that an
appropriate solution is found through a joint partnership action.
- Also, in terms
of the access to education and professional training of children, it is
important to mention that Bosnia and Herzegovina
is implementing the Human
Rights Research, conducted by the International Committee of the Red Cross,
together with local authorities.
Development of the Human Rights Research
project commenced in 1999, through the establishment of a network of 20 sites
from all parts
of the world to identify the interests and gather an informal
international group of experts, including the representatives of the
ministries
of education, national societies of the Red Cross and red Crescent and
specialized organizations, as well as the independent
experts in the field of
education. In the process of research and creation of curricula the network
provided information from the
angle of local education environments, through the
organization of 35 focus group discussions with more than 600 young people.
Qualitative
data gathered in the process of consultations helped to shape
certain teaching modules. Members who joined the network also reviewed
or tried
test materials with the groups of young people, and they provided information
which are extremely valuable for the process
of curricula development. The
consultations to a large degree substantiated working hypothesis that rests in
the foundation of the
Human Rights Research module development, which is that
the ethical research in humanitarian law and war experiences are perceived
as
relevant and purposeful learning regardless of the experience of armed conflict
being of local character. Therefore, as far as
the inclusion of human rights and
humanitarian principles into the curricula is concerned, as well as the
inclusion in other areas
of relevance for the fulfilment of the rights of the
child in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the International Committee of the Red Cross
supports educational authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the process of
integrations of thematic subjects from area of international
humanitarian right
into curricula of secondary schools. Humanitarian Law Research is an
international educational program for young
people (children) between 13 and 18
years of age. The purpose of the program is to convey the basic provisions and
principles of
the international humanitarian law to adolescents (children), i.e.
the compendium of provisions aimed at protection of life and human
dignity in
time of armed conflict, and reduction and prevention of suffering and
destruction caused by the war. Humanitarian Law
Research was devised by the
International Committed of the Red Cross, in close cooperation with the
Educational Development Centre
and with the active participation of 20 countries
from the whole world. The program offers 30 teaching hours of educational
activities.
As it builds upon experiences of many countries, this program has a
transnational scope and cuts across different political, social,
religious and
cultural contexts, and thus can be simply fine-tuned to different educational
environments. The materials consist of
five main modules and teaching means for
the lecturers and students. The modules are made so that they enhance the
research in the
following areas:
- Module:
nature of humanitarian work and the role of passive observers.
- Module:
the need to regulate armed conflicts and the basic principles of humanitarian
law.
- Module:
implementation and application of international humanitarian law, the issue of
responsibility.
4. Module: the need to judge and punish
those who violate provisions.
- Module:
the need for humanitarian action and its requirements in the time of armed
conflict.
- The program
includes 30 hours of activities in total and it is envisaged to provide the
lecturers with the teaching material that
can be incorporated into curricula as
a separate subject, or can be a part of several existing teaching subjects. The
can be implemented
as an optional activity after the regular classes, or outside
school itself, for example through development programs for young people
or
summer camps. A broad array of historic and contemporary examples of armed
conflicts from the whole world, as well as the fundamental
questions of ethics
that arise, are clearly related with the subjects such as the state order and
civil duty, sociology, philosophy,
law and literature. Interactive teaching
methods and critical pedagogy of Humanitarian Law Research can contribute to
strengthening
of many academic and life skills such as communication, expressing
disagreement with due respect, making conclusions, research, problem
resolution
and critical thinking.
The primary teaching goal of the Humanitarian
Law Research is to help young people adopt the principles of humanity in
everyday life,
and the method in which the young people should assess events in
their country and abroad. This can in particular raise the following:
(a) Awareness of restrictions and different forms of protection that are
applied in situations of armed conflict;
(b) Understanding of multiple aspects of international humanitarian law,
complexity of its application, as well as humanitarian issues;
(c) Interest for the current international developments and humanitarian
action;
(d) Ability to view conflict situations in country and abroad from
humanitarian perspective;
(e) Active participation in the work in the community or other forms of
engagement for the benefit of the most vulnerable members
of society.
- Humanitarian Law
Research is envisaged to be implemented by the ministries of education
(implementing agencies) — wherever possible
— in cooperation with
the National Societies of the Red Cross and Red Crescent (local partners).
Specialized organizations
also can use the program in informal situations.
