News

Draft Election Law resubmitted to Parliament

26.01.2000

Yesterday, Tuesday 25 January, the draft election law was resubmitted to the Parliamentary Assembly by the OSCE.After much thought and wide consultation, OHR and OSCE have decided on a number of alterations to the draft, and to remove altogether the most controversial section, which deals with the presidential election...

Human Rights Task Force Sets 2000 Agenda

25.01.2000

The Human Rights Task Force (HRTF), comprising the principals of the main international organizations operating in BiH (OHR, OSCE, UNHCR and UNMiBH), as well as the heads of other agencies, met on Tuesday, 25 January, to set priorities in the area of human rights for the year 2000.The meeting, which was chaired by the...

Interview: Wolfgang Petritsch, the High Representative

23.01.2000

ONASA: After the political opposition won the elections in Croatia, what changes do You expect in BiH? PETRITSCH: Well, I believe that this is definitely progress which spells progress for the whole region, including Bosnia and Herzegovina. First of all, I believe that relationship between the Croats, be...

AFU visits Una-Sana Canton

21.01.2000

OHR's Anti-Fraud Unit visited Una-Sana Canton earlier this week to meet with the Minister of Justice and members of the judiciary to discuss ways of enhancing ongoing anti-corruption efforts in the Canton, and to identify where assistance and expertise are most needed. OHR, UNMiBH and OSCE reviewed institutional and ot...

Order on Establishing the Brcko District Police Service

20.01.2000

Today, 20 January 2000, Brcko Supervisor Robert W. Farrand, has issued an order establishing the Brcko District Police Service, in accordance with the arbitration Final Award for Brcko, dated 5 March 1999, and the Annex to the Final Award, dated 18 August 1999.With this Order, Ambassador Farrand has also appointed Mr....

The High Representative calls for the creation of a Higher Education Council

18.01.2000

The High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, has called for problems in Higher Education to be urgently addressed and supports the need to establish a Higher Education Council as recommended in a report made public last week by the World Bank and the Council of Europe at an education round table hosted by the OHR. This...

Petritsch and Barry Call for Democratic Reforms to Defamation Laws

18.01.2000

The High Representative Wolfgang Petritsch and the OSCE Head of Mission Robert Barry today issued a joint letter to Federation Prime Minister Edhem Bicakcic, calling for the withdrawal of the proposed Law on Defamation which the Federation Government has recently approved and forwarded to the Federation Parliament for...

OHR Response to Attacks against IMC

17.01.2000

The Office of the High Representative would like to make it clear that the recent remarks on the Independent Media Commission, made by various Government officials are wholly unacceptable.The IMC was the first Commission set up under Article II (8) of DPA Annex 10, with wide powers in the media field delegated to it. A...