Bosnian Torture Victims Want Law on Their Rights

The signing of the petition is being organised by the Vive Zene association from Tuzla in co-operation with former camp prisoners’ associations in Bosnia and Tuzla Canton, the Croatian association of former camp prisoners of the Middle Bosnian Canton and the association of prisoners in the Brcko District.

Citizens will be able to sign the petition in Cazin, Bihac, Busovaca, Kljuc, Tuzla, Hadzici, Sarajevo and Gorazde.

Suzdina Bijedic, the co-ordinator of the project, entitled, “The Network – Together Against Torture in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” claims that the petition is aimed at informing broader society that the victims of war still don’t have their status resolved.

“We want citizens to support us in this way so that we can finally persuade the politicians to start resolving this problem. We estimate that there are around 200,000 persons in Bosnia and Herzegovina today who were torture victims and who are still waiting for the state to recognise their rights,” said Bijedic.

The law on torture victims, the organisers claim, would provide former camp prisoners and torture victims with a so-called basic package of rights, health care, social and labour legal rights guaranteed under international conventions which deal with financial and non-financial reparations.

“According to the analyses, around 80 per cent of torture victims cannot exercise their rights because existing entity laws contain discriminatory provisions contrary to the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture,” said Bijedic.

“The authorities mostly use the excuse that they don’t have the funds to implement such a law, but we think that suits filed by camp prisoners would force them to think about how they would resolve the issues of torture victims.”

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, former camp prisoners have filed several thousand suits against the entity or the state so far, and the courts ruled on their behalf in a few hundred cases. However, only a handful of verdicts have been confirmed or paid up.

Bijedic added that she expected the Ministry for Human Rights and Refugees in Bosnia and Herzegovina to present the draft law in the next ten days.

“The Network – Together Against Torture in Bosnia and Herzegovina” project is being financially supported by the European Union.