Experience shows that implementation is most efficient and the best results are
shown in situations where the organs of authority are in charge of education,
where the authorities have assumed ownership of the
program, and where the role
of the International Committee of the Red Cross is limited to providing
technical and academic support.
Still, in all the countries the International
Committee of the Red Cross acts in full cooperation with national societies and
organs
of the government in change of education. The strategic goal is to have a
complete acceptance of the education in humanitarian law
and incorporated in
compulsory education in official secondary school curricula all over the world.
Trying to achieve that goal and
to facilitate this process, the International
Committee of the Red Cross acts as a catalyst by providing technical and
academic support
to implementing agencies, with the help in training and
professional education of lecturers. The basic training in Humanitarian Law
Research implemented in Bosnia and Herzegovina consists of a minimum of 9 hours.
Contents: (9 hours which are the minimum for the
area of Humanitarian Law
Research).
I. First hour. What observers can do?
II. Second hour. Observer’s dilemma
III. Third hour. Influence of the observer
- Fourth
hour. Restrictions to destruction and basic rules of international humanitarian
law
V. Fifth hour. Human rights and international humanitarian law
- Sixth
hour. Detection in the violations of international humanitarian law
VII. Seventh hour. Principles of justice
- Eight
hour. Sanctioning the violations of international humanitarian law
IX. Ninth hour. Humanitarian action – response to war
consequences
- As can be seen
from the above: the concept of human dignity cuts across all the topics, basic
rules of international humanitarian
law are taught under which the children are
one of protected groups, complementarities between international humanitarian
law and
human rights are researched, a class dedicated to the subject child
soldiers is not in the basic program, i.e. it is optional and
depending on the
decision of educational authorities, it may be included in the basic program.
- This Project
currently implemented in Bosnia and Herzegovina and it is in the phase of
integration in Republika Srpska, Zenica-Doboj
Canton and Brčko
District.
Part
III
Prohibition and related issues
Articles 1, 2, 4, paragraphs 1 and 2
25. Information on provisions of criminal and
other laws that are considered important for the implementation of the Protocol
with
an aim of prohibiting children taking part in armed conflicts and statute
of limitations of criminal prosecution for such acts
- The Criminal
Code in Bosnia and Herzegovina (the basic law and the amended–law of
Bosnia and Herzegovina) did not prescribe
involvement of children in armed
conflicts as a separate criminal act, however, this criminal act is indirectly
sanctioned in the
following manner:
- Article 162.a of
the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina (“Official Gazette of Bosnia
and Herzegovina”, no. 37/03)
prescribed that whoever, in violation of the
Defence Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina or the Law on Service in the Armed Forces
of Bosnia
and Herzegovina, organizes, trains, equips or mobilizes a military
force in the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, shall be punished
by
imprisonment for a term not less than five years.
- The Law on
Service in Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Article 9 paragraph (1)
item h) among the general terms for the admission
to professional military
service prescribes that a person being admitted must have at least 18 years of
life. Also, Article 79 of
the Defence Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina prescribes
termination of military obligation on the entire territory of Bosnia and
Herzegovina,
starting from January 1, 2006.
- Therefore,
whoever organizes, trains, equips or mobilizes people who have not attained 18
years of life, would commit a criminal offices
of “illegal creation of
military forces” for which the prescribed prison sentence is between 5 and
20 years.
- The statute of
limitations for criminal prosecution prescribed under the Criminal Code of
Bosnia and Herzegovina for a criminal offence
carrying a prescribed prison
sentence of more than 3 years is 10 years, and for a criminal offence carrying a
prescribed prison sentence
of more than 5 years, the statute of limitations is
15 years, while a criminal offence carrying a prescribed prison sentence of more
than 10 years, the statute of limitations for criminal prosecution is 20 years.
Criminal prosecution and enforcement of the sentence
does not fall under the
statute of limitations for criminal offences of genocide, crimes against
humanity and war crimes, and also
the other criminal offences that do not have
statute of limitations under the international law.
- In the case law
of Bosnia and Herzegovina there were no registered examples of reported or
convicted cases for organizing, training,
equipping or mobilizing people who
have not attained 18 years, and we consider important to once again mention that
the Defence Law
of Bosnia and Herzegovina as of January 1, 2006 the military
obligation is terminated on the whole territory of Bosnia and
Herzegovina.
