Victims of war torture in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) never received a state law and rights to health, pension insurance, or other rights guaranteed by the United Nations (UN) Convention against Torture, and many of them died before they could exercise existing entity rights.
Last weekend, the Association of Prison Camp Inmates of BiH marked the International Day in Support for Victims of Torture by visiting the camps in Kalinovik, where the 31st anniversary of the martyrdom of Bosniaks in that area was marked. The President of the Association, Seid Omerovic, says that these and other victims in BiH have been waiting for years for a law on victims of torture that would make their lives and everyday life easier.
Omerovic emphasized that a law on the protection of torture victims was in the parliamentary procedure in 2014, but there was no interest in its adoption.
Goran Timotija, president of the Organization of Families of Captured and Killed Fighters and Missing Civilians of Trnovo in the Republika Srpska (RS), believes that all victims should have the same treatment and rights.
The International Day of Support for Victims of Torture was established in 1987 with the entry into force of the UN Convention against Torture.
Volker Turk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, in a statement on the occasion of the commemoration, pointed out that torture is a serious crime, absolutely prohibited under international law, and that according to the UN Convention against Torture, all states are obliged to prevent torture.
“Every victim of torture has the right to recognition, justice, and compensation. And every victim of torture must know that we are doing everything we can to provide them with support and to ensure that torture, wherever it occurs, is documented, investigated, prosecuted, and punished,” the announcement states, Detektor reports.
E.Dz.
