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RULE OVER LAW: Obstacles to the Development of an Independent Judiciary in Bosnia and Herzegovina. (Bosnia Legal Project Report N° 1)

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

The BiH judiciary is in transition. In the former SFRJ system, the judiciary ceded much control to the police to determine guilt in the field of criminal justice investigation, thus reducing elements of their authority in the legal process. Furthermore, Communist Party officials often interfered in the justice system. This interference has continued and even increased under the multi-party system. Two separate legal systems in BiH exist, with only ceremonial and appeals institutions and functions at the State level, in spite of the BiH Constitution which allows for the formation of more State court institutions. Within the Federation, loopholes in the legislation on the Supreme Court allow Croat-majority cantons to refuse to recognise the authority and the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, thus containing all court functions within the jurisdiction of that Canton. Weak roles for Public Prosecutors, plus anomalies in the legislation which make it hard for strong, Federation-level judges to try cross-cantonal crimes, leave highly autonomous Cantonal Courts open to political influence from ruling parties.

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PREVENTING MINORITY RETURN IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA: The Anatomy of Hate and Fear (ICG Report N° 73)

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

This paper examines the motives driving the attitude of Bosnian authorities, ranging from simple racism to the genuine need to protect displaced people already occupying the property of potential returnees. It then looks at the factors underlying the decision of the individual prospective returnee whether to go back or not. It goes on to examine the record in several locations in Bosnia and suggests which factors have been at work in these cases. The report concludes that many of the arguments used by Bosnian authorities to obstruct return appear reasonable to the authorities themselves but may conceal less reasonable arguments which are actually more important. It would be better to remove these ‘justifiable’ reasons from the argument altogether. Against this background the report examines the policy responses available to the international community, and advocates an approach based on treating return not as a separate problem but as an aspect of the more general question of rule of law throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina. The report suggests that, without sacrificing successful elements of the existing policy, this might change the terms of the debate, making opposition to return much more difficult to defend with reasonable-looking arguments, since rule of law is an ideal endorsed (in public) by all forces in BiH, and accepted as a necessary condition of entry into the Western family of nations and, in due course, the European Union

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IS DAYTON FAILING? Bosnia Four Years After The Peace Agreement (ICG Balkans Report N°80)

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

In anticipation of the fourth anniversary on 21 November 1999 of the signing of the Dayton Peace Accords, this report presents a detailed analysis of the agreement and the future of the Bosnian peace process. The report assesses efforts to implement the agreement annex by annex, identifying obstacles to continued progress and setting out key choices facing international policymakers. A traditional peace treaty consists of a cease-fire and arms reduction and boundary demarcation agreements. Dayton went far beyond these goals to create a state, comprised of two multi-ethnic entities. Dayton's aim was to not only stop the fighting, but to reverse ethnic cleansing and provide a blueprint for a new, unified country.

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STARTING FROM SCRATCH IN KOSOVO: The Honeymoon Is Over (ICG Balkans Report N° 83)

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

In this paper, the International Crisis Group (ICG) examines the performance of the international community in five key areas: security, the provision of basic services, civil registration and documentation, elections, and justice and the rule of law. The paper recommends ways to improve that performance, including: more robust enforcement by NATO’s Kosovo Force of its protection mandate and the accelerated deployment of adequately trained international and local police; the acceleration as well of donor follow-through, the provision of basic services, civil registration, the creation of identity documents, voters’ lists, and applicable criminal and civil legal codes; and a reexamination by the aid community of how best to achieve its desirable goals and outcomes in Kosovo.

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RULE OF LAW IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: Confusion and Discrimination in a Post-Communist Bureaucracy (ICG Balkans Report N° 84)

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

The unsatisfactory functioning of municipal and cantonal administrations has a negative effect on both the legal system and the rule of law, and drastically affects the administration's main role -– the implementation of laws and regulations. Many laws go partially or entirely un-enforced. This report makes specific recommendations to strengthen the functioning of public administration. By and large these build on already-existing civil service procedures on the books, both in Republika Srpska and the Federation. These include: enforcing existing civil service laws, enforcing existing hiring procedures, increasing the degree of governmental "userfriendliness," increasing public access to records and documents, de-linking the public administration financing from political party control, and strengthening the municipal oversight system under existing JSAP authorisation.