26. Applicable
legal provisions that contravene Protocol provisions and considered an obstacle
to its implementation
- The response to
the question was provided in part of the report under number 10) –
analysis of the factors and difficulties
affecting the degree of fulfilment of
obligations of Bosnia and Herzegovina government under the Optional Protocol
27. Is
Bosnia and Herzegovina a signatory to Additional Protocols I-II to Conventions
from 1977, International Labour Organization
Convention No. 182, concerning the
Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child
Labour and the
Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (1998)
- In Annex I of
the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as agreements on human rights that
are directly applied in Bosnia and Herzegovina, there is the Convention
on the
Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide from 1948 and Geneva
Conventions I-IV on protection of war victims and
Additional Protocols I-II to
the Conventions from 1977. Also, among the most important international
documents related to the implementation
of the rights of the child that Bosnia
and Herzegovina so far ratified were the following: United Nations Convention on
the Rights
of the Child, Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of
the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child
pornography,
Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the
involvement of children in armed conflict, Convention
on the Elimination of all
Forms of Discrimination, Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination
of All Forms of Discrimination
Against Women, The Hague Convention on the Civil
Aspects of International Child Abduction, Convention of the International Labour
Organization No. 182 on the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination
of the Worst Forms of Child Labour, Convention of
the International Labour
Organization No. 138 on the Minimum Age for Admission to Employment, Protocol
for the Prevention, Repression
and Punishment of Human Trafficking, especially
Women and Children, which is a supplement to the United Nations Convention
Against
Transnational Organized Crime, the Hague Convention on the International
Recovery of Child Support. Also, Bosnia and Herzegovina
signed the Rome Statute
of the International Criminal Court (1998), ratified it and accepted the
competence of the International
Criminal Court.
28. Information on criminal
liability of legal persons, such as private military or security companies, for
the acts and activities
enumerated in the Protocol
- The response to
this question is presented in the part of report under item 29) –
Information on provisions of criminal and
other laws that are considered
important for the implementation of the Protocol with an aim of prohibiting
children taking part in
armed conflicts and statute of limitations for criminal
prosecution for such
acts.
29. Information on what
national legal provisions provide for the establishment of extraterritorial
jurisdiction over serious violations
of international humanitarian law and
whether to date the State party has exercised its jurisdiction over child
recruitment as a
war crime
- Here we need to
stress the significance of the Rome Statute establishing the International
Criminal Court in The Hague (1988), which
was on March 5, 2002, in a decision on
ratification accepted by Bosnia and Herzegovina, and which took force on July 1,
2002, by
acceding to international documents in the area of human rights and
international humanitarian law, the authorities in Bosnia and
Herzegovina
accepted the obligation to take all legislative measures necessary to prescribe
appropriate criminal sanctions against
the people who have committed or who have
issued orders to commit serious violations listed in these documents. Due to
extreme importance
in the application of these documents in the local legal
system, the principle of legality was raised to the level of constitutional
category (not the criminal code), in the manner that there is a possibility for
a direct application of the rights from the Annex
I of the Constitution of
Bosnia and Herzegovina and Annex to the Constitution of the Federation of Bosnia
and Herzegovina (Instruments for the protection of human rights that have the
legal power of constitutional
provisions), and in Republika Srpska and the
Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina and in a special prescribing of
the principle
of legality.
- Taking into
account the fact that Bosnia and Herzegovina in the 1992–1995 period,
passed through tragic conflict and that so
far there have been proceedings
against the accused of war crimes by the International Criminal Court and local
courts, in no case
that was processed the accused were children and the people
accused of war crimes were not charged with having involved children
in armed
conflict.
30. State laws, policies and practices that concern
the extradition of persons accused of committing offences referred to in the
Protocol, including the international agreements for cooperation with
neighbouring States parties in terms of investigation
- With the
establishment of the International Criminal Court for Former Yugoslavia,
Resolution 808 of the United Nations Security Council,
the Court has been
entrusted with the mandate to criminally prosecute people responsible for
serious violations of international
humanitarian law that have been perpetrated
on the territory of former Yugoslavia from 1991. The mandate of the Court is
given to
relevant institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina when the people
suspected to have violated international humanitarian law are of
lower and
medium rank. With an aim of better conduct of investigations and processing of
people suspected of such acts, the Prosecutor
Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina
— the Special Department for War Crimes and the International Criminal
Tribunal for Former
Yugoslavia in September 2005, concluded the
“Memorandum of Understanding between the International Criminal Tribunal
for Former
Yugoslavia and the Prosecutor Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina
— Special Department for War Crimes”, in which the signatories
define mutual cooperation in terms of requests for assistance, access to
documents, access to witness statements, contacts with witnesses
and witnesses
for whom there are protective measures, access to reports, court experts, etc.
