RAPPORTEUR GROUP

Democracy

GR-DEM(2024)7

2 April 2024[1]

Council of Europe Action Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina 2022-2025

Progress Review Report (1 January 2022 to 31 December 2023)

Document prepared by the Directorate of Programme Co-ordination (DPC)

Item to be considered by the GR-DEM at its meeting on 23 April 2024

 

 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The 4th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Council of Europe (Reykjavík, 16-17 May 2023) adopted the “Reykjavík Declaration – United around our values”, which guides the work of the Council of Europe, including the Council of Europe Action Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina 2022-2025 (the “Action Plan”). The Reykjavík Declaration recognises the importance of the Council of Europe’s co-operation dimension, which is part of the Council of Europe strategic triangle of standard setting, monitoring and co-operation.

The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted the Action Plan at its 1420th meeting held on 8 December 2021. On 16 March 2023, the Rapporteur Group on Democracy (GR-DEM) was presented with an oral report on the progress achieved during the first year of implementation of the Action Plan.

This report details the impact of the implementation of the Action Plan and covers the period 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2023. This report neither aims to provide reflection on the general political, social and economic situation in the country nor sets out detailed information on individual projects.[2] The report presents the major achievements to date in each area in the context of clearly defined objectives and reflects on the effects of gender mainstreaming on the objectives of the Action Plan.

The long-standing co-operation with Bosnia and Herzegovina over the years – shaped since 2015 by the adoption of successive Action Plans – has become even more strategic. The previous action plan established productive synergies over time and enabled a smooth transition to this implementation cycle. The implementation of the Action Plan began immediately after the end of the previous programming document, in a year marked by the Russian Federation’s aggression against Ukraine, general and cantonal elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the decision of the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina to introduce amendments to the Constitution of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and to Bosnia and Herzegovina’s election law. These events have not, so far, negatively impacted the implementation of the Action Plan.

The support provided under the Action Plan is multifaceted. This is of particular importance given that the areas covered are closely interlinked. In co-operation with the authorities and other national partners, the Council of Europe launched some initiatives in new areas of support in 2023.

Notwithstanding the challenging political context, co-operation at technical level and a multidisciplinary approach resulted in the full or partial achievement of some of the Action Plan’s objectives during the reporting period, especially in the field of freedom of expression and freedom of the media, Roma inclusion and anti-discrimination, electoral processes, deliberative democracy at local level and education for democracy. Thanks to the support provided under the Action Plan, Bosnia and Herzegovina has the potential to become a regional example in the management and rehabilitation of violent and extremist prisoners (VEPs) and in collecting judicial data to inform the reform process. Support continued to be provided to progressively ensure legal certainty and the effective implementation of the European Convention on Human Rights (the “Convention”).

The achievement of the Action Plan’s objectives through the adoption of policies and legislation at the State level turned out to be more challenging, except for some breakthroughs under the human rights pillar. Similarly, the rapid post-election formation of the governing coalition at the State level created expectations of a positive dynamic for the execution of the Sejdić and Finci group of cases from the European Court of Human Rights (the “European Court”). However, the group of cases remains under the enhanced supervision of the Committee of Ministers of Council of Europe. The current political context confirms the importance and relevance of the topics of the Action Plan and the need to continuously support the advancement of the reforms at all levels.

The implementation of the Action Plan also contributes to the advancement of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by supporting Bosnia and Herzegovina in its efforts to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular goal 3, goal 4, goal 5, goal 8, goal 10, goal 11 and goal 16.

As of 31 December 2023, the Action Plan has received a total funding volume of €15.7 million representing 77% of its total revised budget of €20.4 million). The main donors are (in descending order, according to the volume of their financial contributions) the European Union, Norway, Germany, Sweden, Belgium, the Human Rights Trust Fund (HRTF), Liechtenstein and Slovenia.

Since it was launched, the Action Plan has seen its level of funding increase, which allowed to launch or continue the support provided in a number of identified areas. However, further funding, particularly at Action Plan level, would be critically needed to ensure the implementation of the Action Plan until the end of its term (especially regarding actions that aim to support a coherent national implementation of the Convention system, combat trafficking in human beings, manage rehabilitation of VEPs and further strengthen democratic innovations at local level) and to launch new initiatives in the field of constitutional justice and social rights.

CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. 1

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. 4

1. INTRODUCTION. 6

·            1.1 GENERAL OVERVIEW.. 6

·            1.2 OVERALL ASSESSMENT AND MAIN ACHIEVEMENTS. 7

2. PILLAR REVIEW.. 10

·            2.1     HUMAN RIGHTS. 10

2.1.1       EFFECTIVE EUROPEAN CONVENTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS IMPLEMENTATION. 10

2.1.2       EQUALITY AND HUMAN DIGNITY. 12

·            2.2     RULE OF LAW.. 15

2.2.1       RULE OF LAW BASED INSTITUTIONS. 15

2.2.2.      ACTION AGAINST CRIME, SECURITY AND PROTECTION OF CITIZENS. 17

·            2.3      DEMOCRACY. 23

2.3.1       DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE. 23

2.3.2 DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION. 25

3.  IMPLEMENTATION AND CO-ORDINATION. 26

·            3.1     HUMAN RIGHTS APPROACH. 27

3.1.1 GENDER MAINSTREAMING.. 28

3.1.2 PARTICIPATION AND INCLUSION. 29

3.1.3. EQUALITY AND NON-DISCRIMINATION. 32

3.1.4. ACCOUNTABILITY. 32

3.1.5. TRANSPARENCY AND ACCESS TO INFORMATION. 32

3.1.6. ENVIRONMENT. 33

·            3.2 CONTRIBUTION TO THE UNITED NATIONS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS. 33

·            3.3 RISK MANAGEMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY. 37

·            3.4     LESSONS LEARNED.. 39

·            3.5 FUNDING AND PARTNERS. 40

APPENDIX I: LIST OF PROJECTS. 44

APPENDIX II: FUNDING INFORMATION. 47

APPENDIX III: LOGFRAME OF THE ACTION PLAN FOR BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA 2022-2025. 48

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

ACFC

Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities

Action Plan

Council of Europe Action Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina 2022-2025

Budapest Convention

Convention on Cybercrime

CEC

Central Election Commission

CEPEJ

European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice

Commissioner

Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights

Congress

Council of Europe Congress of Local and Regional Authorities

CPT

European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment

CRA

Communications Regulatory Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina

CSO          

Civil society organisation

DPC

Directorate of Programme Co-ordination

Convention

European Convention on Human Rights

ECM

Expertise Co-ordination Mechanism

ECRI

European Commission against Racism and Intolerance

ECRML

European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages

ECSR

European Committee of Social Rights

ELoGE

European Label of Governance Excellence

EUD

European Union Delegation

European Court

European Court of Human Rights

FCNM

Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities

GR-DEM

Rapporteur Group on Democracy – Council of Europe

GRECO          

Group of States against Corruption

GRETA

Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings

GREVIO

Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence

HELP

Council of Europe Programme for Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals

HJPC

High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council

Horizontal Facility II

European Union/Council of Europe Joint Programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey 2019-2022”

Horizontal Facility III

European Union/Council of Europe Joint Programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Türkiye”

HRTF

Human Rights Trust Fund

IEOM

International Election Observation Mission

IPMIS

Integrated Prison Management Information System

INTERPOL

International Criminal Police Organization

IOM

International Organization for Migration

iPROCEEDS 2

Co-operation on Cybercrime: Targeting crime proceeds on the internet and securing electronic evidence

Istanbul Convention

Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence

IT

Information technology

JP

European Union/Council of Europe joint programme(s)

Lanzarote Committee

Committee of the Parties to the Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse

LDA Mostar

Local Democracy Agency of Mostar

LGBTI

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex

MCG

Minority Co-ordination Group

MEC              

Municipal Election Commission

MEDICRIME Convention

Council of Europe Convention on the Counterfeiting of Medical Products and Similar Crimes involving Threats to Public Health

MHRR

Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees of Bosnia and Herzegovina

MLA

Mutual legal assistance

MONEYVAL

Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism

NATO

North Atlantic Treaty Organization

NGO

Non-governmental organisation

NPM

National Preventive Mechanism

OB/APP

Council of Europe provision (Ordinary Budget) for action plans and priority actions

OB/CAP

Ordinary Budget contributions to action plans

OB/JPP

Council of Europe provision (Ordinary Budget) for European Union/Council of Europe joint programmes

OGP

Open Government Partnership

OHCHR

Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights

OHR

Office of the High Representative

PACE

Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

PIU

Prison intelligence unit

PMM                           

Council of Europe Project Management Methodology

PSC

Polling Station Commission

RFCDC

Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture

Roadmap

Roadmap for Improving Inclusive Education

ROMACTED II

Promoting good governance and Roma empowerment at local level

SDGs

United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

SIPA

State Investigation and Protection Agency

SLAPP

Strategic litigation against public participation

UN                               

United Nations

UNDP

United Nations Development Programme

UNESCO

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

UN Women

United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women

VC

Voluntary contribution(s)

Venice Commission

European Commission for Democracy through Law

VEP

Violent and extremist prisoner


1. INTRODUCTION                                        

1.1 GENERAL OVERVIEW

This report details the impact of the implementation of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina 2022-2025 (the “Action Plan”) and covers the period from 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2023. The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted the Action Plan at its 1420th meeting on 8 December 2021. The Action Plan was prepared following extensive consultation with the authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina. On 16 March 2023, an oral intervention presented the progress achieved during the first year of implementation of the Action Plan to the Rapporteur Group on Democracy (GR-DEM).

This report presents the major achievements during the reporting period in each area; it is followed by appendices with additional information. It highlights the outcomes at the strategic level and therefore does not provide detailed information on individual projects implemented as part of the Action Plan.

In addition to the technical co-operation activities carried out under the Action Plan, Bosnia and Herzegovina also benefited from the support of the Council of Europe Development Bank to initiate the reconstruction and furnishing of six psychiatric clinics located throughout the country, to empower women entrepreneurs and to provide sustainable housing to the most vulnerable refugees and displaced persons following the 1991-1995 conflicts, within the framework of the Regional Housing Programme.

The Action Plan was developed taking into account decisions, resolutions, recommendations, findings, conclusions of reports and opinions provided by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights (the “Commissioner”), the European Commission for Democracy through Law (the “Venice Commission”), the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT), the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO), the Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism (MONEYVAL), the European Committee of Social Rights (ECSR), the Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (ACFC), the Committee of the Parties to the Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (the “Lanzarote Committee”), the Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (GREVIO), the Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA), the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ECRML) and the Council of Europe Congress of Local and Regional Authorities (the “Congress”), as well as the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (the “European Court”) regarding Bosnia and Herzegovina. It also draws on the country’s reform priorities in areas of expertise of the Council of Europe. In addition, it builds on the results of previous action plans for Bosnia and Herzegovina for the periods 2018-2021 and 2015-2017.

The Action Plan aims to contribute to overall stability and democracy in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It assists the country in fulfilling its obligations as a Council of Europe member State by bringing legislation, institutions and practice further into line with Council of Europe standards in the areas of human rights, rule of law and democracy. The Action Plan includes the following areas for co-operation:

-    effective implementation of the European Convention on Human Rights (the “Convention”);

-    equality and human dignity;

-    social rights;

-    rule of law based institutions;

-    action against crime, security and protection of citizens;

-    democratic governance;

-    democratic participation.

1.2 OVERALL ASSESSMENT AND MAIN ACHIEVEMENTS

As emphasised in the “Reykjavík Declaration – United around our values”,[3] Council of Europe technical assistance programmes form an integral part of the unique strategic triangle of standard setting, monitoring and co-operation: the development of legally binding standards is linked to their monitoring by independent monitoring bodies and other mechanisms and supplemented by technical co-operation to facilitate their implementation. The Council of Europe’s actions are developed and implemented in areas where the Organisation has strong expertise and added value.

