Documents library
Hate Monitor Report, June 2013
Publishing date: 1 July 2013
Content type: Report
Where we are: OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina
What we do: Rule of law, Tolerance and non-discrimination
Publisher: Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
Hate Monitor is a monthly visualization of the Mission’s hate crimes monitoring data. It presents the latest data on all known bias-motivated incidents and responses to these incidents by the justice sector, local authorities, and civil society throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Hate Monitor Report, May 2013
Publishing date: 1 June 2013
Content type: Report
Where we are: OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina
What we do: Rule of law, Tolerance and non-discrimination
Publisher: Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
Hate Monitor is a monthly visualization of the Mission’s hate crimes monitoring data. It presents the latest data on all known bias-motivated incidents and responses to these incidents by the justice sector, local authorities, and civil society throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Reasoning in War Crimes Judgements in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Challenges and Good Practices
Publishing date: 15 December 2009
Collections: War crimes related documents and publications
Content type: Report
Where we are: OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina
What we do: Rule of law
Publisher: Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
The judgement is the most awaited-for, visible, and lasting aspect of a trial. In war crimes proceedings in particular, the judgement, on the one hand, constitutes the peak point in administering justice for the actors involved in the trial, while on the other hand, it has a far wider impact. It can have reverberating effects on the communities involved and their understanding of past atrocities, on politics, on the development of national and international law, on society at large- even beyond geographical boundaries- and on history.
Plea Agreements in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Practices before the courts and their compliance with international human rights standards
Publishing date: 30 May 2006
Collections: Rule of Law, additional reports and documents
Content type: Report
Where we are: OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina
What we do: Rule of law
Publisher: Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
Plea agreements have become one of the core mechanisms within the criminal procedure of Bosnia and Herzegovina since its introduction in 2003. As part of the extensive reforms of the criminal justice system, this common law based mechanism allows prosecutors and defendants to negotiate aspects of sentencing, provided the defendant admits fully to the crime and agrees to give up certain key rights, such as the rights to public trial and to appeal. Following nearly two years of monitoring plea agreement proceedings, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina (“OSCE”) believes that developments in the application of this mechanism deserve a full and thorough analysis. This thematic report looks specifically to discuss the degree to which the implementation fully complies with fundamental international human rights standards, including the right to a fair trial, as embodied in Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights. In this regard, the Report aims to assist practitioners in identifying problem areas in its implementation and possible solutions, as well as to provide the public with greater information on the process.
War Crimes Trials Before the Domestic Courts of Bosnia and Herzegovina: Progress and Obstacles
Publishing date: 30 March 2005
Collections: War crimes related documents and publications
Content type: Report
Where we are: OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina
What we do: Rule of law
Publisher: Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
With the establishment of the War Crimes Chamber of the State Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) in January 2005, it is imperative to draw attention to the efforts of the BiH authorities in relation to war crimes cases proceeding before the cantonal and district courts. Although the precise number to be tried by the new state-level Chamber, which will include both national and international judges and prosecutors, has yet to be determined, it has been confirmed by the BiH Prosecutor’s Office that the Chamber will only hear the most serious, “highly sensitive” cases, as it will have “neither the resources nor the time to try all war crimes cases”. Due to the quantity of remaining cases to be tried, the majority will continue to be dealt with by the domestic courts under the jurisdiction of the Entities – district courts in the Republika Srpska (RS) and cantonal courts in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH)- and the Basic Court of Brčko District. Through this Report, the Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina (MBiH) of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) aims to draw attention to the number, nature and importance of war crimes proceedings before the domestic courts of BiH, providing the most detailed analysis to date of their progress and the obstacles they continue to face.
OSCE Trial Monitoring Report on the Implementation of the New Criminal Procedure Code in the Courts of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Publishing date: 17 December 2004
Collections: Rule of Law, additional reports and documents
Content type: Report
Where we are: OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina
What we do: Human rights, Rule of law
Publisher: Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
This report is first of its kind by the Rule of Law Section of the Human Rights Department of the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina. It presents findings and conclusions on the implementation of the new procedure code as monitored in the courts between January 2004 and August 2004. In this period, OSCE monitored 1032 post-indictment criminal hearings- in 38 designated courts- in all criminal jurisdictions of Bosnia and Herzegovina. All types of cases in all stages of post-indictment proceedings were monitored to provide a comprehensive overview of the implementation of the new criminal procedure codes throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Dayton Peace Agreement
Publishing date: 14 December 1995
Content type: Treaty / agreement
Where we are: OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina
What we do: Rule of law
Publisher: Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
The General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, also known as the Dayton Peace Agreement (DPA), Dayton Accords, Paris Protocol or Dayton-Paris Agreement, is the peace agreement reached at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio, United States, in November 1995, and formally signed in Paris on 14 December 1995. These accords put an end to the 3 1⁄2-year-long Bosnian War, one of the armed conflicts in the former Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia. The current Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina is the Annex 4 of the DPA.