By Nevena Šarenac
The main goal of the project ‘War Crimes Processing’ is to offer urgent help to BiH judiciary in order to speed up the just and efficient war crimes processing, it was said during today’s presentation of aforementioned project in Sarajevo hotel ‘Europe’.
Project, led by OSCE mission in BiH, and financially supported by governments of the UK, Norway, Switzerland, the USA and Italy, will last for 15 months, until the money of Instrument of Pre-Accession arrive, in order to secure further support in war crimes processing in BIH.
With the current number of 1 300 unsolved cases, the key issue is to improve human and material resources of judicial institutions in BIH in order to end the unsolved cases.
Chief of OSCE mission in BIH, ambassador Fletcher Burton noted that with the implementation of this project, BiH will be full able to deal with the legacy of the war, and to make progress in solving remaining war crime cases.
‘The value of the project is almost one million EUR, and in the next 15 months we will be giving the support to BiH capacities to deal with urgent and sensitive issues of solving war crimes casses’, said ambassador Burton.
He said that the project will be responsible for judicial institutions on all levels, and it is planned to include additional staff and additional resources.
‘ Trainings and special education for judges and prosecutors, who work on the war crimes case, will be secured, but it will also be secured for professional workers who deal with these issues ( defence lawyers and police investigators’ , concluded Burton.
Ambassador of the USA in BiH Patrick Moon stated that the project of ‘War Crimes Processing’ is an important step towards strengthening capacities of the legal system at the level of BIH, FBiH and RS in processing war crimes cases.
‘These cases are key for promotion of the rule of law and for achieving justice for all war crimes victims regardless of their nationality or the nationality of culprits’, said Moon.
‘We will continue to work, with our partners, in BiH in the field of rule of law not just with this project, but with projects of State Department OPDAT and ICITAP, as well as with USAID program in the field of judicial reforms and fight against corruption’, said the US Ambassador in BiH.
Ambassador of The UK in BiH Nigel Case noted that the priority is to solve war crimes cases, because ‘justice delayed is justice denied’.
‘It is unacceptable that many victims, even after 20 year, still wait for justice’, warned Ambassador Casey.
He noted that the UK Government has given more than 500 000 BAM for the implementation of this project in order to help the work of judges and prosecutors in BiH.
‘We also offer trainings to judges concerning the transfer of war crime cases from the state level to lower levels’, said the UK Ambassador in BiH.
Project ‘War Crimes Processing’ was also supported by Norway Government, which gave 530 000 BAM for its implementation.
Deputy Ambassador of Norway in BIH Miriam Naqvi noted that this project is the continuation of long time support that Norway’s been giving to BiH judicial sector.
‘This is one of the most important aspects of cooperation between BiH and Norway. BiH must face its past, in which war crimes were committed in the entire country’, said Naqvi.
Chief of Swiss Cooperation Department Jose Guntern noted the great misbalance between the number of unsolved war crimes and financial, professional and human capacities.
‘It is also important to strengthen institutional capacities, because there is a time pressure and BiH must quickly deal with its war crimes cases. It is in the best interest of the country to prosecute these cases in order to re-establish the trust in judicial institutions of the country’, concluded Guntern.
Italian ambassador in BiH Raimondo de Cardona noted that Italy is pleased to be a part of efforts in giving support to the rule of law in BiH.
‘Since 2005, Italy gave almost two million BAM for solving war crimes cases in BiH. We are glad to give a contribution to this project’, concluded De Cardona.