Figure 1: Council of Europe strategic triangle

This report was prepared using project reports, including from programmatic facilities,[4] and evaluation reports, where available.

An external mid-term evaluation of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina 2022-2025 (the “Action Plan”) is planned to be launched during the year 2024.

During the reporting period, Bosnia and Herzegovina benefited from 20 country-specific projects under the Action Plan. The country also participated in 18 regional programmes covering a vast array of activities designed to address countries’ priorities and to strengthen regional co-operation in the respective fields of action.[5] The implementation of the Action Plan extended to new areas with country-specific support being launched to combat sexual and digital violence towards women, corruption, money laundering and terrorist financing; to enhance efficiency and quality of justice; and to support the role of the newly established National Preventive Mechanism (NPM).[6]

In addition, with the support of the Action Plan,[7] the European Commission for Democracy through Law (the “Venice Commission”) issued opinions and an amicus curiae brief making recommendations on the question of the appellate review in the courts of Bosnia and Herzegovina and on the draft law on courts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, responding to requests from the authorities. The support provided under the Action Plan is further relevant for advancing the country’s European Union accession agenda. Bosnia and Herzegovina was granted the European Union candidate status in December 2022. The European Council decided on 15 December 2022 to grant the European Union candidate status to Bosnia and Herzegovina on the condition that the country implement the steps specified in the European Commission's October 2022 communication on enlargement policy to strengthen the rule of law, the fight against corruption and organised crime, migration management and fundamental rights. On 21 March 2024, the European Council approved the opening of the accession negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina, following the recommendation from the European Commission issued on 12 March 2024.

Despite the overall difficulties in adopting policies and legislative proposals at State level, key strategic documents were adopted/endorsed in the area of human rights. While steps have been taken towards the adoption of measures facilitating the execution of several judgments of the European Court of Human Rights

(the “European Court”), no progress had been made with respect to execution of the Sejdić and Finci group of cases – judgments whose execution is still under the enhanced supervision of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. Studies conducted under the Action Plan evidenced improvements in the application of European standards on freedom of expression and freedom of the media by the judiciary in cases related to defamation. The support of the Action Plan provided initial training to representatives of the education and law-enforcement sectors and civil servants to enhance their capacities to protect the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) persons. The work done at local level – hand in hand with the municipalities – has resulted in initiatives benefiting the Roma community in terms of accessibility (road construction, use of the Romani language) and participation of the civil society.

Encouraging progress – evidenced through piloting exercises – has been made in strengthening the capacities and knowledge of prison and forensic staff and staff from social welfare institutes to preserve the rights of persons deprived of liberty and prepare rehabilitation when relevant. Advocacy efforts with senior police officials resulted in greater commitment to work on professional capacity development to prevent and respond to ill-treatment, as required by the latest findings from the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT). Steps continue to be undertaken to strengthen legal certainty and improve protection of victims of trafficking in human beings. The adoption of key pieces of legislation related to the achievement of the Action Plan objectives appears more challenging as evidenced, among others, by the difficult legislative follow-up to the opinions and amicus curiae briefs from the Venice Commission supported by the Action Plan.

Despite the lack of advancement in constitutional and electoral reform related to the execution of the Sejdić and Finci group of cases and some irregularities in electoral processes as found by the International Election Observation Mission (IEOM), the later stressed the positive results of the capacity building provided to electoral authorities implemented with the support of the Action Plan in the framework of the 2022 general and cantonal elections. Successful initiatives continue to be undertaken at local level to involve citizens in policy creation and to integrate the Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture (RFCDC) in the school environment.

The regional co-operation and support among partners from South-East Europe and beyond allowed for concertation but also wider transmission of knowledge and practices on various topics covered by the Action Plan.

The main achievements in the period covered by this progress report on the implementation of the Action Plan are summarised below.

Human rights

Rule of law

Democracy

Promoting gender equality remains a priority of the Action Plan and the Council of Europe Gender Mainstreaming Toolkit for Co-operation Projects offers practical guidance on the implementation of a gender dimension in co-operation activities within the Organisation as well as by national partners and other stakeholders. Gender mainstreaming is applied to actions regardless of the field of co-operation. It helps to better address the needs of women and men living in Bosnia and Herzegovina and to enhance the quality and effectiveness of the Action Plan implementation.

The main contribution to the advancement of United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by supporting Bosnia and Herzegovina in its efforts to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is described in detail in subchapter 3.2 of this report.

Since it was launched, the Action Plan has seen an increase of its funding level, which has allowed to launch or continue the support provided in a number of identified areas. However, despite renewed commitments from the main donors to the previous action plan implemented in Bosnia and Herzegovina and contributions from new donors, further funding – particularly at Action Plan level – is necessary to ensure the implementation of the Action Plan until the end of its term and to launch new initiatives in the field of constitutional justice and social rights.

2. PILLAR REVIEW

Bosnia and Herzegovina has ratified all major European and international human rights instruments, most of which are included in its constitution. The country has signed 94 treaties of the Council of Europe, 92 of which have been ratified.[8]

2.1          HUMAN RIGHTS

2.1.1      EFFECTIVE EUROPEAN CONVENTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS IMPLEMENTATION

Ø  Enhancing the effectiveness of the European Convention on Human Rights system at national level

As of December 2023, the execution of 32 cases (11 leading and 21 repetitive cases) remained pending against Bosnia and Herzegovina at the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, including one under enhanced supervision (the Sejdić and Finci group of cases).

The technical support provided by the Council of Europe Action Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina 2022-2025 (the “Action Plan”) worked towards the achievement of two of its objectives.

The Action Plan fostered dialogue between the national authorities and the Council of Europe Department for the Execution of Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (the “European Court”) for the execution of the Kunić and others group of cases.[9] The outstanding payments awarded by the European Court were made. The support from the Council of Europe in this regard was acknowledged by the action plan submitted by the Government Agents of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.[10] Moreover, the Council of Europe assisted the Ministry of Justice of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in drafting amendments to certain laws that are necessary to execute the European Court’s judgment in Hadžimejlić and Others v. Bosnia and Herzegovina. Consequently, the entity’s Family Law and Law on Extra-judicial Procedure were revised to meet the requirements of the Hadžimejlić case. Their adoption before the parliament is currently pending.

Forty-four lawyers bolstered their knowledge on access to classified documents. This is relevant in light of some of the general measures identified in the process of the execution of the European Court’s judgment in the case of Šćepanović v. Bosnia and Herzegovina.[11] Considering the execution requirements in the Hadžajlić group of cases,recommendations for the improvement of the draft law on the protection of the right to trial within a reasonable time in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina were provided to the Ministry of Justice of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

A one-month placement at the European Court of two judges from Bosnia and Herzegovina helped them gain further experience of the Court’s standards. In co-operation with the Judicial and Prosecutorial Training Centres of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska, 79 newly appointed judges and prosecutors underwent an initial human rights training. The training sessions were delivered by the pool of trainers supported by the Action Plan in accordance with the new Human Rights Training Curriculum for Initial and Continuous Training of Judges and Prosecutors – developed under the Action Plan and integrated into the

annual training programme of both entities for 2023. Seventy-three of them passed the final test. Candidates who have not done so (having not reached 70% of correct answers) will have to attend the training again together with a new generation of judges and prosecutors.

The Centres for Judicial and Prosecutorial Training of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska included six additional human rights-related topics in their training programmes (initial and/or continuous training) during the reporting period. In total, under the Action Plan and its predecessor, tutored Council of Europe Programme for Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals (HELP) courses on 21 human rights-related topics were included in the centres’ training programmes.[12]During the reporting period, the courses on data protection and human rights, combating trafficking in human beings, asylum and human rights, transitional justice, international co-operation in criminal matters, family law and property rights were implemented, in co-operation with both centres and the Bar Association, for 289 legal professionals with an average completion rate of 54%. In total, 903 professionals and future professionals benefited from the courses thanks to the Action Plan and its predecessors. HELP provides an effective and efficient capacity-development tool which takes into account the heavy time pressure imposed on legal professionals in their daily work. A survey of legal professionals assessed the relevance of the HELP courses’ topics as being 4.7 out of 5.[13] Between December 2021 and December 2023, the number of users of the HELP platform in Bosnia and Herzegovina increased by 28% (from 1 194 users to 1 534 users).

A master’s programme, the “Law of the Council of Europe”, was introduced at the Law Faculty of the University of Sarajevo, providing students with a unique opportunity to acquire knowledge on the European Convention on Human Rights (the “Convention”) and the European Court as its protective mechanism, but also in other areas such as gender equality, prevention and protection from domestic violence and basic social and economic rights. The first cohort of this programme (year 2023/2024) includes 20 students.

Ø  Freedom of expression and freedom of the media

The multifaceted assistance provided by the Council of Europe focuses on strengthening freedom of expression, freedom of the media, freedom of information and improving media literacy in view of achieving the following objectives of the Action Plan.

·           The capacities of the Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees and other institutions to organise and lead participatory legislative drafting processes on freedom of expression and freedom of the media, access to information and media literacy legislation/regulation and to monitor their implementation are increased;  

·           The capacities of law enforcement agencies to deal with issues of protection of journalists are enhanced; 

·           The capacities of the judiciary in applying rights and duties of media actors in line with European standards is strengthened;

·           The importance of free, qualitative and safe journalism is further promoted among all media actors and the general public with specific consideration given to the safety of women journalists.

Following specific capacity-building activities, the Press and Online Media Council adopted a new set of recommendations on gender equality in news reporting. Moreover, the capacities of 162 lawyers and 161 judges, prosecutors and police officers from all over the country to address hate speech and defamation (including strategic litigation against public participation (SLAPP)) and to ensure whistle-blower protection were enhanced. Since 2019, the Action Plan and its predecessor have bolstered the capacity of 292 media and legal professionals to consistently apply European standards (set out in Article 10 of the Convention and the case law of the European Court) within domestic case law.

Twenty-two representatives[14] of relevant institutions at the State, entity and Brčko District levels, civil society organisations (CSOs) and independent bodies improved their understanding of the right to information, human rights-based monitoring and reporting practices in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

According to a study,[15] decisions in defamation cases (the main topic of the Council of Europe’s capacity-building sessions) issued by domestic courts in Bosnia and Herzegovina between January 2019 and March 2022 showed improvements in the application of European standards, including the relevant criteria set by the case law of the European Court. The study identifies progress in several areas, such as in judges’ understanding of the difference between facts and value judgments, a reduction of compensatory damages awarded that have a “chilling effect” on freedom of expression and an improvement of the balancing of the right to freedom of expression with the protection of the right to privacy. In almost all of the 60 decisions sampled, the reasoning applied the relevant criteria set out in the case law of the European Court, even when that was not specifically quoted. However, according to the study the need for further in-depth training remains.

Staff members from the Communications Regulatory Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina (CRA) bolstered their knowledge on media literacy strategy and planning, stakeholder engagement, evaluation and media literacy research. Thanks to the support from the Council of Europe (through policy advice, technical expertise and capacity building), the CRA and media information literacy stakeholders have enhanced their critical-thinking skills and understanding of gender-sensitive language in the media. They are now better equipped to contribute to formulating a national media literacy strategy and planning and strengthening a strategic media and information literacy framework.

With the support of the Council of Europe, the Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees of Bosnia and Herzegovina (MHRR) established a working group. It aims at consolidating the capacities of the ministry and other relevant institutions and stakeholders[16] to monitor, analyse and report on the realisation of these rights and the country’s compliance with international obligations in these areas. The working group fosters more effective cross-sectoral communication and co-operation.

