Bosnia and Herzegovina – annual report 2022

Details: Published: September 4, 2023

Participants at the workshop “The Rights of Refugees – Access to Economic and Social Rights”.

Strategic Framework

Legal Policy Starting Point

Bosnia and Herzegovina was late to begin with transforming its legal system due to the war. There are numerous peculiarities in the state structure due to the Dayton Peace Agreement. They include the office of a UN-appointed High Representative, a position that former Federal Minister Christian Schmidt has held since 2021.

Once the Stabilization and Association Agreement between Bosnia and Herzegovina and the European Union had entered into force on 1 June 2015, the accession candidate status was granted to the country in December 2022.

Difficulties associated with project work in Bosnia and Herzegovina emerge in connection with the pronounced federal system whose entities only cooperate to a limited extent, which encourages a fragmentation of the law. The elections on 2 October 2022 (state presidency, state parliament, entity and cantonal parliaments) did not bring about any significant changes in the ethnically dominated party structures, either. Internal political conflicts continue to cause reform standstill.

Overall Concept

IRZ places the main focus on the basic and further training of lawyers in Bosnia and Herzegovina due to the situation described above. In this context, IRZ supports events on civil and commercial law at the Centre for Judicial and Prosecutorial Training (CEST) of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and at the law faculties of the universities of Sarajevo, Mostar and Zenica. Moreover, IRZ cooperates closely with the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina and with the Vaša Prava legal aid organisation. As part of its activities, which are funded by the Federal Ministry of Justice and the Federal Foreign Office, IRZ consciously creates opportunities for members of different ethnic groups to meet as a means of alleviating ethnic tensions.

Focus of Activity in 2022

Constitutional Law, Human Rights and their Enforceability

Regional workshop on “Participatory rights – economic and social rights of refugees”, which was jointly organised with the legal aid organisation Vaša Prava

Civil and Commercial Law

Seminar on “Current Issues in law of property”, which was jointly organised with the Centre for Judicial and Prosecutorial Training of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Seminar on “Harmonisation of the cadastre and land register – practical problems”, which was jointly organised with the Centre for Judicial and Prosecutorial Training of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
10th International Conference on Family Law Day with the Faculty of Law at Džemal Bijedić University of Mostar

Basic and Further Training

Seminar on “Repercussions of European law on national law”, which was jointly organised with the Centre for Judicial and Prosecutorial Training of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Seminar on “Recognition and enforcement of foreign court judgements”, which was jointly organised with the Centre for Judicial and Prosecutorial Training of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Seminar on “Conflict of laws issues in the area of civil status, family law and inheritance law”, which was jointly organised with the Centre for Judicial and Prosecutorial Training of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Seminar on “Integrity, independence and ethics”, which was jointly organised with the Centre for Judicial and Prosecutorial Training of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Seminar on “Patient rights”, which was jointly organised with the Centre for Judicial and Prosecutorial Training of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Outlook

In 2023, IRZ will continue and build on its project work in Bosnia and Herzegovina in close cooperation with its partner institutions. Until the end of the current backlog of legislative reforms, the focus will remain on continuing cooperation with the Constitutional Court of the whole state, the Centre for Judicial and Prosecutorial Training of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the non-governmental organisation Vaša Prava.

Furthermore, IRZ will contribute to the implementation of the EU project „EU 4 Justice – Phase II”, launched in December 2022. This represents IRZ’ first involvement in an EU-funded project in the country and IRZ will in particular be active in the field of promoting the prevention of and investigation on corruption cases.

Please find the Annual Report 2022 here: Media centre – Annual reports.