Sarajevo FPU uncovers vulnerability in Bosnia's Child

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SARAJEVO 000145

DEPT FOR CA/EX, CA/VO, AND EUR/SCE (MIKE FOOKS)
DEPT ALSO PASS TO KCC
POSTS FOR FRAUD PREVENTION MANAGERS
VIENNA FOR DHS MARLA BELVEDERE
DEPT ALSO FOR CA/FPP-PLEASE PASS DHS
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A

TAGS: KFRD CVIS CMGT CPAS ASEC BK
SUBJECT: Sarajevo FPU uncovers vulnerability in Bosnia's Child
Legitimation Procedure

Ref A: 08 Sarajevo 1715
Ref B: 09 Sarajevo 053


1. [Summary] Recent FPU field trips have uncovered a potentially
serious vulnerability in Bosnia and Herzegovina's child legitimation
procedure. FPU determined that no Federal or Entity law regulates
background checks to verify the credibility of parents' statements
during the process of child legitimation. Sarajevo considers this
child legitimation procedure an easy way around strict BiH laws on
adoption, and a serious potential vulnerability for possible alien
smuggling and child abduction in Immigrant Visa cases. [End of
Summary]

2) Sarajevo FPU encountered a number of questionable visa cases in
which the biological father of the child was not the father stated
on the child's birth certificate. This prompted FPU to delve into
the issue of child legitimation in BiH. FPU's investigation led to
meetings with municipal officials throughout both Bosnian entities:
the Federation BiH (FBiH) and Republika Srpska (RS).


3. FPU discussed the legitimation issue with municipal officials in
Sarajevo, Bihac/Velika Kladusa, and Banja Luka in the course of
separate FPU visits to those areas. The scope of the investigation
revealed that this is a problem which persists in every part of BiH,
irrelevant to varying procedures in the Federation or Republika
Srpska.


4. The first case which prompted FPU review occurred in April 2008.
FPU visited Doboj Municipality to verify the credibility of two
documents used for immigration to the US. The documents in question
were a birth certificate and a Registry of Legitimation signed by an
AMCIT. FPU visited Doboj Municipality offices and met with the
Chief of Administration and the Maticar (Public Clerk) who issued
both documents. Both officials insisted that each document was
issued in accordance with the law, and that the American Citizen had
an authorized court interpreter whose signature and stamp was placed
on the document of legitimation. The presence of the translator
during the procedure is the reason why they dismissed the
possibility for misunderstanding regarding the nature and legal
consequences of child legitimation in RS and BIH.


5. Doboj officials supplied FPU with supporting documents regarding
the case and produced a certified copy of the original page of the
Birth Register which clearly showed the father was not mentioned in
the original 2003 entry. Additionally, hospital documents from 2003
did not report the father. The register revealed that the AMCIT
arrived on the scene in 2005 to officially claim the child. When
confronted with the fact that the AMCIT and the child's mother,
according to their own statements, did not even know each other in
the year of the child's birth, the Doboj officials insisted that all
procedures were followed according to RS and BIH laws, and that they
were under no obligation to check the credibility of the interested
party's statements in the process of child legitimation, even in
such a case where the AMCIT's relationship to the child were
suspect. Meanwhile, the AMCIT took advantage of this loophole in
the law to avoid the longer and more costly process of formal
adoption. While these findings were alarming to FPU, post felt at
the time that this was an isolated incident unique to that
municipality and did not investigate further.


6. The second case involved a couple from Tuzla who had filed an IV
petition for a minor who was born in Switzerland in 2003. FPU
discussed the case during a visit to the Chief of Vital Records
Department in Tuzla Municipality in November 2008. The mother
admitted during the Immigrant Visa interview that her new AMCIT
husband was not the biological father of the child, even though the
husband's name was listed on the child's birth certificate issued in
Tuzla. FPU investigation revealed that the real father is a
Montenegrin citizen with whom the mother had a relationship in
Switzerland. The father was surprised to learn that the mother was
attempting to take the child to the US without his knowledge or
permission. The Chief of Department once more confirmed to FPU that
for the legitimation of children in BiH, the parent's sworn
statement is sufficient-no mandatory check by a Bosnian authority
exists.


7. FPU then held a meeting with the Chief of the Municipal Vital

SARAJEVO 00000145 002 OF 002


Records Department at the Sarajevo Center Municipality. The Chief
provided the FPU with copies of relevant BiH and Federal laws
related to work of maticars (municipal clerks). She emphasized that
no local law or regulation requires maticars to perform background
checks during the legitimation process. FPU has since met with
municipal officials in Sarajevo, Bihac and Velika Kladusa, and Banja
Luka who all echoed post's concerns regarding Bosnia's legitimation
process.


8. BiH municipal authorities are apparently ready to recognize as a
father any man who comes to their office with the mother and signs a
statement that he is the legitimate father. Where the original
birth certificate did not list the biological father's name, the
process is easiest. The new father's name is entered into the
annotation field in the original Birth Register, after which a new
amended Birth Certificate is issued. Based solely on the new birth
certificate, it is impossible to ascertain the true circumstances of
the child's birth. While post believes that this process is only
rarely taken advantage of, the legitimation procedure clearly
presents an easy way around strict BiH adoption laws, and a serious
potential vulnerability. The Consular Section has since implemented
new operating procedures to identify and red-flag for investigation
applications in which the legitimation of minor applicants is in
question. Post will closely monitor all children's birth
certificates used for visas, especially in IV cases.

ENGLISH