The Action Plan improved dialogue between media professionals. Exchanges resulted in numerous initiatives, such as the appointment of a focal point in the Prosecutorial Office of Sarajevo Canton, a person who can lead investigations into reported threats to journalists. This will enable a more streamlined follow-up on how cases of threats to journalists are dealt with. In addition, more lawyers joined the Media Help Line, run by the BH Journalist Association which offers free legal assistance to journalists. In 2022, 15 cases (on defamation, verbal threats against journalists, hate speech, labour disputes) before the courts of Bosnia and Herzegovina were resolved with the involvement of the Free Media Help Line, out of which nine ruled in favour of the journalists.

2.1.2      EQUALITY AND HUMAN DIGNITY

Ø  Gender equality, violence against women and domestic violence

Under the Council of Europe Action Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina 2022-2025 (the “Action Plan”), support is being provided to the country for the implementation of the recommendations issued by the Council of Europe Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (GREVIO) in its first Baseline Evaluation Report on Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a particular focus on sexual and digital violence towards women and women’s access to justice.

The interventions introduced in 2023 strive to achieve the following Action Plan’s objectives.

·         Authorities, justice sector professionals, and civil society introduce measures to enhance the implementation of the standards of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (the “Istanbul Convention”), in order to remove obstacles to women’s access to justice;

·         Legal professionals have an enhanced understanding of and tools to foster and monitor women’s access to justice in line with the Istanbul Convention.

These interventions strengthened the knowledge of 27 representatives of judicial bodies, law-enforcement agencies, government institutions, civil society organisations (CSOs) from the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska and international organisations on the digital dimension of violence against women (based on GREVIO’s General Recommendation No. 1) and gender bias in the justice chain. The authorities were provided with a set of indicators that will facilitate measuring access to justice, with a particular attention to challenges faced by women.

The Council of Europe is supporting specific research on barriers and challenges women face when accessing justice in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Similarly, a gap analysis is being conducted to help the authorities develop an understanding of the gaps in the national legislation and practice with regard to sexual and digital violence against women and to devise effective strategies to reduce or eliminate these gaps, in line with the Istanbul Convention, the European Court of Human Rights (the “European Court”) case law and other standards.

Ø  Anti-discrimination, diversity and inclusion

Several initiatives were undertaken by the Council of Europe to bolster national capacities to combat discrimination, hatred and racism, including towards lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people and minorities. They worked towards the achievement of the following Action Plan’s objectives.

·           Institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina ensure that the Action Plan for improving the state of Human Rights and fundamental freedoms of LGBTI persons in Bosnia and Herzegovina for the period 2021-2024is implemented, in line with the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) standards and recommendations;

·           The Institution of Human Rights Ombudsman is better equipped to respond to discrimination and intolerance, in line with its mandate as national equality body;

·           The capacity of local authorities to design and implement plans, policies and projects, with active inclusion measures that improve Roma integration is strengthened;

·           The Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees is able to increase other institutions’ and organisations’ awareness of the normative framework on hate speech and to devise policy responses to curb.

At the legislative and policy level, in 2022 the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina adopted the LGBTI Action Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina 2021-2024, developed with the support of the Council of Europe in co-operation with the Agency for Gender Equality of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This action plan, the first of its kind in Bosnia and Herzegovina, aims to improve the human rights situation, rights and freedoms of LGBTI persons in the country. Support was provided to the national institutions to implement it.

-       Representatives of the police administration improved their knowledge on various topics such as ensuring security for events organised by the LGBTI community, combating hate crime/speech based on sexual orientation and gender identity and tackling racism. Some 24 Brčko District police officers underwent training for the first time on dealing with hate speech/crime targeted towards the LGBTI community,[17] while 25 representatives from 10 different prison administrations, Ministries of Justice and the Agency for Gender Equality of Bosnia and Herzegovina improved their knowledge on how to act towards LGBTI prisoners with an additional focus on transgender persons.[18] The Council of Europe supported the third and fourth Pride Marches that took place in Sarajevo. The 2022 march extended to new locations and routes and proceeded without any incidents, cases of violence or harassment.

However, this march was classified as a high-risk event and additional lump sums had to be paid by the organisers. The 2023 march was successfully organised in a peaceful environment, with no record of violence. A very important improvement was the relaxing of the security measures to a more adequate/reasonable size compared to previous Pride events. This result could be linked to the support provided under the Action Plan.

-       Discussions with representatives from the State and entity levels, State parliament members and local and international CSOs were encouraged. They providedfeedback on the developed draft review of the implementation of Recommendation CM/Rec(2010)5 of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to member States on measures to combat discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity, with a focus on health.[19]

-       Twenty representatives from ministries of education/school staff from Republika Srpska, Brčko District and six cantonal ministries from the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina bolstered their capacities on the topic of preventing prejudices, stereotypes, stigmatisation and violence against LGBTI pupils.[20] There is a need for building the capacities of school staff on this topic, since they encounter cases of bullying based on sexual orientation and gender identity and the staff are generally not fully aware of or informed about how to deal with them. Such capacity-building sessions were organised for the first time in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Council of Europe provided legal expertise to the authorities in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina on the current Law on the Protection of National Minorities. If adopted by the parliament, including final comments by the Council of Europe, the revised law would bring the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina much closer to compliance with applicable European standards as regards the representativeness of the members of the Council of National Minorities.[21] The document Mapping responses to hate speech in Bosnia and Herzegovina[22] was officially adopted by the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina on 27 November 2023. The document, the first of its kind in Bosnia and Herzegovina, sets out a clear road map and priority measures for addressing hate speech on a systemic level.

As far as capacity building is concerned, support was provided to the Institution of the Human Rights Ombudsman to enhance the knowledge of 78 civil servants and CSO representatives from Trebinje, Tuzla and Bihać about hate speech and its negative consequences. The trained staff passed on the knowledge they had acquired to other staff members. The institution[23] is taking a more proactive role: notably, it undertook more visits to local civil servants than initially foreseen to train them.

Building on previous work, the Action Plan continued to support the Minority Co-ordination Group (MCG).[24] The capacity-building support provided on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (FCNM) led to more advocacy initiatives. For instance, in 2022 the initiatives of the MCG resulted in the placement of 49 topographic signs in the national minority languages in Prnjavor, Srbac, Gradiška, Laktaši and Bijeljina, in compliance with the recommendations from the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ECRML) and FCNM monitoring bodies as well as the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. The maintenance of these signs is ensured by local self-governments.

The new Action Plan for Roma Social Inclusion 2021-2025 was officially adopted by the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a process supported by the Council of Europe in close co-operation with the Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees of Bosnia and Herzegovina (MHRR). The Council of Europe is assisting the ministry in the development of a monitoring tool for its implementation and supported the development of five[25] local action plans for Roma inclusion, which reflect the real needs and priorities at the grass-roots level. In addition, the capacity of 12 municipal officials[26] to appropriately budget for the implementation of Roma integration goals (Roma Responsive Budgeting) and local strategic planning was improved. Sixty-three municipal officials and Roma community members and 38 prosecutors and police officers acquired knowledge on combating antigypsyism. The concept was for the very first time introduced to seven municipalities in Bosnia and Herzegovina – namely Brčko, Doboj, Donji Vakuf, Gradiška, Kalesija, Travnik and Vukosavlje. A small grant scheme forgeneral priorities and post-Covid recovery (for a total of €180 000) was launched to support education, health, infrastructure and Roma women empowerment. For instance, the construction of a road in the municipality of Donji Vakuf now better connects the Roma settlement with the municipality. It should allow for more inclusivity and accessibility for the Roma community.

In November 2023, the Tuzla Canton, which has received support from the Action Plan, introduced the Romani language into its school curriculum. This pioneering initiative represents a significant step towards recognising and preserving the rich heritage of the Roma community.

Over €400 000 was allocated by the partner municipalities to Roma inclusion priorities at local level for 2023-2024. This is a direct result of the Action Plan support in steering the dialogue between the Roma community and the local administration.

Several awareness-raising initiatives took place in schools and summer schools on the harmfulness of antisemitism, islamophobia, xenophobia and hate speech (including towards the Roma community, LGBTI persons, migrants and persons with disabilities), reaching more than 300 students and pupils. This is directly in line with ECRI General Policy Recommendation No. 10 on combating racism and racial discrimination in and through school education. As it was the case under the previous action plan, the Council of Europe continued to empower the Young European Ambassadors[27] from the South-East Europe region, including from Bosnia and Herzegovina, and bolstered their capacities on combating hate speech and developing counter-narratives.

2.2     RULE OF LAW   

2.2.1     RULE OF LAW BASED INSTITUTIONS

Ø  Independence and efficiency of justice

In 2023, responding to requests from the authorities, the European Commission for Democracy through Law (the “Venice Commission”) adopted an amicus curiae brief on the question of the appellate review in the Courts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and an opinion on the draft law on courts of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 2023, the Law on the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council (HJPC) was amended. The European Union has expressed concerns about the full compliance of the amended law with the 2021 Venice Commission’s opinion provided under the previous action plan.[28] The support by the Council of Europe in this area strives to achieve the following objectives from the Council of Europe Action Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina 2022-2025 (the “Action Plan”).

·         The efficiency of the justice system is strengthened in line with the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) standards and tools on court efficiency (i.e. case management, judicial statistics, time management);

·         The quality of the justice system is improved in line with CEPEJ standards and tools on the quality of justice (Cyber-Justice and court users’ satisfaction surveys);

·         Case law departments of selected courts are fully operational and function in line with European best practices;

·         The functional Information Technology (IT) tools for the harmonisation of judicial practice and compliance with the European Court of Human Rights (the “European Court”) judgements operated by the judiciary are enhanced; 

·         Legal professionals’ capacities are strengthened on topics related to efficiency and quality of justice in line with CEPEJ standards and tools.

The Council of Europe supported the placement of two legal advisers at the Supreme Court of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. During their 12-month engagement, 364 judgments were uploaded into the
e-sentence database,[29] of which 272 were anonymised. They also supported the improvement of the internal database by participating in the uploading of 7 489 judgments, which represents a tremendous increase (of 3 644.5%) compared to the year before, when only 200 decisions were uploaded.

Some 162 judges (including newly appointed ones) improved their analytical and drafting skills (as part of the annual training programmes of the Centres for Judicial and Prosecutorial Training of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska) in civil and criminal decisions thanks to the Action Plan. Twelve legal advisers from case law departments enhanced their understanding of European standards on data protection and writing court sentences.

The Council of Europe also supported the work of the ad hoc Parliamentary Commission tasked by the House of Representatives of Bosnia and Herzegovina to investigate the state of the judiciary. It introduced the commission’s members to the legal certainty standards of the European Court and supported them in preparing their final report.[30]

For the first time, a Council of Europe country-specific initiative was launched in the field of efficiency and quality of justice, supported by the CEPEJ. This support primarily focuses on five first-instance pilot courts, in Sokolac, Brčko District, Livno, Trebinje and Cazin, whose needs were assessed to guide future work. Some 20 presidents, judges and staff of these pilot courts were introduced to the CEPEJ methodology and tools in the fields of efficiency, judicial time management and quality of justice (including court users’ satisfaction surveys and judicial communication), and court coaching methodology. Support is also being provided to the HJPC to strengthen its regulatory role of managing the whole judicial system of Bosnia and Herzegovina.[31] The initial needs assessment of the Centres for Judicial and Prosecutorial Training of both entities was conducted. The training topic proposed by the Council of Europe – “Using the CEPEJ methodologies and tools to increase the efficiency of courts and to improve managerial capacities of the court managers” – has been included in both centres’ annual training programmes for judges for 2024.