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ALBANIANS in SERBIAN PRISONS. Ksosovo’s unfinished Business. (ICG Balkans Report N° 85)

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

While the international community does not itself have the capacity to free these prisoners, it must find ways to exert maximum pressure on Milošević to order their release. Thousands of Albanian lives are at stake: reports from recently released prisoners and from family members make clear that the prisoners' conditions in the Serbian facilities are appalling, their health has been severely compromised, they are routinely subjected to mistreatment and torture, and their trials are travesties. In addition, many prisoners’ families have been effectively ransomed by Serbian lawyers, who have promised to secure the release of prisoners for sums ranging from 10,000 to 50,000 DM. The emotional and material strain on prisoners' families contributes to Kosovo's continuing unrest and to the immense frustration Kosovars feel toward the international agencies which, in part out of a dearth of options to pursue, have not made a top priority of locating the prisoners or advocating on their behalf. // In this paper ICG attempts to clarify the somewhat complex situation with regard to the Albanian prisoners, to make available first-hand information about Serbian prison conditions gathered in interviews with ex-prisoners and prisoners' family members, to elucidate the pertinent legal issues, and to propose a series of measures that governments and non-government organisations might take toward identifying the prisoners and securing their release.

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DENIED JUSTICE: Individuals Lost in a Legal Maze (ICG Balkans Report N° 86)

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

Thousands of people try to find their way daily through an immensely complicated labyrinth established by the three separate and very often conflicting legal systems in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). Evidence presented in this report, the third in the ICG legal project series, proves that unexplained time delays, dubious application of law and blatant ethnic discrimination contribute greatly to the ad hoc nature of Bosnian justice. This report scrutinises six individual cases of ethnic and political discrimination. Recommendations are presented to counteract the violations committed by judges and prosecutors in these cases and to ensure that such violations are prevented in the future, through the strengthening of the concept of rule of law and of judicial and prosecutorial independence. Data on the cases contained herein was provided by ICG partner organisations based throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina. All are Bosnian NGOs providing, inter alia, free legal aid to Bosnian citizens.

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REUNIFYING MOSTAR: Opportunities for Progress (ICG Balkans Report N° 90)

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

Reunification of Mostar is key to the reintegration of separatist Herzegovinian Bosnian Croats into Bosnia. After years of fruitless post-Dayton efforts to wean the Bosnian Croats from Zagreb and reorient them toward a constructive role in Bosnia, the international community at long last has the capability to achieve this goal. The success of the democratic forces in Croatia in the January-February elections there has brought reliable partners to power with whom the international community can work in Bosnia. Policy initiatives in Herzegovina will not require new resources and, if achieved, can lead to a reduction in the international profile in Bosnia. Failure to act on these opportunities will cripple the Bosnian peace effort and weaken the new government in Croatia. These issues present serious policy challenges.

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BOSNIA'S MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS 2000: Winners and Losers (ICG Balkans Report N° 91)

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

The international community can draw a degree of comfort from the results of Bosnia’s 8 April 2000 municipal elections. Overall, the voting was free of violence and more free and fair than any previous election held in Bosnia. Nationalism may not be on the run yet—witness the strength of indicted Bosnian Serb war criminal Radovan Karadzic’s Serbian Democratic Party (SDS)—but moderate leaders are making inroads and increasing numbers of voters seem to be paying attention to their messages. In Bosniak areas support shifted from the ruling Party of Democratic Action (SDA) to Haris Silajdzic's Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina (SBiH) and Zlatko Lagumdzija's moderate Social Democratic Party (SDP). As a result, Silajdzic positioned himself as king-maker in numerous Bosniak majority municipalities, and as heir apparent to the ageing Alija Izetbegovic among the Bosniak electorate.