For the benefit for a broader regional
cooperate and better conduct of
investigations and processing of people suspected of having committed severe
violations of international
humanitarian law on the territory of former
Yugoslavia since 1991, we have positive examples of international legal
cooperation between
the countries of former Yugoslavia. Also, in 2005, there was
a trilateral agreement on sharing of information on an informal basis,
circumventing a long legal procedure necessitated by the protocols of interstate
cooperation. With the signing of this agreement,
a functional cooperation
commenced between the judiciary and the police in Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia and
Herzegovina, in the area
of protection and bringing of witnesses to the courts
in other countries.
- We again mention
that so far there have been proceedings against the accused of war crimes by the
International Criminal Court and
local courts and that verdicts were imposed for
the severe violations of humanitarian law, while in no case that was processed
the
accused were children and the people accused of war crimes were not charged
with having involved children in armed conflict.
Part
IV
Protection, recovery and reintegration
Article 6, paragraph 3
31. Information on measures taken to ensure
that the rights and the best interests of the child – victims are
respected and
provided with assistance in social integration, paying special
attention to family reunification , physical and psychological recovery
of
children
- When
deliberating the Initial report of Bosnia and Herzegovina on the implementation
of the Convention on the Rights of the Child
(CRC/C/11/Add. 28) at 1030 and 1031
session (CRC/C/SR. 1030 and 1031) held on May 19, 2005, and conclusive
deliberations adopted
at 1052 session held on June 3, 2005, the Committee on the
Rights of the Child in the part of the report related to children in armed
conflict expressed concern at the information that between 1992 and August 2000
a total of 4,371 persons had been victims of landmines,
including about 300
children.. Also, the Committee expressed concern at the information that there
are still 1 million mines in approximately
30,000 minefields throughout the
country, including around schools and in areas where children play and that,
according to Red Cross
sources, every month 50 children suffer from the
consequences of this situation The Committee further expressed concern at the
situation
of children who were victims of the armed conflict, in particular with
regard to the consequences of the conflict on their physical
and psychological
status, the Committee recommended the authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina to
continue carrying out mine-awareness
campaigns, undertake as a matter of
priority demining programmes and extend the psychological and social assistance
to children who
have been affected by the explosion of mines and other
consequences of the armed conflict.
- In Bosnia and
Herzegovina from 1996 to 2006, a total of 1,576 people were victims of mine
explosions. A monthly average of victims
over the past 2 years was in a constant
decrease and in 2004 there were 4–5 mine victims per month. In 2005, there
were 19
victims in total. Over the last couple of years the most frequent
victims are the adults, while the number of child victims is significantly
decreasing. Most of the areas where the accidents happened were marked, and the
main reason for entering the suspicious areas were
of existential nature:
cutting woods, livestock grazing, hunting, collecting of metals, and collection
of medical herbs. The statistical
information of the Mine Action Centre in
Bosnia and Herzegovina (BHMAC) on mine and unexploded ordnance victims in Bosnia
and Herzegovina
were disaggregated by the age and other categories for the
1996–2005, and represented in tabular
overview.[9] The data in the tables
were classified, inter alia, by the number of victims by their age, including
the number of children who have
fallen victim to mines and unexploded ordnances
in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The data at the disposal of the Mine Action Centre in
Bosnia and Herzegovina (BHMAC) on the mine victims in the period
2006–2007, were not classified by the age groups, and there
are a general
data that in the January-December period in 2006, there were 19 mine accidents
in total, in which 35 were hurt, and
in the period of 2007, there were 7 mine
accidents in which 7 people were hurt, of which two people died.
- The Council of
Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina at its session on October 12, 2004, adopted
a document – the Mine Action
Strategy for Bosnia and Herzegovina. The
Strategy represents the basic document to perform operations of humanitarian
demining and
other mine actions. The need to develop a comprehensive strategy
for mine action in Bosnia and Herzegovina stemmed from numerous
factors that
affect the demining process, and the most important are as follows: the
awareness among citizens of the long-term danger
of mines and entrenched broad
public opinion of the problem of mines, inability to recover economic and
natural resources due to
mine pollution, the knowledge that the training of
local staff and knowledge of the situation concerning mines represents the
precondition
for a long-term defining of goals and recognition of the most
important projects, defining of the policy that will be implemented
by the state
organs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, because the donor countries and donor
organizations expect clear mine action policy.