Moreover, under this Action Plan, support continued at the regional level to provide technical expertise to courts and to the authorities to improve the collection, processing, analysis and quality checking of data on the functioning of the judicial systems and judicial statistics, according to the CEPEJ methodology. During the reporting period, for the cycle of data collection regarding the 2021 and 2022 data, the authorities implemented new skills acquired during capacity-building activities. In 2022, Bosnia and Herzegovina expanded the scope of collected data in comparison to previous years by providing data on training budgets for prosecutors’ offices, the number of pending cases older than two years by category and the number of training programmes per category of participants. The quality of the comments provided has also improved with a detailed description of the new system to evaluate judges' and prosecutors' performance and the functioning of the legal aid system, more detailed information on the procedure of recruitment and selection of judges and prosecutors, training obligations, measures to prevent corruption, the law on conflict of interests and characteristics of mediators. In 2023, Bosnia and Herzegovina consolidated the previous data and provided additional details regarding the development of courts’ efficiency, the quality of judicial training and the status of judicial reforms. It is worth noting that the quantity (availability of the data collected) and quality (consistency of data and comments provided to contextualise the data) of the data provided by Bosnia and Herzegovina continues to be at a very good level compared to the rest of the region.[32]

2.2.2.    ACTION AGAINST CRIME, SECURITY AND PROTECTION OF CITIZENS

Ø  Fight against corruption and money laundering

In 2023, the Council of Europe launched its first country-specific support for combating corruption, money laundering and terrorist financing. Support in this area was urgently needed considering various outstanding recommendations from the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO)[33] and the Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism (MONEYVAL).[34] The support provided under the Council of Europe Action Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina 2022-2025 (the “Action Plan”) focused on the achievement of two of its objectives.

·         The legal framework for prevention of corruption is enhanced with a particular focus on political party financing, assets declarations, verification of assets and income of public officials, ethics, integrity and conflict of interest;  

·         Transparency of beneficial ownership is increased and misuse of corporate entities is limited.

Co-operation in this framework entailed assistance provided to the Interagency Working Group, co-ordinated by the Ministry of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina, to finalise the risk assessment of money laundering and terrorist financing associated with virtual assets and virtual assets service providers, along with the corresponding Action Plan. This endeavour focused on enhancing data collection and corresponding analyses thereof in view of the application of tailored measures to improve detection, prevention and disruption of money laundering and terrorist financing risks in relation to virtual assets. The risk-assessment process was launched in late 2022, by applying the Council of Europe's sectoral risk-assessment methodology.[35]

Additionally, the Council of Europe bolstered the knowledge of the State and entity-level financial intelligence, judicial and law-enforcement institutions concerning the European Union legal framework on the registers of beneficial ownership and the related comparative practices of the European Union member States.

Moreover, the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Bosnia and Herzegovina was provided with concrete proposals for aligning the existing legal provisions regarding political party and electoral campaign financing with European and international standards, particularly concerning outstanding GRECO recommendations. A comprehensive assessment of business requirements for developing an information technology (IT) system to manage seized assets in the Agency for the Management of Seized Assets of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina was facilitated. The Council of Europe is also working on the development of a methodology to carry out a review of corruption and money laundering risks and financial crimes typologies associated with the environmental sector at regional level.

The adoption of a draft law on prevention of conflict of interest – which was the subject of an opinion from the European Commission for Democracy through Law (the “Venice Commission”)provided under the previous Council of Europe Action Plan on Bosnia and Herzegovina – is pending.[36]

The implementation of international and European standards in the field of anti-money laundering and terrorism financing by Bosnia and Herzegovina will be assessed by MONEYVAL under its fifth round of mutual evaluations from 12 to 28 February 2024.[37] The evaluation report is expected to be adopted by MONEYVAL in December 2024.

Ø  Cybercrime

The assistance provided focused mainly on capacity-building support delivered by the Council of Europe and through participation of the authorities and experts in several international networks[38] facilitated by the Action Plan in order to achieve its following objectives.

·           Inter-agency co-operation in order to conduct parallel financial investigation related to cybercrime cases is further increased; 

·           Measures to encourage information sharing and intelligence exchange mechanisms on cybercrime established between the public and private sectors are set; 

·           The efficiency and existing capabilities of institutions involved in the fight against cybercrime to
co-operate at international level are increased;

·           Capacities of authorities to search, seize and confiscate cybercrime proceeds and prevent money laundering on the Internet and to secure electronic evidence are further enhanced;

·           Capacities of judicial authorities to prosecute and adjudicate on cybercrime offences and assess electronic evidence are further strengthened.

To help the authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina in drafting, revising or updating their relevant legal frameworks to align with European standards, eight representatives from the Ministry of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) were acquainted with the lawful interception of telecommunication traffic and access to retained data.

To enable better co-ordination of cybercrime and cybersecurity policies and strategies, the Action Plan focused on building capacities regarding the sharing of data between cybersecurity and cybercrime communities and co-operation in the investigation of a ransomware attack orchestrated by a criminal organisation.

Capacity-building support for the criminal law authorities (including law-enforcement agencies and prosecutors) also focused on:

-          investigating and collecting/handling of electronic evidence (especially regarding illicit transactions in the blockchain, tracing money generated from criminal activities, tracing and seizing cryptocurrencies, criminal business models on the Dark Web and investigating ransomware attacks);

-          handling State-sponsored attacks and cybercrime incidents in real-time environments (on incident management systems and threat intelligence platforms and methods for accurately triaging data during advanced attacks);

-          existing cybercrime reporting mechanisms;

-          the use of international and child exploitation image and video databases as well as combating online child sexual exploitation and abuse through effective cross-border co-operation and exchange of information between internet service providers and the criminal justice authorities;

-          the impact of rapid artificial intelligence advancements on digital investigations.

The support fostered dialogue with cybersecurity experts, officials from the financial sector, online service providers and crypto exchangers to discuss the status of public-private co-operation, various methods of response to cyberthreats and ways ahead to report online crime and share essential information, allowing for the sharing of successful cases and the latest tools developed by the industry.

The 24/7 Point of Contact from Bosnia and Herzegovina was engaged in a series of technical exercise sessions to establish working conditions for joint, cross-border investigations, and access to data by use of international co-operation tools provided by the Second Additional Protocol to the Convention on Cybercrime (the “Budapest Convention”).

As judicial training on cybercrime and electronic evidence is a prerequisite for successful criminal justice action, the support from the Action Plan encompassed the following.

-          Judges and prosecutors from Bosnia and Herzegovina further developed their understanding of the legal provisions and rules that may apply to cybercrime investigations and digital evidence, the typologies of online frauds, the type of information that can be obtained from financial institutions and internet service providers and the tools and channels for international judicial co-operation.

-          The capacity of magistrates and law-enforcement specialists to deliver training on cybercrime and electronic evidence was bolstered. This will ensure that the courses implemented are sufficiently hands-on while using a variety of different methods.

-          Magistrates and law-enforcement representatives further developed their knowledge on cyberviolence, the terminology and the technical nature of digital evidence, its evidential value, the particularities of virtual crime scenes, seizing cryptocurrencies and practical measures during the investigation and prosecution phases.

Overall, under the Action Plan, a total of 304 professionals benefited from capacity-building support. These professionals were made up of: cybercrime units, digital forensics experts, prosecution services, judges, financial intelligence units, financial investigation units, central authorities for mutual legal assistance (MLA) in criminal matters, the ministries of Justice, the Cybersecurity Community (Computer Emergency Response Team/Computer Security Incident Response Team), judicial training institutions, financial sector institutions and banking associations, SIPA and internet service providers and information security companies.

Ø  Trafficking in human beings

Targeted support has been provided to assist Bosnia and Herzegovina inimproving the implementation of the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, in light of the assessment and latest recommendations made by the Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) and the Action Plan’s objectives.

·         The criminal justice response to trafficking in human beings is strengthened, focusing on more effective investigation and prosecution of offences as well as on improving the protection of victims before, during and after proceedings;  

·         A rights-based approach, focusing on improved victim identification and referral procedures is enhanced, in particular for child victims, as well as improved access to justice and effective remedies. 

The total number of professionals who were trained in 2022 was 237, and in 2023, 100. These included 60 prosecutors and judges, 52 law-enforcement officers, 114 education professionals, 28 spokespersons from institutions, 55 healthcare practitioners, five social welfare professionals, eight labour inspectors and 15 legal aid providers. The capacity-building support focused on the following.

-          Further strengthening the capacities of educational institutions and professionals, psychologists, directors and representatives of social welfare offices, ministries and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to identify, protect and assist potential child victims of trafficking.

-          Bolstering the knowledge of spokespersons from institutions, the media and NGOs about reporting on cases of trafficking, with a focus on protecting the privacy and confidentiality of victims.

-          Improving the capacities of, and co-operation between, labour inspectors and law-enforcement officers to detect, investigate and prosecute labour trafficking cases and protect victims’ rights.

-          Raising awareness of health and social care practitioners[39] about their role in the prevention, detection and treatment of trafficking cases. The practitioners were enabled to identify possible victims of trafficking through the application of specific health indicators, and to provide psychosocial and medical assistance to child and adult victims and persons at risk of trafficking.

-          Further increasing the knowledge of prosecutors and judges on the rights of victims of trafficking under the Council of Europe Anti-trafficking Convention.

The Ministry of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina created a database of trained professionals. It is worth noting that in 2022 the police of Brčko District recorded at least three new reports of potential child trafficking filed by education professionals trained by the Council of Europe. Moreover, while in the period 2019-2020 there were no identified victims of labour trafficking,[40] in 2022 and 2023 five and eight[41] such victims were identified.

Thanks to the support of the Action Plan, a network of specialist lawyers and civil society organisations (CSOs) providing legal assistance and free legal aid to victims of trafficking was established in 2023. The network consists of 15 members (nine institutes providing free legal aid, four specialised NGOs, the Office for the provision of free legal aid within the Ministry of Justice of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Cantonal Institute for free legal aid in Canton 10).A memorandum of understanding on co-operation between non-governmental and governmental free legal aid providers was opened for signature. By the end of 2023, six members of the network had signed this memorandum. Fifteen providers of legal assistance and free legal aid were familiarised with indicators of trafficking in human beings, the victim identification process and the national referral mechanism for victim assistance services.

To better inform potential victims of trafficking, the Council of Europe supported the publication of a brochure providing information on the rights of persons travelling abroad for work purposes. The brochure was published and promoted on social media and the websites of ministries, labour agencies and CSOs involved in the development process. Further, to increase awareness of the risks of child trafficking, related information reached some 50 000 individuals, including children, parents and vulnerable groups such as the Roma community.

On the policy side, the Council of Europe supported the Ministry of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina to collect and provide comments and recommendations from the non-governmental sector, financial institutions and businesses on the new draft anti-trafficking strategy for the period 2024-2027.

Overall, the policy, legislative and practical improvements supported by the Council of Europe were acknowledged by the Evaluation of the Council of Europe’s work under the sub-programme “Action against crime and protection of citizens”, conducted by the Council of Europe Directorate of Internal Oversight.

Ø  Prisons and police

Assistance from the Council of Europe focuses on capacity building for institutional and operational level changes. It fosters a multistakeholder approach by creating working groups gathering police officers, prison staff and forensic experts to draft training materials. This support is of key importance given the latest findings and recommendations from the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT). The CPT is considering the opening of the procedure under Article 10, paragraph 2, of its convention.[42]

In this context, support under the Action Plan focused on the following objectives.

·         Relevant staff skills on the rehabilitation and re-socialisation of forensic patients and other vulnerable groups in detention are enhanced; 

·         Knowledge and skills of law enforcement officers on human rights standards are embedded into practice;

·         Violent and extremist prisoners (VEP)-specific training for prison staff in Bosnia and Herzegovina is provided in a harmonised and sustainable manner for the uniform application of the VEP tools and rehabilitation programmes and enhancement of the use of multi-institutional co-operation mechanisms.

Some 68 officers from four police agencies in Bosnia and Herzegovina participated in the activities of the Council of Europe in 2022 focusing on the implementation of human rights standards when dealing with persons deprived of liberty. Some 90% of them demonstrated improved knowledge in that regard. In addition, 52 senior police officials gained insight into the different ways of preventing impunity and promptly responding to allegations of ill-treatment.

