BOSNIA - HUMAN RIGHTS OMBUDSMEN (FINALLY) TAKE

UNCLAS SARAJEVO 001906 SENSITIVE SIPDIS EUR/SCE FOR FOOKS, STINCHCOMB; NSC FOR HELGERSON E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM PGOV BK SUBJECT: BOSNIA - HUMAN RIGHTS OMBUDSMEN (FINALLY) TAKE OFFICE REF: SARAJEVO 1231 ¶1. (SBU) On December 4, after more than two years of political wrangling, Bosnia and Herzegovina's three new state-level ombudsmen for human rights issues finally took office. The inaugural session of the ombudsman institution took place December 15, with a formal hand-over of responsibility from the previous incumbents, who had been appointed in 2004 under a previous law, in which the state-level ombudsman institution was one of three, alongside a Federation ombudsman and an RS ombudsman. The new ombudsman institution, constituted under the March 2006 Law on Ombudsman for Human Rights in BiH, was supposed to have been the sole institution resulting from the merger of the entity- and state-level ombudsmen by December, 2006. ¶2. (SBU) As always, the devil is in the (politically-charged) details. The RS National Assembly, unlike the Federation, has not yet passed a law transferring authority, staff, or funding to the new ombudsman institution. Instead, the RSNA passed a law creating a different ombudsman for children's issues, despite this area having been included in the state-level law as within the purview of the state-level institution. To date, no legislation has been formally introduced to bring the RS into compliance with the state law, and pass competency to the new ombudsman institution. ¶3. (SBU) Personnel is also a factor: in their first group meeting with anyone from the international community, the three ombudsmen advised us that both the Federation and RS institutions (which they are expected to absorb) are bloated bureaucracies, with more than half of the 70 staff members carrying out purely administrative functions, unable to address the now-backlogged case load they are inheriting. Fully half the lawyers the Federation ombudsman employs must be let go as lacking the skills to deal professionally with human rights issues (though, they say, many can be let go by simple attrition). ¶4. (SBU) Finally, facilities for the institution are a major concern: the ombudsman institution, which by law is to be headquartered in Banja Luka, will have branch offices in several cities of BiH, including large offices in Sarajevo. Currently, several offices which state- and entity-level staff use are in unsuitable facilities, all rented. The ombudsmen plan to produce a study of needs and hope to identify transitional space while permanent facilities can be acquired. ENGLISH