Donor Co-Financing Assessment for New Country Strategy
Annex 1 - Political Assessment in the Context of Article 1
European Bank
for Reconstruction and Development
The constitutional guarantees for freedom of assembly and association, speech, thought, conscience, and religion are broadly respected. At the
same time, the Council of Europe and EU reports pointed to remaining weaknesses in the area of the freedom of expression (protection against,
and prosecution of, physical attacks against journalists and human rights advocates). Discrimination against LGBTI people remains widespread.
On a positive side, in 2019 the first ever LGBTI pride march took place in Sarajevo. Subsequent marches were organised in 2020-2021. Although
antidiscrimination law is in place, it needs to be effectively applied and enforcement mechanisms need to be improved. In general, public
awareness of the legal remedies provided by the anti-discrimination law remains low. Property rights are respected, and the vast majority of cases
of property repossession requests have been resolved, although there is still no reliable database on outstanding claims.
There are still more than 100,000 internally displaced persons in B&H. Despite steps taken to implement the revised Strategy for the
Implementation of Annex 7 to the Dayton Accords, mainly regarding housing, B&H still lacks a coordinated mechanism to address legislative gaps
hampering sustainable returns and local integration.
The Constitution provides citizens with the right to refer violations of their rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution to the Constitutional
Court. When its decisions are not enforced, citizens can lodge cases before the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). There is also the
institution of the Ombudsperson in place, which has issued several reports and recommendations to the Parliament.
Political inclusiveness for women, ethnic and other minorities
Due to a history of armed inter-ethnic conflict, the issues related to the rights of ethnic communities in B&H are particularly sensitive. For 22 years,
from 1991 to 2013, there was no census of the population in B&H. The first post-conflict census was eventually conducted in 2013, and it
included questions on ethnic affiliation. The publication of the results of the 2013 census was delayed, however, due to disagreements between
the Entities on the methodological issues. When they were published on 1 July 2016, one of the two Entities, the Republika Srpska, did not fully
recognise the results.
The Constitution established the category of "constituent peoples" - de facto tier one which includes Bosniaks, Croats, and Serbs. The next tier
is "minorities". 18 groups are officially recognised as national minorities in B&H (Albanians, Montenegrins, Czechs, Italians, Jews, Hungarians,
Macedonians, Germans, Poles, Roma, Romanians, Russians, Rusins, Slovaks, Slovenians, Turks, Ukrainians, and, most recently, Austrians, whose
representative was accepted in the National Minority Council). "Others" designate members of the above-mentioned national minorities as well as
those who do not recognise themselves as either members of these communities or of the constituent peoples.
Although the legal and institutional framework for the protection of minorities, including the above-mentioned law, the Anti-Discrimination Law, and
the National Minority Councils, are largely in place, implementation remains uneven. The most severe, and unique problem as regards
inclusiveness of ethnic minorities, however, is related to the specifics of the constitutional set up. In B&H citizens who do not identify themselves
as part of one of the three "constituent peoples" are legally barred from running for the B&H Presidency and in the House of Peoples chamber of
the national parliament. Furthermore, there are discriminatory restrictions based on residency: a citizen registered in the "wrong" Entity (a Bosniak
or Croat in RS or a Serb in FB&H) cannot run for the B&H presidency either; RS voters can only vote for a Serb candidate, while voters in FB&H
PUBLIC
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