The authorities are increasingly integrating the manual “Human rights of persons deprived of liberty in police custody”[43] – developed with the support of the Action Plan and its predecessors – into their annual training programmes and internal instructions. The fact that the manual was introduced in nine[44] out of 17 law-enforcement agencies gives an encouraging sign that capacity-building processes are likely to run in parallel in future across the police agencies in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In addition, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina included in the Police Academy Annual Training Programme – which is currently under development – a module deriving from the manual. The programme currently awaits the endorsement of the ministry, which is expected in February 2024.

Some 11 new police officers from various police agencies in Bosnia and Herzegovina were nominated to undergo a train-the-trainers scheme on human rights modules to supplement the pool of trainers already composed of eight officers. Several institutions[45] already started providing training to police officers on the basis of the manual “Human rights of persons deprived of liberty in police custody” for an estimated total of 1 348 professionals in co-operation with the accredited trainers.

In addition, 28 prison staff from the security and treatment units of 14 prisons increased their knowledge and skills in case-management and probation protocols in 2022. They are able to take over the peer capacity-building initiatives in prisons. The pilot initiatives conducted on probation tasks in the prison environment challenged the past professional culture among senior security officers and treatment officers in seven prison establishments in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It contributed to the enhanced treatment of prisoners through the application of case-management system in prisons. New concepts, such as probation tasks in prisons as part of the case-management system, were welcomed by frontline staff whose professional practice tends towards the sustainable reintegration of offenders in their families and communities.

Twenty-seven forensic staff from the Institute for Forensic Psychiatry Sokolac were instructed on case-management protocols. The majority of forensic staff have been trained on this matter so far. An assessment of the impact of the capacity building conducted under the Action Plan upon staff showed the most significant improvements to be in the areas of activity-based treatment plans, risk assessments by multidisciplinary teams and ensuring that any restraint of forensic patients is carried out in a safe and secure manner and in accordance with human rights standards. In addition, in 2023, a total of 104 forensic staff, out of which 71 were women, were trained by their peers against the background of the road map for forensic patients’ care: from admission to release – prepared with the support of the Action Plan and its predecessors.

Work has been initiated to co-operate with the recently established National Preventive Mechanism (NPM).[46] The draft rulebook on its functioning – prepared with the support of the Council of Europe – is being considered by the Institution of Human Rights Ombudsman for adoption.The work on the operationalisation of the Integrated Prison Management Information System (IPMIS) will resume in 2024 following the adoption of the Rulebook to support the implementation of the IPMIS implementation by the Ministry of Justice of Republika Srpska and the endorsement by the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina of the draft Law on amendments to the Law on execution of criminal sanctions in December 2023 and earmarked funds for the functioning of the software. The Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is expected to adopt the necessary documents shortly.

Specific unified VEP tools[47] were adopted by the Ministry of Justice of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Ministry of Justice of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Ministry of Justice of Republika Srpska. These tools are successfully being used in prisons, particularly in the State prison, where VEPs are accommodated. Their piloting indicates an increased level of co-operation and co-ordination among the different stakeholders such as prisons and the centres for social welfare. Policy documents were also disseminated to decision makers and prison staff, providing them with strategies for developing tailored policies and actions in the field of prevention of radicalisation within the prison system, managing VEPs, providing vocational training, opportunities for informal/formal education, employment perspectives in local communities upon release and the efficient preparation for release and post-penal assistance. The number of VEPs participating in vocational training activities and regular education programmes in the State prison increased by 50%.

In co-operation with the local prison professionals, the basic and advanced training plan and programme for prison staff were finalised. The initial training started to enhance the practical knowledge of prison staff.[48] With capacity-building activities exclusively implemented on the premises of the State prison, the Council of Europe is pursuing the goal of setting it up as a centre of excellence, to be used as a hub for local staff and those from the region focusing on addressing radicalisation in prisons and managing VEPs. Considering the progress made by Bosnia and Herzegovina, there are many opportunities for regional exchanges of knowledge and support on how to further improve the management of these categories of offenders. In the same vein, the regional web-based collaboration platform for prison professionals, established as an educational and training hub, continues to bring together a wide range of expertise and resources. The platform plays a crucial role in unifying training provision related to preventing and countering violent extremism.[49]

Overall, more than 300 participants – from the Ministries of Justice of Bosnia and Herzegovina, of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and of Republika Srpska, the State prison and prisons within the two entities, and social work and employment services – improved their knowledge of the management of VEPs, preparation for release and post-penal support of VEPs, vulnerable and marginalised prisoners at risk from radicalisation, and rehabilitation of VEPs.[50]

Work has been initiated under the Action Plan to design information-sharing protocols between agencies, establish prison intelligence units (PIUs) and to train their staff. The PIUs should be operational by mid-2024.

2.3        DEMOCRACY

2.3.1     DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE

Ø  Elections

The 2022 general and cantonal elections were observed by various international and European organisations.[51] The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) delegation – composed of 20 parliamentarians, assisted by representatives from the European Commission for Democracy through Law (the “Venice Commission”) – identified a number of irregularities and shortcomings during the whole general election process of the 2 October 2022. It recommended to the authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina to take concrete measures in order to improve the country’s legal electoral framework, as well as certain electoral practices.[52] Moreover, the Council of Europe Congress of Local and Regional Authorities (the “Congress”) observed that numerous practical improvements to the voting process were satisfactorily implemented in most polling stations during the 2022 cantonal elections, with the exception of the rules regarding assisted voting, and that polling station commissioners were, to a large extent, well informed about the election day procedures and had received sufficient training. Nonetheless, the Congress noted several areas of concern.[53]

Ahead of the elections, the Council of Europe Action Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina 2022-2025 (the “Action Plan”) supported the achievement of the following objective: the capacity of the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Bosnia and Herzegovina and election commissions is increased to become more professional, inclusive and transparent.

The capacity of members of the CEC to train the members of Polling Station Commissions (PSCs) was improved thanks to the support provided under the Action Plan. In 2022, the Council of Europe completed the training-of-trainers programme that had started under the previous action plan, certifying a total of 302 trainers from all 143 Municipal Election Commissions (MECs) in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The certified MEC trainers cascaded training to the 20 000 members of the electoral administration, chairpersons, deputy chairpersons and members who made up the 5 903 PSCs. In addition, the Council of Europe, in collaboration with the CEC, produced training material for the training of all PSC members.[54]

The International Election Observation Mission (IEOM) highlighted that the MECs “acted in a largely transparent and independent manner”.[55] On average, about 55% of participants in all capacity-building activities were women. This broadly reflects the somewhat strong representation of women in the administration of elections and as MEC members in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The IEOM found that the training provided for PSC members was on the whole comprehensive and interactive.[56] It can be noted that due to numerous resignations of PSC members shortly before the election day, the MECs had to find replacements and organise additional training.[57] However, the IEOM also found that during the election day many PSCs struggled to comply with the election procedures.[58]

In partnership with the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Council of Europe fostered discussions with representatives of the CEC, the prosecutors’ offices, police agencies and Centres for Judicial and Prosecutorial Training of both entities on threats targeting the integrity of election processes. Several conclusions for further action were adopted, such as reinforcing the co-ordination and co-operation between members of the judiciary, the police and the electoral administration to better prevent and fight against electoral fraud, including by providing comprehensive training to the prosecutors’ offices at all levels.

The Organisation also supported the CEC in issuing recommendations for the improvement of the electoral process, which were published on CEC’s website. On 21 December 2023, the CEC met with representatives of political party caucuses in the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina to present proposals for legislative changes.

Ø  Promoting good governance through local self-government reforms

Following the end of the political stalemate which paved the way for holding local elections in the city of Mostar in December 2020, the Council of Europe supported in July 2021 the first ever Citizens’ Assembly in the city,[59] comprising a representative group of randomly selected citizens who deliberated upon and made 32 recommendations on the cleanliness of the city and maintenance of its public spaces. The initiative was found to be “innovative” by the Congress.[60] As found by the external evaluation of the intervention, “relevance is tangible in promoting the concept of deliberative democracy, helping the elected representatives foster innovative approaches in deliberation and involvement of citizens in policy creation”.

The support of the Action Plan contributed to the following objectives.

·           The authorities from the City of Mostar implement appropriate measures and policies to address citizens’ recommendations and embed deliberative activities in their decision-making; 

·           In selected municipalities, local elected representatives and public officials strengthen their capacities and skills to include innovative approaches to collaborative governance, deliberative democracy and citizen engagement;

·           Local authorities increase their capacities in building public ethics, transparency, advocacy and in protecting human rights at local level;

·           The institutional capacities of the two main associations of municipalities and cities are strengthened;

·           Inter-municipal and inter-entity networks are supported through capacity-building and peer-learning to develop place-based, transboundary co-operation.

Under the Action Plan, the city of Mostar was granted financial support from the Council of Europe for the follow-up of several recommendations stemming from the first Citizens’ Assembly. The city has started to implement, in consultation with the local population, a number of the recommendations from the first assembly as per the city council’s action plan, adopted in November 2021.[61] Communication on the progress in addressing citizens’ recommendations is transparent. It is the subject of a report by the mayor to the city council twice a year. In July 2022, 20 out of 47 citizens of Mostar who participated in the Citizens’ Assembly responded through a survey to say that they were actively following the measures created in response to their recommendations and had witnessed visible changes in their city in the areas concerned. The 2023 report by the mayor – unanimously adopted by the city council – demonstrated meaningful progress on 11 recommendations that focused on landscaping and greening of public areas. In fact, 34% of the recommendations are being addressed or fully addressed by the city. The implementation of the recommendations concerning infrastructural projects (a swimming pool and a sports hall) and the re-organisation of public utility companies – which require more time to be implemented – is under way. Building on the lessons learned from this flagship initiative, the cities of Mostar and Banja Luka commissioned respectively their second and first citizens’ assemblies to be held in January and February 2024. They were provided financial and expert support to develop their respective deliberative processes.

The first joint meeting of the Presidencies of the Association of Municipalities and Cities of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Association of Municipalities and Cities of Republika Srpska was facilitated by the Action Plan. This marked an important step forward in enhancing their advocacy efforts and deepening cross-entity co-operation between local authorities across Bosnia and Herzegovina and their associations. In addition, a Platform of Exchange on open government, gathering 24 local authorities[62] from across Bosnia and Herzegovina and representing 25.7% of the total population of the country, was established in May 2022. In total, 108 local elected representatives and public officials increased their knowledge and skills on local governance and on the topics of open government, accountability, public ethics, transparency, public procurement and inclusive policy making. They also bolstered their knowledge on the use of deliberative methods to complement representative democracy and to serve as a useful tool for inclusive policy making involving women, young people and multicultural communities.

Lessons learned from the support implemented under the Action Plan and its predecessor will guide the implementation of a regional intervention to be launched in 2024 that will aim to strengthen democratic processes.

2.3.2 DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION

Ø  Education for democracy

With the aim of promoting inclusive education in the formal education system – as urged by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in its ResolutionCM/ResCMN(2019)8 of 12 June 2019, by the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI)[63] and defined as a priority at the26th Council of Europe Standing Conference of Ministers of Education in September 2023 and the new Education Strategy 2024-2030, “Learners First” – the Council of Europe is assisting the authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina and education stakeholders to promote a democratic and inclusive school environment. This support focused on the following objectives of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina 2022-2025 (the “Action Plan”).

·           The capacities of teachers, school leaders and other school staff to implement the Policy Recommendation with a Roadmap for Improving Inclusive Education(the “Roadmap") objectives are enhanced;

·           Society’s awareness of quality education as a public good and a basic human right is raised.

To support the implementation of the Roadmap,[64] the Council of Europe is working with policy makers and also directly with 29 pilot schools, with the aim of making the latter resource centres for democratic culture.

