In July 2014, the Initiative for Monitoring European Integrations of Bosnia and Herzegovina published its 2014 Alternative Progress Report: Political Criteria, created through a joint effort of several dozens of individuals and organizations from all over Bosnia and Herzegovina and based on their concrete experiences and recommendations. The Report focused on the political criteria for European integrations and was referred to the EU Delegation in BiH in July of this year with the aim of presenting civil society’s take on political issues, and thereby contributing to a more accurate and more complete overview of the state of things in those areas which are of importance for European integrations of BiH. Considering that three months have passed between the referral of the Alternative Report and the publishing of the official report, it is safe to say that the EU Delegation in BiH has had enough time to inform the European Commission about the conclusions presented by civil society organizations in the Alternative Report.
Unfortunately, it has become obvious that the European Commission Report contains only a few findings of the Alternative Report and has omitted comments related to key legal domains and burning issues in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In some cases, the European Commission Report not only disregarded the findings of the Alternative Report but included views diametrically opposite to those presented by the civil society. This is especially concerning since the findings in question relate to cases of human rights violation which should be a priority in the process of European integration. When it comes to the violation of the political rights of returnees in Republika Srpska, intensified by the attempted changes to the Law on Domicile and Residence, the European Commission even supported such discriminatory activities in its report. Speaking of changes to the constitution, the European Commission lauded negotiations on constitutional reforms which were carried out outside the institutions of the political system and with leaders of political parties in BiH and which, besides from proving unsuccessful, did not focus on issues raised by the Sejdic and Finci judgment. We find this to be a very negative message for future negotiations on constitutional reforms awaiting BiH. Also neglected were those comments criticizing the functioning of the legal system, the election of judges as well as the problematic legal framework for bringing war crimes to trial.
The report also displays a contradictory attitude to one of the key problems for the European integrations of BiH – the non-existence of a coordination mechanism. State institutions have been criticized for their failure to create common strategies and policies on state level, while the establishment of such mechanisms in Republika Srpska, especially in those areas dealing with the alignment of legislation with acquis, has been met with approval.
Civil rights organizations responsible for the Alternative Report have deemed that recommendations related to women and LGBTIQ rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina have been largely accepted, and are particularly pleased that the Report has accepted comments related to pregnancy rights and the non-existence of statistical data and an adjusted methodology for collecting data on women who were victims of violence. The overview of the state of LGBTIQ rights provided by the European Commission includes all findings of the Alternative Report and provides new information not present in the Alternative Report. However, insufficient integration of women rights into different aspects of the Progress Report, i.e. mainstreaming women’s human rights is cause for concern. Also concerning is the fact that the report focuses more on formal activities related to policy and legislation adoption, and less on the all-pervading discriminatory practices.
We commend the increasing involvement of civil society organizations in the process of monitoring European integrations, but we also believe that this cooperation should be of a higher intensity and that EU institutions should be consistent in their requests for the implementation of EU standards, especially in the field of human rights. Civil society organizations have at their disposal concrete and elaborate information on the state of human rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and their experience as well as data provided to the European Commission should have featured much more prominently in the European Commission’s Progress Report in order for it to truly reflect the real situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina.