Katarina Cvikl (group editor) mirela Hodović
2. Human rights
− Maintain the push for active involvement of civil society in the dialogue with public administration by, for instance, bringing CSOs to the table as equal partners and thus providing legitimacy to their voices.
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− Encourage programmes that offer exchange of expertise in relevant topic areas, which would additionally build the capacities of recognised CSOs and make their active and effective involvement in the EU accession process and corresponding reforms more realistic.
2. Human rights
and Civil Society–Government dialogue
As regards human rights issues, BiH is a party to all relevant international and European human rights treaties, including the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, the principles of which have also been made part and parcel of the BiH Constitution. Thus, a large portion of the legal provisions necessary to guarantee human rights are in place, but as with many other issues in BiH, what is lacking is their implementation.
To date, human rights reforms that have been carried out in BiH have largely been pushed by the international community. Such was the example of the institution of ombudsman reform, which was presented as a precondition for BiH proceeding successfully in its visa liberalisation process. The merger of three separate ombudsmen into a state-level institution was completed under strong international pressure in 2010, even though this institution at first in fact left BiH citizens with a lower level of support and protection than the three separate ones. To date, it remains weak.
The same is true for another specific human rights concern that is by far the most exposed on the human rights agenda in BiH at the moment; the resolution of the so-called Sejdić-Finci issue has, similar to the ombudsman institutional reform, been turned into a condition by the EU if BiH wishes to continue its path towards European integration. The 2009 European Court of Human Rights judgment in the case of Sejdić-Finci9 found the BiH constitution and electoral law to be discriminatory in that they do not allow minorities to
9 “Case of Sejdic and Finci v. Bosnia and Herzegovina, European Court of Human Rights, judgment of 22 December 2009,” http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/sites/eng/pages/search.
aspx?i=001-96491#{%22itemid%22:[%22001-96491%22]}.
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Katarina Cvikl, Mirela Hodović, Dragan Vujanović
run for positions in the House of Peoples or the presidency. The EU, especially Commissioner Füle and the EU Delegation in BiH, have invested much effort to reach a compromise and implement the Sejdić-Finci judgment—so far, without success.
As the process of finding solutions to this conundrum was mainly limited to political elites’ dialogue with the EU, the engagement of civil society and the space it got to participate de facto in decision-making (be consulted and equally involved) when it comes to one of the key human rights issues remains questionable. Although the Council of Ministers adopted the “Rules of Consultations in Drafting of the Legal Regulations” in 2006,10 it means little in practice as their implementation is limited. In the Sejdić-Finci case, numerous analyses have been produced, initiatives have been started and proposals have been made by CSOs in BiH, but were not taken into consideration by the government.
In the same case, the EU declaratively—although not substantially—
strongly encouraged CSOs to take on a more proactive approach and to participate in consultations. To a greater extent this was the case, especially after a more successful example of civil society exerting pressure on politicians in the case of delays in adopting the law on a Single Reference Number, which prevented newborn children and their mothers from gaining access to health, social benefits and travel documents. Following these events and the February 2014 protests, the EU increasingly began calling on the government to make civil society and citizens more important players in finding a solution to human rights, or specifically the Sejdić-Finci case. While it might remain limited to the rhetorical level, it is indeed a step forward. But the fact that it is the EU that has to do so is indicative of a general situation in which it is clear that civil society–government cooperation within the human rights field is not organic. Rather, it requires strong international support at all times.
10 “Pravila za konsultacije u izradi pravnih propisa,” Vijeće Ministara, 7 September 2006, www.ads.gov.ba/v2/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=98%3Apravila- za-konsultacije-u-izradi-pravnih-propisa&catid=40%3Aother-documents&Itemid=
92&lang=en.
49 Bosnia and Herzegovina recommendations
To the government
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− Fully implement the existing legislative framework related to cooperation with CSOs, especially by establishing a joint and operational state-level registry and an empowered body for cooperation with CSOs.
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− Implement the rules of consultations with CSOs in policymaking, and begin taking CSOs and their expertise into consideration by guaranteeing regular engagement with different types of CSOs. Go beyond ad hoc and selectively accepting only certain CSOs as partners.
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− Conduct an in-depth analysis of the ombudsmen merger (as a case study), with the participation of multiple stakeholders—including civil society—ensured as part of the process.
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− Commit to an inclusive social dialogue on finding realistic and implementable solutions to the Sejdić-Finci issue that would take into consideration the views and proposals of CSOs and society more generally.
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− In general, be more open to communication with CSOs so that their actions are understood by the state and they are positioned to become actual partners in human rights-related decision-making processes.
To civil society
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− Improve coordination and cooperation activities in unified networks or platforms in order to come out with a less disintegrated, stronger voice and in this way increase leverage.
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− Take an active stance in claiming a role in dialogue with civil servants by offering constructive critique and contributing to prosperity, rather than take confrontational and overly critical standpoints.
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− Pressure and work side-by-side with domestic actors in BiH to look for alternative approaches to finding a solution to the Sejdić-Finci case.
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− Raise awareness of the international stakeholders working in BiH on the specifics of the Sejdić-Finci question, the relevance of such reform for the current BiH human rights context and possible alternative ways forward.
To the European Union
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− Lead by example and establish models for continuous cooperation with local BiH CSOs while standing by its recent focus on the CSOs
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Katarina Cvikl, Mirela Hodović, Dragan Vujanović
and offer genuine support to the involvement of CSOs in human rights-related public affairs in BiH.
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− Accept the distinctiveness of the Sejdić-Finci issue and in line with that adopt a more flexible approach to BiH constitutional reform and in cooperation with the CSOs seek innovative methods to find a solution.