With a view to monitoring progress on introducing the recommended changes to the geography and history curricula through reviews conducted under the Action Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina 2018-2021, the Council of Europe supported the assessment of 14 curriculum documents from four education authorities. The findings showed that the documents in question were only partly in line with applicable recommendations for primary and secondary schools.[65]

A total of 1 739 school network members, comprising 548 teachers and 1 171 students from 29 primary and secondary schools from Brčko District, Republika Srpska and the cantons of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, learned about democratic school culture (tackling topics such as social media and mental health during the Covid-19 pandemic, quality of education and inclusiveness) and discussed challenges related to the school environment and how the Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture (RFCDC) can help improve democratic school culture.

The 29 pilot schools also put in place joint student events, school-community initiatives and peer learning for teachers to strengthen democratic culture, in line with the RFCDC.[66]All 29 pilot schools bolstered their knowledge on democratic culture and further developed their competences on critical thinking, leadership in school clubs and understanding of the importance of values based on competences for democratic culture.

The results of the activities implemented under the Action Plan and more broadly the implementation of the Roadmap were discussed at the 33rd session of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina on 20 December 2023, based on a report prepared by the Ministry of Civil Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in co-operation with the educational authorities and other key stakeholders in the country. The Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina endorsed the information report, thus confirming its commitment to implement the Roadmap. The Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina encouraged the Ministry of Civil Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina to secure the conditions and resources needed for the operationalisation of the support provided under the Action Plan and enable the incorporation of the RFCDC into the education systems in Bosnia and Herzegovina.[67]

3.      IMPLEMENTATION AND CO-ORDINATION

The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe assesses the overall results of the implementation of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina 2022-2025 (the “Action Plan”) through its Rapporteur Group on Democracy (GR-DEM). In addition, reports are prepared for donors having contributed at the level of the Action Plan.

The overall co-ordination of technical co-operation carried out by the Council of Europe falls within the remit of the Directorate for Programme Co-ordination (DPC), which steers the programming of and fund-raising for
co-operation actions, while ensuring the proper functioning of Council of Europe offices in the field. Substantial responsibility for co-operation projects lies with the Council of Europe “major administrative entities” who have the relevant expertise. In accordance with the Organisation’s decentralised implementation of technical assistance and co-operation, the Council of Europe Office in Sarajevo ensures project implementation in the field. As of December 2023, 32 staff members were working in the office in Sarajevo.

The implementation of co-operation projects can involve needs assessments, legislative expertise, capacity building, awareness raising, peer-to-peer reviews and gender analyses. Implementation methodology, in line with the Council of Europe Project Management Methodology (PMM), reinforces ownership by national stakeholders and ensures the sustainability of the outcomes. The PMM enhances the quality of project implementation in terms of planning and monitoring, cost-efficiency and effectiveness. It also allows improved risk assessment, incorporation of a human rights approach and greater attention to the gender dimension.

Projects are implemented in close co-operation with authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, targeting governmental stakeholders, parliaments, civil society, independent governance institutions, such as the Institution of Human Rights Ombudsman, and local and regional authorities. This creates unique leverage for comprehensive, inclusive, successful and sustainable reforms.

Co-ordination to ensure the efficient use of resources and the relevance of the Council of Europe’s actions is performed at different levels and in different forums, including the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.

The Council of Europe co-ordinates closely with relevant international partners, notably the European Union, and in particular the European Union Delegation (EUD) in Bosnia and Herzegovina.[68] Several programmes in Bosnia and Herzegovina are jointly funded by the European Union, such as the Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Türkiye – phases II and III (the “Horizontal Facility”); the Joint Programme on
Co-operation on Cybercrime: Targeting crime proceeds on the internet and securing electronic evidence (iPROCEEDS 2); ROMACTED II – Promoting good governance and Roma empowerment at local level; and the programme on Roma integration – phase III.

Co-ordination is also ensured with other international partners, including the Office of the High Representative (OHR), the United Nations (UN), including the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR, represented in Bosnia and Herzegovina by a Human Rights Adviser attached to the Office of the UN Resident Co-ordinator), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

To ensure efficiency and avoid the overlapping of activities, the Council of Europe also co-ordinates its work with its member/observer States’ embassies and development agencies. The Council of Europe Office in Sarajevo also actively participated in a number of thematic co-ordination groups that met regularly, including:

·         a trust-building quartet working towards reconciliation (involving multilateral rights-based organisations (the UN, the OSCE and the EUD/European Union Special Representatives));

·         a working group on human rights issues involving the same organisations as well as other agencies and embassies;

·         a local governance donor co-ordination group (chaired by the UNDP on behalf of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation with the participation of the EUD, the OSCE and several embassies representing, among others, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the United States and Czechia);

·         the Inter-Agency Working Group on Gender Equality, chaired by UN Women and the Agency for Gender Equality of Bosnia and Herzegovina;

·         meetings with the OSCE on an advocacy/strategic level to co-ordinate efforts in the field of countering negative and divisive rhetoric, fighting hate speech and promoting inclusive education and citizens’ participation at local level;

·         other thematic working groups, including on education.

The Council of Europe Office in Sarajevo actively participates in co-ordination meetings with donors in the country.

3.1          HUMAN RIGHTS APPROACH

The Council of Europe applies a human rights approach at all levels and stages of its activities. This approach incorporates human rights norms and processes into project management. At the same time, the human rights approach attempts to avoid any unintentional human rights harm, imbalance or negative impact in its work.

The four main principles of the human rights approach – participation and inclusion; equality and non-discrimination; accountability; and transparency and access to information – are taken into consideration throughout the implementation of the Action Plan. The Council of Europe Human Rights Approach – Practical Guide for Co-operation Projectscontributes to the improved application of a human rights approach in project management and co-operation activities.

3.1.1 GENDER MAINSTREAMING

As a component of this human rights approach, the Council of Europe emphasises gender mainstreaming throughout its co-operation activities in line with its Gender Equality Strategy 2024-2029. For more information, see the Council of Europe web page on gender mainstreaming. The Council of Europe Gender Mainstreaming Toolkit for Co-operation Projects offers practical guidance on the implementation of a gender dimensionin co-operation activities within the Organisation as well as by national partners and other stakeholders. This toolkit is complemented by gender mainstreaming training courses that the Organisation offers for all staff working on co-operation activities.

Actions aimed at ensuring a gender-sensitive approach in the implementation of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina 2022-2025 (the “Action Plan”) included constant efforts to:

Regarding this Action Plan, the following gender-specific actions can be reported.

-          Including gender-specific sessions/aspects in capacity-building activities or seminars on different topics such as trafficking in human beings, freedom of expression and freedom of the media, justice and human rights and the prison sector. The training sessions for judges on defamation and strategic litigations against public participation (SLAPPs) emphasised the fact that in addition to silencing journalists, SLAPPs could entail gender-based violence and threats against women who work as journalists. Gender-based violence was the focus of capacity building on online harassment against journalists and in training sessions for prison staff (with a focus on detained transgender women who are likely to suffer the most violence from other detainees or prison staff). The role and challenges faced by police officers who are women was also tackled. The Centres of Women’s Rights of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro were involved in the training sessions at the regional human rights school for law students covering gender equality, the fight against gender-based prejudice and stereotypes and prevention of online abuse and domestic violence. Intersectionality was also tackled in some these capacity-building activities. The meetings of the Platform of Exchange on open government facilitated the identification of good practices and new ways for local processes to be more open, inclusive and representative, especially regarding women.

-          Encouraging the authorities and relevant stakeholders to mainstream gender in their policy documents and in the drafting process of those documents. The Press and Online Media Council adopted a new set of recommendations on gender equality in news reporting.[69] A study on media and gender, developed with input from the Communications Regulatory Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina (CRA) and the Agency for Gender Equality of Bosnia and Herzegovina, focused on how the media reflect, reproduce and can shape gender representation and women’s participation in public and political life.

The document “Promoting gender equality and combating gender-based violence and stereotypes as a means of combating trafficking in human beings” that provides guidance to stakeholders in Bosnia and Herzegovina tackles gender stereotypes; gender-based needs for women and men, boys and girls; the risks of secondary victimisation in different stages of assistance to victims; and best-practice examples from the region and the European Union. It was integrated into capacity-building activities provided by the Council of Europe. Support was provided to draft a discussion paper on women in the law-enforcement sector.[70] The working group is comprised of eight local police professionals, most of them women, with various professional backgrounds and serving at various ranks in different police agencies across the country. The role of women in religious communities was discussed with a variety of local stakeholders. Gender considerations were included into the draft anti-trafficking strategy and into the review of the amendments to the political party financing legislation regarding gender-targeted public funding for political parties.

-          Raising awareness of gender issues among the general public (including students and pupils) was promoted through various awareness-raising initiatives, with a particular focus on intersectionality and combating gender-based prejudices, stereotypes, stigmatisation, hate speech and violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people and women in general.

-          In 2023, a gender analysis in the field of education focused on access to education at all levels and the educational achievements of boys and girls; gender equality in education programmes, curricula and learning content and methods; and gender aspects of employment in the education sector at all levels. Another gender analysis shed light on the need to work on a programme of support for women police officers in terms of the promotion procedure and organisation of further training/education about sexual harassment, abuse, gender equality and violence in general. A gender impact assessment was conducted in the field of efficiency of justice that included tailored recommendations on how gender can be mainstreamed in co-operation activities and referring to relevant tools from the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ), such as the CEPEJ guidelines on gender equality in the recruitment and promotion of judges.

While efforts are continuously being deployed to mainstream gender in sectors traditionally dominated by men – such as the prison service – initiatives under the Action Plan also aimed to include men’s participation in sectors traditionally associated with women. For instance, around 32% of participants in the co-operation activities in the education sector were men, which is higher than their representation among teaching staff in Bosnia and Herzegovina (around 26%).

Even if the concrete outcome of some of the actions undertaken will be measured at the end of implementation of the Action Plan, overall they can be positively assessed. They have contributed to increased awareness among beneficiaries and to a strengthening of the capacities of specific women target groups in different areas of intervention of the Action Plan. In a few cases where resistance was encountered in terms of mainstreaming gender during capacity-building sessions for the law-enforcement sector, the Council of Europe gave a prominent role to women working as staff conducting the practical exercises to mitigate this. They subsequently declared that they gained confidence and left the training with a better sense of their professional value to the team. As under the previous action plan, work with the Minority Co-ordination Group (MCG)[71] continued to reveal the difficulties for women’s voices to be heard in some male-dominated institutions. Facilitators in training sessions made sure to often use examples referring to women.

3.1.2 PARTICIPATION AND INCLUSION

Regarding the application of the human rights approach, the following can be reported in terms of participation and inclusion (namely vulnerable persons, minorities and civil society).

The Council of Europe Action Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina 2022-2025 (the “Action Plan”) promotes the active participation of civil society in project activities in accordance with the Guidelines on civil society organisations’ participation in Council of Europe’s co-operation activities. Actions aimed at ensuring a civil society-inclusive approach in the implementation of the Action Plan included:

  • the participation of civil society organisations (CSOs) in programme and project Steering Committee meetings;
  • the participation of CSOs in project activities as and when appropriate (as implementing partners or experts) and/or their inclusion as the main target group in some projects.

Below are some examples of civil society involvement.

-          The Council of Europe directly involved CSOs in the capacity-building and policy activities implemented under the Action Plan. CSOs working with national minorities and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people participated in visits by the Institution of Human Rights Ombudsman, in the training session for police officers on hate crimes/speech towards LGBTI people and in specific activities concerning the LGBTI Action Plan organised by the Agency for Gender Equality of Bosnia and Herzegovina. CSOs active in the field of media participated in project activities and took an active part in discussions and consultation. Their contributions also ensured the inclusion of civil society perspectives in studies produced under the Action Plan. Representatives from civil society also joined consultative meetings with the authorities in the city of Mostar to reflect on the follow-up to the Citizens’ Assembly[72] and discuss upcoming priorities and activities. CSOs active in preventing and countering violent extremism and in post-penal assistance to former detainees exchanged best practices with those working in the penal, social welfare, adult education and training sectors, and discussed key challenges to ensuring effective preparation for release of violent extremist prisoners (VEPs)/vulnerable and marginalised prisoners at risk from radicalisation.

