The Supervisory Body for Overseeing the Implementation of the National War Crimes Strategy (Supervisory Body) and the Delegation of the European Union to Bosnia and Herzegovina and the EU Special Representative jointly organised a Conference on War Crimes Processing to discuss the important issue of the investigation and adjudication of war crimes cases throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina and the progress in the implementation of the National War Crimes Strategy of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Conference was held on October 3 at the EU Delegation to BiH/EUSR in Sarajevo, and it was opened by welcoming remarks from Dr Renzo Daviddi, Deputy Head of the EU Delegation to BiH, Milan Tegeltija, President of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of BiH, Ambassador Jonathan Moore, Head of the OSCE Mission to BiH and Milorad Novković, President of the Supervisory Body for Overseeing the Implementation of the National War Crimes Strategy. There are more than 1200 cases of reported war crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina where the identity of the alleged perpetrator is known, and which remain to be investigated and tried, as well as several thousand more crimes where the suspect is still unidentified.
In wishing to hasten the processing of war crimes cases throughout BiH and speed up the implementation of the National War Crimes Strategy, the EU agreed in December 2012 to provide 14.876 million euro of budgetary support for prosecutor offices and courts over a five year period. This IPA budgetary support formally commenced in February this year and in the subsequent months, 142 staff were recruited for 16 prosecutor offices, 6 courts and the Office of Criminal Defence within the Ministry of Justice of BiH. The intention of the EU’s budgetary support is to supplement – not replace – domestic financing of salaries of prosecutors and judges and their respective staff working on war crimes cases. The first six months of budgetary support was completed in September 2014.
Dr. Renzo Daviddi, Deputy Head of the EU Delegation to BiH said: “We believe that bringing justice and processing of war crimes cases is crucial for reconciliation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as the whole region. The EU supports these efforts by making it an important topic of the Structured Dialogue on Justice, and through extraordinary IPA budgetary support. While we note that there has been a slight reduction in the number of war crimes cases, what matters too is the quality of the investigation and adjudication of war crimes.”
Milan Tegeltija, President of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of BiH said: “With the adoption of the National War Crimes Strategy, Bosnia and Herzegovina has demonstrated its commitment to prosecute war crimes, in addition to clearly defined objectives and measures to this effect. The Supervisory Body was established to oversee the efficiency and quality of the implementation of the Strategy. The newly appointed prosecutors and judges and additional professional staff as financed from the EU budgetary support represent a new impetus that will contribute to achieving the measures and objectives envisaged in the National Strategy.“
In establishing a mechanism to monitor progress of war crimes cases, the EU Delegation to BiH established a monitoring partnership with the OSCE Mission to BiH. Their role is to track and report the progress, but also to support and advise the institutions benefitting from the IPA support.
Ambassador Jonathan Moore, Head of the OSCE Mission to BiH, said: “We are at a pivotal moment in the pursuit of accountability for wartime atrocities in BiH. We are in the early stages of the most comprehensive, concerted effort yet to reduce the backlog of war crimes cases as envisaged by the National War Crimes Strategy. A comprehensive legal framework is in place; EU budgetary support has provided an unprecedented bolstering of capacity; and the OSCE Mission’s detailed monitoring mechanism will provide the means of verification and analysis that will allow prosecutor’s offices and courts to refine their work and make informed decisions. Most importantly, the judicial institutions in BiH continue to demonstrate professionalism and commitment to establishing accountability for war crimes.”
The Supervisory Body established by decision of the BiH Council of Ministers is an expert body mandated to continuously monitor the efficiency and quality of the implementation of the National War Crimes Strategy, and to monitor and supervise the progress of beneficiary prosecutors’ offices and courts in meeting the targets on war crimes processing set out in the EU’s budgetary support.
Milorad Novković, Chair of the Supervisory Body for Overseeing the Implementation of the National War Crimes Strategy, stated: “The Supervisory Body especially stresses the need to take immediate action towards processing the more complex war crime cases with greater efficiency. In particular, the Prosecutors Office of BiH is called on to move forward in processing cases under category II – i.e. cases handed over from the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.“
Representatives of the Supervisory Body for overseeing the Implementation of the National War Crimes Strategy, Prosecutors’ offices and courts in Bosnia and Herzegovina that are budgetary support users, as well as representatives of relevant institutions and organisations, all participated in the conference. Read the full speech by Dr. Daviddi here
