BIRN BiH Attends Council of Ministers’ Public Consultations

Posted on

Denis Dzidic, a BIRN Justice Report journalist, has attended public consultations on “Institutional reform as part of Transitional Justice Strategy preparation in Bosnia and Herzegovina”, held in Zenica.

The two-day public consultations on institutional reform were held in Zenica Hotel on June 23 and 24 this year. More than 60 people, including authorities at all levels in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as
representatives of police and judicial institutions, civil society and victims’ associations, took part.

The consultations marked the end of the first phase of the Transitional Justice Strategy preparation in Bosnia and Herzegovina and identified strategic goals which the Strategy should resolve.

A five-year programme of preparation of the State Transitional Justice Strategy in Bosnia and Herzegovina began in March this year. The programme is being implemented with the support of the Council of Ministers and the Ministries of Justice and Human Rights of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the assistance of the United Nations Development Programme, UNDP.

The goal of the public consultations is to give an opportunity to participants to discuss the need for adopting a law on checking all government and public institutions employees with the aim of examining their
conduct during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Participants concluded that it is necessary to establish a functional legislative framework to organise the examination of employees’ records and set up an efficient monitoring system to enable implementation of human rights protection mechanisms and increase citizens’ confidence in government institutions.

As announced by the UNDP, the second phase is due to begin soon. As part of the second phase programme plans and activities will be defined in order to ensure implementation of strategic goals. It was also stated that the first draft of the Strategy would be finalized by June next year.