-          Support from the Action Plan empowered several CSOs. Some working in the field of free legal aid were able to take a more prominent role in assistance to victims of trafficking in human beings with the opening for signature of a memorandum of understanding for co-operation between non-governmental and governmental free legal aid providers. In Travnik, a CSO for young Roma women was established, which was welcomed by the local authorities. Thanks to the support of the Action Plan, CSOs are providing training and mentoring to pedagogical institutions and school management and supporting both teachers and students to enhance their democratic competences and enable them to become mentors/resources to other schools in developing democratic school culture.

-          The Council of Europe facilitated exchanges, contact and co-operation between CSOs and representatives and professionals of institutions through the above-mentioned capacity-building activities but also through more ad hoc initiatives. For instance, the Council of Europe put a CSO in touch with prisons benefiting from the Action Plan support and advised on the need to support activities preparing prisoners for life after release.

-          Co-operation with CSOs through grants helped raise awareness, for instance about the risks and forms of child trafficking. CSOs facilitated reaching out to citizens, especially to children and parents, including those from the Roma community. Moreover, assistance through grants to CSOs seeks to support victims’ and survivors’ participation in the fight against human trafficking. Local CSOs that received grants in the field of local democracy supported the promotion and strengthening of democratic school culture in local communities through capacity-building activities.

In May 2022, the Council of Europe published an online resource for civil societythat gives easy access to its handbook, entitled “Working with the Council of Europe: a practical guide for civil society”, which provides in-depth information on the different forms of access, co-operation, input, participation and/or partnership that are possible and relevant for non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

The Secretary General’s Roadmap on the Council of Europe’s engagement with civil society 2024-2027 marks a significant step in the follow-up to the “Reykjavík Declaration – United around our values”[73] and presents proposals aimed at shaping a policy for meaningful engagement with civil society as a whole, including youth civil society, in all aspects of the intergovernmental work of the Organisation (standard setting, monitoring and co-operation).

The Council of Europe Action Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina takes into consideration the specific needs of vulnerable groups by including projects aimed at improving the rights and/or the quality of life of vulnerable groups. Some projects include national minorities and children as the main target group or aim at combating discrimination, promoting inclusiveness in education or combating hate speech. The protection of minority rights and the promotion of inclusiveness are at the heart of several country-specific and regional projects (relating to the protection of national minorities, education and the Institution of Human Rights Ombudsman), while most of the actions either addressed the issue of minorities or sought to ensure a balanced representation of different cultural or social groups and ethnic minorities during their implementation.

Some specific actions in this regard include the following.

-          Individuals suffering from discrimination or who have been marginalised were put at the heart of capability-building and awareness-raising initiatives conducted under the Action Plan. Victims of trafficking in human beings for the purpose of labour exploitation from Bosnia and Herzegovina shared their personal experience with representatives from authorities at a round table on the participation of victims and survivors. The Action Plan supported them to participate in consultations with anti-trafficking authorities on policy and strategic documents. Moreover, the Action Plan supported the promotion of Roma culture and literature, LGBTI rights and the fight against hate speech. LGBTI people and Roma activists acted as facilitators in capacity-building sessions. The “Block the hatred. Share the love” awareness-raising initiative was a good platform for exchange with numerous CSOs representing Roma, Jewish, Albanian and other minorities, people with disabilities and migrants. Several awareness-raising initiatives took place with high-school students in the format of Living Libraries.[74] The students had the opportunity to exchange directly with marginalised groups, such as Roma and Jewish people, people with disabilities, LGBTI persons and migrants, and learned to put aside their stereotypes and prejudices towards them and understand the importance of inclusion.

-          CSOs in the city of Mostar actively participated in the deliberative democratic process, voicing the need to empower underrepresented groups, with an emphasis on women and young people. The meetings of the Platform of Exchange on open government allowed local authorities to brainstorm on how to include young people in local processes and structured opportunities for youth engagement.

-          The Council of Europe is supporting the drafting of the treatment and pre-release protocols for vulnerable forensic patients (women, juveniles, elderly people, persons with disabilities and substance abusers). Moreover, working groups in the prison and police sector include professionals representing large sections of society with single mothers, elderly people, persons suffering from a physical impairment or health issues and LGBTI persons.

-          The Council of Europe worked with the Islamic community to draw up basic and advanced training programmes for prison staff working with VEPs. In addition, religious community representatives (Orthodox, Catholic, Islamic, Jewish and Protestant), the media, civil society organisations (CSOs) and academics were invited to discuss the implementation of a human rights approach to religion.

3.1.3. EQUALITY AND NON-DISCRIMINATION

The Council of Europe Action Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina 2022-2025 (the “Action Plan”) promoted equality and non-discrimination in its implementation in various forms, such as awareness-raising initiatives and the development of various guidelines to assist the authorities in making their policy and practices inclusive. For instance, in the field of preventing and combating trafficking in human beings, the Action Plan supported the development of guidelines for the protection of Roma people’s identity in the context of privacy and personal data. Capacity-building sessions promoted the protection of the rights of the child and tackled trafficking for labour exploitation and hate speech against minority groups – including the Roma community.

The selection of professionals to participate in the capacity-building sessions and other activities was based on a large geographical scope and regardless of grades/ranks.

The Council of Europe is committed to protecting children from harm and ensuring that children’s right to protection is fully secured in line with its Strategy for the Rights of the Child 2022-2027.

The Council of Europe “Speak Up” policy on reporting wrongdoing and protection from retaliation entered into force on 1 June 2023 and forms part of the Organisation’s ethical framework.

3.1.4. ACCOUNTABILITY

A particular effort to ensure accountability in the implementation of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina 2022-2025 (the “Action Plan”) involved paying specific attention to the feedback and perspectives received from civil society organisations (CSOs) and stakeholders, especially from those taking part in training. When relevant, capacity-building activities included anonymous written and verbal feedback. For instance, based on the feedback from pupils after the first Living Library organised in a high school, all future similar activities lasted longer. In the field of freedom of expression, feedback from media stakeholders allowed the logframe and intervention activities in this field to be reshaped.

Some anti-discrimination awareness-raising activities also took place directly on the streets of Bijeljina, where people that were active in the debates and activities on hate speech and the effects of stigmatising certain segments of the society found that these types of discussions with the population were vital.

Moreover, following the first Citizens’ Assembly in Mostar, the city now pays particular attention to consulting citizens on the implementation of the assembly’s recommendations.

3.1.5. TRANSPARENCY AND ACCESS TO INFORMATION

Regarding the application of the human rights approach, the following can be reported in terms of transparency and access to information.

3.1.6. ENVIRONMENT

The “Reykjavík Declaration – United around our values” is also committed to strengthening the work on the human rights aspects of the environment and initiating the Reykjavík process of focusing and strengthening the work of the Council of Europe in this field, as laid out in its Appendix V “The Council of Europe and the environment”. This appendix underlines the “urgency of taking co-ordinated action to protect the environment by countering the triple planetary crisis of pollution, climate change and loss of biodiversity” and affirms “that human rights and the environment are intertwined and that a clean, healthy and sustainable environment is integral to the full enjoyment of human rights by present and future generations”. The Reykjavík process is expected to “focus and streamline the Organisation’s activities, with a view to promoting co-operation among member States”. It will also “identify the challenges raised by the triple planetary crisis of pollution, climate change and loss of biodiversity for human rights and contribute to the development of common responses thereto, while facilitating the participation of youth in these discussions”. This will be done “by enhancing and co-ordinating the existing Council of Europe activities related to the environment” and the establishment of a new intergovernmental committee on environment and human rights (the “Reykjavík Committee”).

In this regard, the Council of Europe’s co-operation dimension has the potential to introduce climate and environmental aspects into discussions in areas and among stakeholders not traditionally used to considering these themes. In doing so, it can rely on the Council of Europe’s binding commitments and treaties directly or indirectly addressing environmental concerns, its well-established working methods that include intergovernmental dialogue and co-operation, and its extensive and diverse networks of expertise across Europe. Within this context, the Council of Europe’s co-operation dimension aims to make the fight against climate change and environmental degradation an integral and more explicit part of its action and is working towards three main areas: 1) mainstreaming environmental protection and climate change considerations in Council of Europe co-operation projects; 2) conceiving and designing co-operation projects with environment-specific objectives;[75] and 3) improving the working methods and practices of the Council of Europe to ensure greater environmental sustainability of its co-operation activities.[76]

3.2 CONTRIBUTION TO THE UNITED NATIONS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS

The implementation of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina 2022-2025 (the “Action Plan”), based on the intrinsic links between sustainable development and the protection of human rights, supports the efforts of the authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina to achieve their commitments to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially goals 3, 4, 5, 8, 10, 11 and 16.

·         Goal 3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages

Through capacity building, the Action Plan boosted the awareness of health institutions and practitioners (such as general practitioners, specialists in emergency medicine, gynaecologists, occupational therapists, psychologists, nurses, social workers, oligophrenopedagogy specialists, speech therapists, heads of health centres and expert advisers in public relations at hospitals) in the prevention and treatment of trafficking cases and increased their knowledge of providing psychosocial and medical assistance to child and adult victims and persons at risk of trafficking. Mental health during the Covid-19 pandemic was also part of the best-practice exchanges of school teachers and pupils. This is linked to the gradual achievement of SDG 3, in particular target 4.[77]

Moreover, the Action Plan provides small grants for post-Covid recovery, launched to support the Roma community as regards education and health.

The Organisation also supported the Agency for Gender Equality of Bosnia and Herzegovina in fostering discussions with health representatives from the State and entity levels, members of parliament from Bosnia and Herzegovina and local and international civil society organisations (CSOs) on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) persons’ access to healthcare.

The Council of Europe is supporting the drafting of the resource manual on the treatment of specific groups of forensic patients.

·         Goal 4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all

Numerous actions carried out under the Action Plan were aimed at directly contributing to the achievement of SDG 4, more specifically targets 1[78] and 7.[79]

The assistance provided in the field of education aims at fostering quality education for all by promoting inclusion and combating discrimination in the national education system. In this context, capacity-building activities enhanced the knowledge of the ministries of education and educational institutions on preventing prejudices, stereotypes, stigmatisation and violence against LGBTI pupils, as well as identifying, protecting and assisting potential child victims of trafficking. Moreover, the Council of Europe promoted a culture of democracy, through joint exchanges with school network members (including teachers and students) about democratic school culture.

·         Goal 5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls

Gender mainstreaming in all policies and measures as well as in the implementation of the projects themselves is a priority of the Action Plan and related to the achievement of SDG 5, specifically targets 1,[80] 2,[81] b[82] and c.[83]

In 2023, the Council of Europe launched a new project which aims to address shortcomings in the legal framework and support related to combating sexual violence and emerging forms of violence against women as well as a regional project intended to foster women’s access to justice.

Assistance in the field of freedom of expression and the media, through capacity-building activities, led to the adoption of a new set of recommendations on gender equality in news reporting by the Press and Online Media Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The support was aimed at ensuring the improvement of women’s representation and inclusion in the media, making women’s experiences and perspectives visible. The Action Plan also encouraged the use of gender-sensitive language in broadcast media through its work with the Communications Regulatory Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina (CRA) and media information literacy stakeholders.

Guidance was provided to professionals involved in combating trafficking in human beings to bolster their knowledge of gender stereotypes and victim’s gender-based needs. Similarly, gender-based violence was the focus of capacity-building work involving prison staff and the judiciary trained on freedom of media.