This strategy raised the problem
of financing of activities planned under the Strategy; in such a manner that the
economic situation
and the level of future economic development of the country
are such that there will be a long-term need of the international community
and
donor countries for the period while this Strategy is implemented. Over the past
period, the state organs of Bosnia and Herzegovina
assumed responsibility for
mine action and they are participating more significantly in ensuring their own
funds for humanitarian
demining and mother mine actions. They are participating
in the development of an infrastructure to manage the process of humanitarian
demining, in accordance with international regulations and creation of positive
legislation. The current professional, human and
technical resources that exist
in Bosnia and Herzegovina allow a successful implementation of the goals and
plans that have been
set.
- Assistance to
mine victims in Bosnia and Herzegovina, among which there are children,
represents a comprehensive process that includes
medical, psychological, social
and economic component aimed at full socio-economic reintegration of mine
victims in society.
- Local and
international organizations and institutions that are in Bosnia and Herzegovina
involved in the process of assisting the
mine victims are as follows: Ministry
of Health of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ministry of Health and
Social Protection
of Republika Srpska, Ministry of Labour and Veteran Disability
Protection of Republika Srpska, International Rehabilitation Centre,
Ministry of
Labour and Social Policy of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, UNICEF,
The Red Cross Society, Red Cross of Republika
Srpska, Red Cross of the
Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, HOPE 87, Stop Mines, LSN Tuzla,
MercyCorps, Scotland, ECO sports group,
UDAS, ITF, ICRC, Response International,
BHMAC, the Union of Civil War Victims-Canton Sarajevo, Alliance for Sports and
Recreation
of Disabled People of Republika Srpska Banja Luka, Multidisciplinary
society to improve mental and social health Sarajevo, Association
of Orthopaedic
Technique in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
- These
institutions and organizations are the main implementing agents of support
activities to mine victims in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The institutions are
directly or indirectly involved in the activities of support to mine victims and
through education, medical
and psychosocial rehabilitation, economic
reintegration, advocacy, legislative and operative regulations, coordination and
financing
of activities of support to mine victims, contributions to a
successful exercising of strategic and operative goals.
- Current
activities, or the projects that are implemented in the field of support to mine
victims and the implementing agents of these
activities are as follows:
- Organization:
LSN Name of the project: providing a broad support to of LSN BH network in
linking the mine victims with the existing
services from the area of health,
economic potentials and rights and provision of appropriate funds for their
reintegration to life.
Activity: Development of services on the ground through
the training and encouragement of people with disabilities, linking the amputees
with the services they need for the integration into society to become
productive members of their families and local communities.
Location: Tuzla,
Doboj Istok, Doboj, Banja Luka, Bugojno, Mostar, Trebinje, Bihać, Velika
Kladuša, Sarajevo, Goražde
and Bijeljina.
- Organization:
UDAS Name of the project: Shooting club “UDAS” Activity: Sports
development for mine victims Goal of the
project: Social integration.
- Organization:
UDAS Name of the project: Arts and crafts workshop Activity: Development of
various items, from aerated concrete, wood,
clay, art paintings, preparing
exhibitions Goal of the project: Drawing public attention to the needs and
potentials of mine victims,
as well as the social integration of participants.
- Organization:
UDAS Name of the project: Creative group of women with amputation Activity:
Making of jewelry, glass ornaments Goal
of the project: Self-support,
involvement in social events.
- Organization:
UDAS Name of the project: Psychological counselling for mine victims Activity:
Group and individual work of a professional
person with mine victims Goal of the
project: Psychological support to mine victims in overcoming the trauma of
stress and accepting
the loss of extremities.