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MONTENEGRO’S SOCIALIST PEOPLE’S PARTY: A loyal Opposition? (ICG Balkans Report N° 92)

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

The assertion of the primacy of Serbian rights over all other peoples by Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic has driven nearly every nationality of the former Yugoslavia toward the Republic’s exits. Even Montenegro, once Serbia’s closest political and military ally, has not been immune from the turmoil that Slobodan Milosevic has created and has opted to distance itself from Belgrade’s controlling influence. The resulting political tensions have reshaped Montenegro’s political landscape. The Socialist People’s Party (SNP), which enjoys the support of about one-third of the Montenegrin public, was formed as the result of a split within Montenegro’s ruling party, the Party of Democratic Socialists (DPS). The SNP is a party increasingly on the defensive, caught between the initiatives of Montenegrin President Djukanovic to define pro -Western, democratising and reformist policies; and the intimidation tactics of federal President Milosevic who seeks to bring Montenegro to heel and thus salvage the Federation.

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BOSNIA'S REFUGEE LOGJAM BREAKS: Is the International Community ready? (ICG Balkans Report N° 95)

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

In the first four months of 2000, the number of minority refugees returning to their pre-war homes without targeted assistance from the international community has increased nearly four-fold over 1999 levels, to 12,579. The reasons for the increase in returns include refugee impatience, a change in the psychology of the majority and minority populations, Bosnian government policies, and increased international community willingness to use the powers vested in the Office of the High Representative to remove obstructionist officials and implement property laws.

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ELECTIONS IN KOSOVO: Moving toward Democracy? (ICG Balkans Report N0 97)

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

In the fall of 2000, for the first time in their history, the people of Kosovo are being promised the opportunity to participate in democratic, internationally supervised local elections. The elections offer the people of Kosovo the opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to democracy. They also present the international mission1 in Kosovo with a test of its resolve to overcome the political and practical problems associated with holding elections in a territory still suffering from the physical and the political scars of war.

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KOSOVO REPORT CARD (ICG Balkans Report N° 100)

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

Impatience among Kosovo's majority Albanian population is growing with the international mission's slowness in putting in place some of the basic structures of normal life - 15 months after the end of the war the judicial system is still getting started and Pristina suffers prolonged daily power outages. The UN police, although nearing its level of authorised deployments, has yet to deal effectively with the climate of lawlessness and disrespect for public authority. Albanians have seized with both hands the opportunities for creating a flourishing small business economy - thanks in part to the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) chief Bernard Kouchner's decision to introduce the DM as the Kosovo's currency - but the international community has yet to begin the process of privatisation and market reform that is critically necessary to restart the Kosovo economy and to channel investment into legitimate economic activity and away from the quasi-legal grey economy.

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YUGOSLAVIA’S PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION: The Serbian People’s Moment of Truth (ICG Balkans Report N°102)

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

At the time of ICG’s last writing, opinion polls were showing that 50 per cent of the electorate was undecided as to its choice for the Yugoslav presidency.4 We reported that the situation was extremely volatile and could change virtually overnight, and this is precisely what has happened. For the first time since Milosevic came to power in 1989,5 a candidate put forward by a largely unified opposition has developed a large popular following and opened a wide lead in opinion polls.6 Despite a regime crackdown and an aggressive anti-opposition propaganda campaign, Serbia’s sundry opposition forces have at last been galvanised and are optimistic about winning a majority of votes genuinely cast.

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BOSNIA'S NOVEMBER ELECTIONS: Dayton stumbles (ICG Balkans Report N° 104)

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

Given the series of disappointing election results since the first post-Dayton elections in 1996, it is time for the international community to rethink an inherited strategy that places unrealistic hopes on elections. Instead, the international community should fully exercise the powers given to it under the Dayton Peace Accord to attack the economic and political causes of the tenacity of Bosnian nationalism. This report highlights critical issues demanding immediate decisions: How is the influence of extremists to be curbed? To what extent should the international community try directly to manage a protectorate in Bosnia? And to what extent, and in what respects, should the governance provisions in the Dayton Agreement be modified? Each of these issues will be the subject of forthcoming ICG reports.

