OHR

Police Directorate to Find Solution That Meets the Three EC
principles

There has been much discussion and debate on police reform and the work of
the Police Directorate during recent days.

The Police Directorate’s next meeting is scheduled for tomorrow.

The focus of the discussion in the Police Directorate is on the first
principle, which states that all legislative and budgetary competencies for all
police matters must be vested at the State level. It is important that the BiH
public understand what this means –

The first principle means that only the state, the BiH Parliamentary
Assembly, will adopt laws on all police matters in BiH with no possibility of
entity or cantonal laws on police matters.

Likewise, only the state will adopt the budget for all police matters, and
all police bodies will be funded through this budget.  This means that the
entity or cantonal levels will no longer be competent to adopt budgets on police
matters.

If the police are to be effective in fighting crime within BiH’s borders and
if BiH is to be an effective partner in the international fight against crime
the importance of this reform must not be underestimated.

OHR is confident that a solution that meets the three EC principles can be
found in the Directorate.

BiH Politicians are Responsible to BiH Voters

The citizens of BiH are attending to their own business and are doing this in
the context of political stabilization and economic recovery, the Senior Deputy
High Representative, Peter Bas-Backer, will tell the opening session of the
EU-BiH Interparliamentary meeting this afternoon in Banja Luka.

Ambassador Bas-Backer will emphasize, as the High Representative emphasized
on 18 April in his speech to the UN Security Council, that as BiH moves from the
Dayton framework into a structure established and owned in BiH and oriented
towards Euro-Atlantic structures, the full weight of political responsibility
will fall on the shoulders of BiH politicians. The International Community will
no longer act as an alternative source of authority.

Ambassador Bas-Backer will point out – and I quote – that “Just in the last
few days the parliament of BiH, by a narrow margin and after months of detailed
and constructive debate, failed to endorse a package of constitutional changes
that would have equipped the BiH authorities to serve citizens more efficiently
and would also have equipped the country to meet the demands of EU integration,
particularly the very strenuous legislative demands. The International Community
argued vigorously and with one voice in favor of the constitutional amendments.
The International Community stands ready to offer its support when the issue of
constitutional reform is taken up again – and it must be addressed if BiH is to
progress further and faster along the road to European integration. But it
is now up to the citizens of BiH to consider this new situation and to make up
their minds about how their political representatives acted about
Constitutional and other reforms, and to express their views at the
elections. This is a matter of ownership.”

The full text of Ambassador Bas-Backer’s speech will be available later today
on the OHR website.

EUPM

EUPMis very pleased to see the first case solved thanks to a call from a
citizen following the “Nerijesen slucaj” TV show.  

Reacting upon the received information, the members of Doboj police station
have arrested A.H. on 26 April in Kotorsko. A. H. is wanted by INTERPOL as a
suspect in a murder case that happened in 1997 in Slovenia.

“This is a clear example of the crucial importance of citizens’ active
participation in TV show “Nerijesen slucaj” and also how their cooperation with
the local police can result in arrest of those who committed crimes,” said
Brigadier General Vincenzo Coppola, Head of EUPM.

EUPM initiated the idea to implement TV show “Nerijesen slucaj” in BiH. 
The programme was first aired on October 5^th 2005 on BHT 1 and with
financial assistance from UK Embassy. “Nerijesen slucaj” is aired once a month
(Wednesdays) on BHT 1.

“I would like to use this opportunity to call upon all citizens of Bosnia and
Herzegovina to actively help their police solve crimes by providing information.
Citizens can call the toll free number Krimolovci at 0800 020 505 and give
information while staying completely anonymous.”reminds General Coppola.

The next edition of Nerijesen Slucaj TV programme will be aired on Wednesday,
3^rd of May on BHT1.

EUFOR

No statement.