- Organization:
ECO SPORTSKA GRUPA Name of the project: Continuation and building upon in
previous project of rehabilitation and recreation
of mine victims in Bosnia and
Herzegovina through diving activities Activity: Training to work with the people
with disability, i.e.
the training of the management of ECO SPORTSKA GRUPA and
standardization of training at the international and the level of Bosnia
and
Herzegovina. Periodic minicamps on the Rivers (Una, Vrbas, Neretva). Workshop to
learn working with epoxy resin, advanced training
for senior diver categories
Goal of the project: To continue activities which are going to increase physical
and psychological condition
among mine victims with an aim of implementing
future projects. With the help of activities, make mine victims feel better and
improve
their general condition. Mine victims to obtain new information,
knowledge and skills related to possible employment or earning money
for
themselves or their family. To keep the attention of state authorities with an
aim of continuing campaign for the protection
of population in Bosnia and
Herzegovina against mines, in accordance with the adopted Strategy for support
to mine victims. Experiences
and the knowledge gained in this project to be an
encouragement to implement similar activities in the region and beyond. Mine
victims
who have been singled out in motivation and knowledge to be active as
the people who will assist the basic training in pools and
shallow waters in
future projects and activities. To continue with the process of innovation of
the activities in future projects
in the work with disabled people – mine
victims and expand it to other countries and regions. To incorporate this
project into
the part of the Strategy for support to mine victims.
- Organization:
STOP MINES Name of the project: Sustainable professional rehabilitation for mine
victims Location: Republika Srpska
Activity: Giving on interest-free loans to
support different economic programs.
- Organization:
Mercy Corps Scotland Name of the project: Economic support to mine victim
survivors (90 people) Activity: Economic support
to 90 mine victim survivors in
13 municipalities in north-eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Brčko
District of Bosnia and
Herzegovina. The Project is implemented in partnership
with the Red Cross of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Red Cross
of
Republika Srpska and the Red Cross of the Brčko District of Bosnia and
Herzegovina. Economic assistance consists in the support
to small businesses by
providing necessary funds to start and implement them. Location: The Brčko
District of Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Municipalities: Sapna, Teočak,
Čelić, Lopare, Posavina with municipalities of Šamac, Domaljevac,
Orašje,
Gradačac and Modriča, Doboj, Derventa Donor: Memorial
Fund of Princess
Diana.
Part
V
International support and cooperation
Article 7, paragraph 1
32. Information on the measures to strengthen
international cooperation regarding the implementation of the Protocol,
including the
technical cooperation and financial assistance
- Activities of
the authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina aimed at creating commitments under
this Protocol and general improvement
of the situation among children in Bosnia
and Herzegovina, listed in the prior parts of this report, are supported by
international
organizations present in Bosnia and Herzegovina such as UNICEF,
Save the Children Norway, Save the Children UK, Amici dei Bambini,
International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR), which have been providing
support and strengthening local capacities
through technical cooperation and financial assistance.
Part
VI
Other legal provisions
Article 5
33. Domestic laws and other legislation in
force as well as provisions of international law binding on the state considered
conducive
of the rights of the child
- In
Bosnia and Herzegovina, at all levels of the authority, there are many laws and
other regulations that guarantee special protection
for children,
including:
- Family Law
- Criminal
Code
- Criminal
Procedure Code
- Law on Social
Protection
- Law on Child
Protection
- Law on Domestic
Violence Protection
- Law on
Education
- Law on
Ombudsman
- Law on Health
Protection
- Law on Public
Services
- Law on Primary
School
- Law on
Protection of People with Mental Disabilities
- Law on Youth
Organization
- Law on Gender
Equality in Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Decision on
Establishment of the Council for Children of Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Framework Law on
the Primary and Secondary Education in Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Book of Rules on
Education Curricula for Students with Mild Mental Disability
- Book of Rules on
Education of Children with Special Needs in Primary and Secondary Schools
- Book of Rules
and Education and Education of Children belonging to National Minorities
- Law on
Sports
- Decision on
establishing the Public Fund for Child Protection
- Book of Rules on
the Method and Procedure for the Exercising of the Rights of Employed Parent to
Work Half the Time, and Increase
Care of the Child with Psychophysical Problems
in Development
- Amendments to
the Statute of the Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Article 7 of
the Statute) which took force on February
2, 2007
- International
documents ratified by Bosnia and Herzegovina:
- The Dayton Peace
Agreement and Annex I of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina state the
following agreements on human rights that are directly applied in Bosnia and
Herzegovina, including:
- Convention on
the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide from 1948
- Geneva
Conventions I–IV on the protection of War Victims and Additional Protocols
I-II to the Conventions from 1977
- European
Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and
Protocols to the Convention from 1950
- Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees from 1951 and the Protocol to the Convention
