BiH has made progress in certain areas, but has still not implemented the decision of the ruling in the European Court on Human Rights in the “Sejdić-Finci” case, nor has it changed the Constitution and electoral law, according to the report of the General Secretary of the Council of Europe Torbjorn Jagland.
The report covers the period from June 2010-December 2012. Jagland assessed that further efforts are necessary in order to ensure the harmonization of standards of the rule of law and human rights, especially when it comes to the independence of the judiciary and the media, and the fight against corruption.
“The lack of representatives in a number of bodies of the Council of Europe further represents a barrier to the full participation of BiH in the work of the organization’’, said Jagland in the report entitled “BiH” Compliance with Obligations and Commitments and Implementation of Post-Accession Program of Cooperation”.
He said that there is still ethnic segregation in schools and this is a problem.
Jagland thinks that at the same time the small amount of progress in BiH has achieved in improving the efficiency of different levels of government.
“Ratification of the European Charter for Regional and Language Minoritie sin BiH is one of the last obligations from the convention, which is set forth in the opinion of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe from 2002 on the request for membership of the country. The decision of the judge in the Court for Human Rights is a success that I welcome’’, said Jagland.
Jagland said that BiH persevered in many ways with judicial reform and that there is progress, even though there are still some difficulties in the implementation of the reform strategy in this area, and strategies related to the prosecution of war crimes.
According to Jagland, BiH has shown itself to be a country that contributes to regional stability, providing a good level of cooperation with regional partners and the Hague Tribunal.
