Report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence

Report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence, Fabián Salvioli, on his visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina

From 2 to 10 December 2021, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence – at the time Fabián Salvioli – conducted an official visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina to assess the measures adopted by the authorities in the fields of truth, justice, reparation, memorialization and guarantees of non-recurrence to address the serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law committed during the 1992-1995 armed conflict.

Presented to the United Nations Human Rights Council in September 2022, the report of the visit examines achievements in the advancement of transitional justice in the country as well as obstacles to this process, looking into the legal and institutional framework, truth-seeking initiatives, accountability measures for past violations and abuses, reparation, memorialization, and guarantees of non-recurrence in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The report notes the efforts made after the conflict, with sustained support from the international community, to address past abuses, in particular regarding the search for missing persons, the criminal prosecution of war criminals and institutional reforms. However, the report underscores significant gaps. In particular, it stresses the insufficiency and inadequacy of reparation measures and the enduring harm on survivors and families of victims, as well as the inadequacy of memorialization processes and history teaching, and of measures aimed at promoting inter-ethnic understanding, combating discrimination and curbing incendiary nationalisms. 

The report concludes with recommendations addressed to the Government, including to harmonize relevant legislation; to accelerate the search for and identification of remaining missing persons, and ensure access to relevant information for their families; to adopt official initiatives aimed at comprehensively establishing the truth and at collecting data and victims’ testimonies; to provide the judiciary with necessary resources and accelerate the processing of pending war crimes cases in a non-discriminatory manner; to ensure that all victims have access to witness protection services, free legal aid and psychosocial and health services; and to adopt without delay a comprehensive legal framework and concomitant national reparation programme, in full consultation with victims and with a victim-centred approach and gender and disabilities perspective. Additionally, the report addresses recommendations to the international community to provide or maintain technical collaboration and assistance to support unfinished transitional justice processes, as well as to the European Union to consider instituting, as part of the accession negotiations, mechanisms to assess and monitor the progress made in achieving a comprehensive transitional justice process.