from 1966,
- Convention on
the Nationality of Married Women from 1957
- Convention on
the Reduction of Statelessness from 1961
- International
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination from
1965
- International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights from 1966 and the Optional Protocols to
the Covenant from 1966 and 1989
- The Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights from 1966
- Convention on
the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women 1979
- Convention
against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
from 1984
- European
Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment from 1987
- Convention on
the Rights of the Child from 1989
- Convention on
the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their
Families from 1960
- European Charter
for Regional or Minority Languages from 1992 and
- Framework
Convention for the Protection of National Minorities from
1994
- The
most significant international documents related to the implementation of the
rights of the child that Bosnia and Herzegovina
so far has ratified:
- United Nations
Convention on the Rights of the Child
- Optional
Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children,
Child Prostitution and Child Pornography
- Optional
Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of
children in armed conflict
- Convention on
the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
- Optional
Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
Against Women
- The Hague
Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction
- Conventions of
the International Labour Organization 182 on the Prohibition and Immediate
Action for the Elimination of the Worst
Forms of Child Labour
- Convention of
the International Labour Organization 138 on the Minimum Age for Admission to
Employment
- Protocol for the
Prevention, Repression and Punishment of Human Trafficking, especially Women and
Children, which is a supplement
to the United Nations Convention Against
Transnational Organized Crime
- The Hague
Convention on the International Recovery of Child Support
Members of the working group who participated in the
development of the report:
- Ms. Ivanka
Taraba, Ministry for Human Rights and Refugees of Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Ms. Almina
Jerković, Ministry for Human Rights and Refugees of Bosnia and
Herzegovina
- Mr. Dragutin
Čegar, Ministry for Human Rights and Refugees of Bosnia and
Herzegovina
- Colonel Nusret
Hadžikadunić, Ministry of Defence of Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Colonel Radovan
Radojičić, Ministry of Defence of Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Mr. Emir
Mehmedović, Ministry of Justice of Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Mr. Mihajlo
Jovanović, Government of the Brčko District of Bosnia and
Herzegovina
- Mr. Zlatoljub
Mišić, Ombudsman of Republika
Srpska
[*] In accordance with the information
transmitted to States parties regarding the processing of their reports, the
present document
was not edited before being sent to the United Nations
translation services.
[1] The Chamber of Human Rights is
a judicial body which was established under the Annex 6 of the General framework
Peace Agreement in
Bosnia and Herzegovina and its task was the protection of
human rights enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights and
Fundamental
Freedoms. The procedures for the work of the Chamber were made after
the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. The Chamber
ceased operations
in late 2003, while its mandate and unresolved cases were taken over by the
Commission for Human Rights at the
Constitutional Court of Bosnia and
Herzegovina. In late 2006, the Commission ceased operations and the protection
of human rights
guaranteed in the European Convention on Human Rights and
Fundamental Freedoms and instruments for protection of human rights foreseen
in
the Annex and the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina is in the jurisdiction
of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as the supreme
institutional
guarantor for protection of human rights in Bosnia and
Herzegovina.
[2] Competence of the ministries
responsible for the implementation of the Protocol at the state level are
described in part 1 (a) of the report – description of competence of state
institutions.
[3] Competences of Ombudsman of
Republika Srpska — protector of human rights — Department for the
Rights of the Child is
described in part 1 (a) of the report – the
competence of state institutions.
[4] Description of competence of
Ombudsman for Human Rights of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is
described in part 1 (a) of the report – the competence of state
institutions.
[5] Administrative Procedure Law
of Bosnia and Herzegovina (“Official Gazette of Bosnia and
Herzegovina”, no. 29/02).
[6] Law on Personal Identification
Card of Citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina (“Official Gazette of Bosnia
and Herzegovina”,
no. 32/01).
[7] The Law on Main Record Books
of Republika Srpska (“Official Gazette of Republika Srpska”, no.
18/99), Ordinances with the legal power on main record books
(“Official Gazette of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina”, no.
20/92), Law on Main Record Books of the Brčko District of Bosnia and
Herzegovina (“Official Gazette of the Brčko
District of Bosnia and
Herzegovina”, no. 8/02).
[8] The Law on Unique Personal
Identification Number of Bosnia and Herzegovina (“Official Gazette of
Bosnia and Herzegovina”,
broj 32/01).
[9] Tables and statistics on the
victims of mines and UXO in Bosnia and Herzegovina are segregated by seasonal
variations, variations
by cantons and regions. Data in the tables were collected
and compiled in cooperation with the International Committee of the Red
Cross
and the staff and the network of volunteers of the Red Cross Society of Bosnia
and Herzegovina in both entities.
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