OSCE launches its latest report on processing of war crimes in BiH

SARAJEVO, 28 June 2022 – The OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) today presented, in Sarajevo, the report A Race Against Time: Successes and Challenges in the Implementation of the National War Crimes Processing Strategy of BiH.

The report highlights the main achievements and obstacles relating to war crimes processing in BiH and provides recommendations for different relevant stakeholders in order to more efficiently and fairly process the remaining backlog of cases.

“The OSCE Mission to BiH calls on all stakeholders, national and international, to act swiftly and take every possible step within their powers to ensure that the remaining war crimes cases are processed efficiently and fairly.  Justice has become a race against time. Nearly 500 cases, involving over 4,000 known suspects, remain uncompleted by prosecutors. The victims and their families have had to wait far to long for the justice that is due them. More can be done and more must be done,” said Ambassador Kathleen Kavalec, Head of the OSCE Mission to BiH.

“Over the past decade, the European Union has deployed great efforts to assist the country to effectively tackle the backlog of war crimes cases within the country’s judiciary. Thanks to EU financial assistance starting in 2013, the backlog has been reduced by almost 60%. War crimes processing in BiH has overall been efficient and effective, and the EU/ OSCE collaboration on helping the processing of cases is regarded as an example of successful assistance to domestic stakeholders. We will continue to do so. At the same, the OSCE report presented today comes at a crucial time, when we know that time is running out. The OSCE’s recommendations must be turned into concrete actions. Therefore, I urge all stakeholders, from the judicial and the prosecutorial services, from the authorities and the HJPC, to double their efforts so that all victims can finally get the justice they deserve,” said Johann Sattler, Head of EU Delegation to BiH and EU Special Representative in BiH.

“The report has been published at a very important moment for Bosnia and Herzegovina. Many aspects of implementation of transitional justice have yet to be systemically sensitised in Bosnia and Herzegovina even after 25 years. The OSCE Mission recognised the importance of this issue long ago, both from the standpoint of the victims and from the standpoint of the right of the accused to a fair trial within a reasonable period of time, and ultimately from the standpoint of citizens themselves, who have the right to truth and reconciliation. This report represents a comprehensive analysis to guide the work of all the authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the implementation of the National War Crimes Strategy. This document presents a detailed picture of the current state of affairs in this field. Consequently, the report provides very detailed and very serious recommendations. We will agree with many of those recommendations, and we may disagree with some others, but undoubtedly, they will serve to correct our actions and provide a good basis for enhanced and more efficient work of law enforcement, legislative, executive and judicial authorities,” said Minka Kreho, a judge of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The analysis and recommendations presented in this report on the processing of war crimes cases are based on the findings of the OSCE Mission to BiH’s Trial Monitoring Programme.