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RELIGION IN KOSOVO (ICG Balkans Report N° 105)

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

This report seeks to describe the current position of the three major religious communities in Kosovo. In part, it aims to clarify misconceptions about the involvement of religion in the Kosovo conflict. It also proposes some areas where religion might serve as a means to encourage reconciliation among the peoples of Kosovo. Three religions . Islam, Orthodoxy, and Catholicism, have long coexisted in Kosovo. A large majority of Kosovo Albanians consider themselves, at least nominally, to be Muslim. A minority, about 60,000, are Catholic. Most Kosovo Serbs, even those who are not active religious believers, consider Orthodoxy to be an important component of their national identity. Nevertheless, despite this essential division of religious activities along ethnic lines, it cannot be said that religion per se was an important contributing factor in the conflict between Serbs and Albanians.

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TURNING STRIFE TO ADVANTAGE. A Blueprint to integrate the Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina (ICG Balkans Report N° 106)

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

If the international community reverts to form and backs down from a long-term struggle, as the HDZ expects, the extremists will maintain their grip on the Croat community and continue to block the development of a stable, democratic state. This in turn would have consequences beyond the Croat community. It would alienate citizens who are already disillusioned by the glacial speed of reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina. And it would signal to the other entity, the virtually mono-ethnic Republika Srpska (RS), that it can continue to defy efforts to make Dayton work and retain hope of eventually splitting away. ICG presents a blueprint for a strategy in this report. It is designed to provide genuine rewards for individuals and institutions co-operating with the Dayton Accords while applying low-key but legitimate and effective sanctions on those who defy the development of a democratic, stable Bosnia and Herzegovina. It offers a way to engage the constructive elements among the Croats while dividing them from the secessionists, thus giving new impetus to the flagging efforts to build a viable state.

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MONTENEGRO: Settling for Independence? (ICG Balkans Report N° 107)

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

The Montenegrin government and FRY President Vojislav Ko.tunica have presented different proposals to change the relationship between Montenegro and Serbia. In August 1999, the Montenegrin government adopted a .Platform. that envisaged a very loose union, in a single state, with limited joint functions in areas such as monetary policy, defence and foreign policy. In December 2000, a revised platform was presented by Djukanović.s Democratic Party of Socialists and its coalition partner, the smaller Social Democratic Party (SDP). This differed from its predecessor in the key respect that it envisaged a union of two independent states, with separate international subjectivity and two UN seats. In response, in January 2001 Ko.tunica issued a counter-proposal for a functioning federation, with considerable powers devolved to the two republics. Ko.tunica.s proposal was endorsed by Serbia.s ruling Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS).

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AFTER MILOSEVIC. A Practical Agenda for Lasting Balkans Peace (ICG Balkans Report N° 108)

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

In this report , the International Crisis Group (ICG) makes many recommendations as to how best to move forward, some of them going well beyond the present cautious international consensus. The test for us in each case has not been what is currently acceptable in the diplomatic marketplace - though many of our recommendations should be - but what will contribute to lasting peace, bearing always in mind the need to apply consistent principles and to consider the wider consequences of every action. This report is built on the experience of five years of field-based analysis by the ICG. Since our first project commenced in Sarajevo in 1996, we have produced on the Balkans three book-length reports and over 140 other reports and briefing papers. This is the first time we have tried to look at the region as a whole, addressing all the outstanding issues, applying experience learned elsewhere , and identifying wherever possible common policy themes and approaches . It is an approach we have long been urging upon governments themselves ,who have too often responded in an ad hoc and piecemeal fashion to problems crying out for a comprehensive approach.

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THE MACEDONIAN QUESTION: Reform or Rebellion (ICG Balkans Report 109)

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

In late February, violence flared in Albanian-inhabited villages in northern Macedonia close to the border with Kosovo. In mid March, the violence spread to Macedonia’s second largest city, Tetovo. The rebels claimed to be defending themselves against Macedonian security forces, i.e. their own government, and to be fighting for Albanian national rights in Macedonia. The coalition government in Skopje promptly raised the alarm, blaming Kosovo Albanian elements for exporting rebellion to Macedonia, and calling for the NATO-led forces in Kosovo (KFOR) to seal the border. The rebels claimed they were local Albanians, numbering 2,000 and recruiting dozens of volunteers from the surrounding area every day. Now that the dust around Tetovo has settled, the government and parliament need to face squarely, without panicking, a large political question: Are the Macedonians and Albanians in the country committed to integrated living? Or, should they accept nationalist logic and prepare to negotiate federalisation?

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