Helsinki Committee, in the Report stressed that the delays in implementation of reforms and repeated complication of political relations on ethnic grounds have been the main features of the previous year.  In spite of this, Bosnia and Herzegovina initialled the Stabilization and Association Agreement with the European Union, thereby leaving possibilities open for speeding up of reform processes, including those in the field of rule of law and respect for human rights and freedoms, and consequently rapprochement with the EU.

Implementation of reforms and necessary changes
That the year 2007 was in fact lost, from the aspect of implementation of reforms and necessary changes, is best illustrated by the fact that only 27 pieces of legislation, of the 135 planned at the state level, were in fact adopted. In the field of human rights, the relevant Ministry forwarded to the parliament only 13 per cent of the planned laws. It should also be added that Bosnia and Herzegovina did not manage to fulfil two thirds of the requirements set by the European Union in priorities and conditions of the European Partnership, which means that the list of unfulfilled requirements has grown to 72 items. Finally, Bosnia and Herzegovina occupies the 84th place in the world by Transparency International’s perception of corruption measurements, which illustrates further the state of the country from the aspect of the rule of law.

Protection of human rights
It should be noted that the reform of the institution of Ombudsman of Bosnia and Herzegovina has not been completed last year either, although the final deadline for this was 31 December 2006. The continuation of agony, with the only institution for protection of human rights at the level of Bosnia and Herzegovina remaining solely on paper, is a reflection of the actual lack of interest of the authorities in protection of human rights and establishing of appropriate mechanisms and institutions for their protection. This means that human rights are practically left to the non-governmental sector, which is not able to respond to all challenges in this field under current circumstances.

War criminals
The situation in the sphere of human rights is additionally burdened by the fact that the main players of the crimes committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina – Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, have not yet been brought to justice, and the fact that efforts on establishing of truth and reconciliation have been delayed.

Missing persons
It should also be stressed that finding and identification of persons considered missing has been delayed too, which represents, among other things, violations of human rights of members of their families.

Human rights defenders
Frequent attacks of the Republika Srpska Prime Minister Milorad Dodik and his party´s officials against representatives of the civil society and a number of journalists and independent media have been registered over the previous year. The Transparency International and its Executive Director Boris Divjak have been in the very focus of these attacks. These actions deserve the strongest condemnation by democratic public, as they represent a dangerous and serious threat against fundamental values of democracy and open society. The authoritarian attitude towards and pressures against independent organizations and media seriously endanger not only the freedom of expression, but also threaten fundamental values of the society.

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