The Council of Europe ensures that gender mainstreaming is showcased in its capacity-building activities, including in sectors traditionally dominated by men.

Awareness-raising initiatives targeting pupils and students focused on various topics such as gender and human rights and intersectionality affecting gay and transgender women. For instance, a regional human rights summer school in Trebinje focusing on gender and human rights brought together 34 law students from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia, who discussed and analysed the key issues related to gender and human rights, as well the human rights of LGBTI persons.

The Council of Europe provided a platform for discussion to local authorities across Bosnia and Herzegovina on how to make sure that local processes are more open, inclusive and representative – especially towards women.

·         Goal 8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all

The Council of Europe’s actions are targeted at combating trafficking in human beings and represent a clear contribution to SDG 8, target 7.[84]

Through capacity building and awareness raising among relevant parties, the Council of Europe aimed to facilitate the detection and identification of trafficking and improve assistance for victims of trafficking, with a special focus on trafficking in human beings for the purpose of labour exploitation. Training activities bolstered the knowledge among professionals from relevant institutions, the media and CSOs on the processes of identification and protection of trafficking victims and witnesses of trafficking, on the identification of online human trafficking and exploitation and on how to protect the right to privacy and confidentiality of victims when reporting cases of trafficking for labour exploitation.

·         Goal 10. Reduce inequality within and among countries

The Action Plan contributes to tackling discrimination, hate speech, violence, racism and hate crime by supporting the authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina in their efforts to ensure equal opportunities and reduce inequalities, as defined by the objectives of SDG 10, target 3.[85]

More precisely, the Council of Europe supported the Institution of Human Rights Ombudsman to combat discrimination and challenge prejudices through capacity-building activities, aiming to raise the awareness of policy makers about hate speech and its negative implications.

The Council of Europe stepped up its efforts to combat discrimination, antigypsyism and prejudice against Roma people by promoting social inclusion goals and supporting the adoption of the new Action Plan for Roma Social Inclusion 2021-2025 by the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina and local action plans. In the field of education, support was focused on several awareness-raising initiatives in schools about the harmfulness of antisemitism, islamophobia, xenophobia, hate speech and discrimination towards the Roma community, migrants and person with disabilities.

The “Block the hatred. Share the love” awareness-raising initiative sought to combat various forms of hate speech targeting specific vulnerable communities and individuals, spreading messages of equality, tolerance, diversity and anti-discrimination.

Support continued to be provided at legislative and capacity-building levels, including to the Minority Co-ordination Group (MCG), for the promotion of national minorities’ rights. In this regard, the placement of 49 topographic signs in national minority languages in several municipalities is to be noted.

With the support of the Council of Europe, the LGBTI Action Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina 2021-2024 was adopted by the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, aiming to improve the human rights situation and freedoms of LGBTI persons in the country. Support is provided to the authorities for its implementation. To further improve the treatment of LGBTI prisoners and LGBTI persons deprived of liberty, the Council of Europe provided training to prison institutions, the Ministries of Justice, the Agency for Gender Equality of Bosnia and Herzegovina and police officers from Brčko District. This was the first time that police officers from the Brčko District underwent this type of training.

Last but not least, intersectionality was at the heart of several capacity-building sessions and awareness-raising initiatives under the Action Plan.

·         Goal 11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable

The Council of Europe support to the cities of Mostar and Banja Luka aims to boost the promotion of inclusive and sustainable societies by fostering local democracy based on human rights, respectful of citizens’ rights, liberties and freedoms. The city of Mostar was granted financial support from the Council of Europe for the progressive implementation of recommendations from the first Citizen’s Assembly, notably on the cleanliness and maintenance of public spaces, in continuous consultation with the local population and CSOs. This support is linked to SDG 11, particularly in the implementation of integrated policies towards inclusion.

·         Goal 16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels

Because of the nature of its mandate, the Council of Europe’s technical co-operation actions contribute significantly to the achievement of SDG 16. All actions taken under the Action Plan are linked to this SDG and some specifically contributed to its progressive achievement.

The Council of Europe assistance provided in the field of prisons and police focused on strengthening institutions to deal with human rights standards for persons deprived of liberty. This is linked to the achievement of target 1.[86]

The support to combat trafficking in human beings is centred on child trafficking and therefore contributed to the gradual achievement of target 2.[87] Capacity-building activities increased the knowledge of institutions and CSOs to identify, prevent and deal with cases of child trafficking (including child begging) and to ensure the protection of minors.

The comprehensive support provided to the justice system and legal professionals, including the judicial training institutions, seeks to promote the rule of law and ensure access to an independent and efficient justice system. This is directly related to target 3.[88]

The Council of Europe supported the improvement of law-enforcement capacities to investigate and collect electronic evidence, especially regarding illicit financial transactions in the blockchain and tracing money from criminal activities and the Dark Web. Furthermore, dialogue and information exchange increased between criminal justice authorities and internet service providers on crimes against children in cyberspace. The Action Plan’s activities in this regard are fully linked to SDG 16, target 4.[89]

In 2023, the Council of Europe launched its first two country-specific initiatives in the field of economic crime. They notably aim to enhance measures and capacities for corruption prevention and effective seizures and confiscations of illegal assets. This is linked to SDG 16, target 5.[90]

Under the Action Plan, efforts have been made to build the capacity of institutions and their staff members, including the judiciary and law-enforcement agencies, to operate more effectively in line with their mandates and in compliance with European standards. Support provided to improve legal certainty and transparency was targeted at a wide range of legal professionals (judges, prosecutors, law students), parliamentarians and institutions (Supreme Court of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, judicial training institutes, the Central Election Commission (CEC)).

The Council of Europe also fostered discussions between local authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina on the new strategic priorities of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) and the participation of three representatives of local authorities and their associations in the OGP Local Programme. This support is linked to the achievement of target 6.[91]

The Action Plan dedicates support to the development of local democratic self-governance, aimed at increasing civil participation (including for minorities and women in institutions still dominated by men at managerial level) at all institutional levels and encouraging dialogue between different governmental layers and with civil society. All these efforts contribute to SDG 16 and specially to target 7.[92] All actions were implemented in line with the Council of Europe human rights approach, with a particular emphasis on the principle of participation and inclusion, focusing on engagement with civil society.

The multifaceted support from the Action Plan to strengthen freedom of expression, freedom of the media and media literacy is linked to target 10.[93] The capacities of judges, prosecutors and police officers to tackle hate speech and defamation and to ensure the protection of whistle-blowers in line with European standards were enhanced. Additionally, support was provided to the CRA to formulate a national media literacy strategy and strengthen the strategic media and information literacy framework.

Actions to increase the capacity and skills of relevant institutions and police officers to implement human rights standards, case-management protocols and pre-release programmes in prisons are linked to the achievement of target a.[94] The assistance in the field of violent and extremist prisoners (VEPs) allowed representatives from the Ministries of Justice and prison staff to learn from Germany’s, France’s and North Macedonia’s prison administrations regarding the management and rehabilitation of VEPs.

Additionally, the support provided to the revision of legislation and adoption of non-discriminatory policies contributes to the gradual achievement of target b.[95] In this context, strong interlinks can be established with SDGs 5 and 10. The adoption by the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina of the LGBTI Action Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina 2021-2024 and the new Action Plan for Roma Social Inclusion 2021-2025 are particularly relevant in this regard at the policy level. They were supplemented by capacity-building activities for the institutions’ staff.

The Council of Europe facilitated the participation by representatives of relevant ministries of education at all levels in the World Forum for Democracy where they heard and exchanged views and experiences on democracy as a way to promote peace.

3.3 RISK MANAGEMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY

Owing to the nature of its mandate, the Council of Europe operates in complex and unstable environments that expose it to risks. The risk analysis of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina 2022-2025 (the “Action Plan”) and possible mitigation strategies are made on the basis of the Council of Europe’s Risk Management Policy[96] and Risk Management Guidelines. All projects implemented within the Action Plan have their own risk assessment and mitigation strategies.

Despite the good relationship established with the authorities at local level and at headquarters, the country’s multilayered and complex institutional structure poses challenges for the overall co-ordination of the Action Plan. The Council of Europe deployed additional efforts to engage with the beneficiaries and provided further information when necessary.

The year 2022 saw general and cantonal elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina, marked by the decision of the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Christian Schmidt, to impose changes to the Constitution of the Federation entity and to the Bosnia and Herzegovina election law, aimed at addressing a number of functionality issues and the timely formation of authorities.

The Council of Europe closely followed the post-election developments. The Organisation maintained constant communication with relevant national partners highlighting the importance of its support for the alignment of the national authorities’ work and activities with European human rights standards. This approach was also applied when there was a change in the beneficiaries’ management.

As stressed by the external evaluation of the previous action plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina, many aspects of reform sustainability are dependent on external factors, notably political stability and the political will to reform. The accompanying divergences of priorities among the various entities and political sensitivity did not hinder the overall implementation of the Action Plan at the technical level. Work under the Action Plan focuses mainly on co-operation with non-political officials. Overall, the Council of Europe pays particular attention to working with institutions from both entities and makes sure that events such as training sessions take place across the entities when possible and relevant to ensure adequate representation. However, aside from some exceptions and breakthroughs,[97] the difficulties of adopting key legislation and policies at the State level, or within a reasonable time frame and in compliance with European standards, create obstacles to the achievement of some of the Action Plan’s objectives. To mitigate these risks, the Council of Europe maintains a continuous dialogue with key stakeholders at different government levels and the international community, develops flexible implementation plans and tailors activities to align them with the specific context and requirements of each government level.

Moreover, the recent legislative and political developments regarding several areas covered by the Action Plan (such as freedom of expression and freedom of the media,[98] the work of non-profit organisations,[99] constitutional justice[100] and the protection of the rights of minority groups and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) persons[101]) confirm the importance and relevance of the topics of the Action Plan and the need to continue to support the advancement of reforms at all levels. The Council of Europe relies on its convening power to foster dialogue and continues to recall the importance of advancing the reform agenda.

Soon after the Russian Federation’s aggression against Ukraine started, the tone of awareness-raising initiatives was adapted to this context. Under the Action Plan, the Council of Europe’s Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) Guidance Note on addressing the risk of trafficking in human beings related to the war in Ukraine and the ensuing humanitarian crisis was translated into local languages in case of a large influx. The influx remains very limited so far.

The lack of sufficient financial resources poses a risk to the implementation of the Action Plan at several levels and the sustainability of the Council of Europe’s intervention.

·         For instance, the authorities critically needed support to implement the recommendations of the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) and the Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism (MONEYVAL). This was also reflected in the limited capacity of the authorities to participate in regional initiatives in this field before funding was secured in 2023.

·         Funding secured immediately after the adoption of the Action Plan allowed its implementation to start out on track. This was further supplemented with the signature of the third phase of the European Union/Council of Europe joint programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Türkiye”. However, securing funding remains challenging, which makes it necessary to regularly reassess priorities. In addition, when funds are secured, their actual availability is dependent on the timing of the funding cycles (instalments) which can be challenging for the organisation of activities to be conducted under the Action Plan. Additional unearmarked funding is crucially needed to avoid shortages.

The high inflation rate and the resulting Increase in prices in the country had an impact on the costs of some activities conducted under the Action Plan. The ability to demonstrate flexibility to revise project budgets, following close discussions with the beneficiaries, is key in this regard.

Furthermore, the implementation of the Action Plan that follows the Council of Europe Project Management Methodology (PMM) aims to reinforce the ownership by national stakeholders and to ensure the sustainability of the outcomes, by using existing tools such as the ones developed by the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) or the Council of Europe Programme for Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals (HELP) training methodology. It also strives to ensure that they integrate these tools into their national systems. This is the case, for instance, for judicial training institutions’ curricula. The focus on training-of-trainers activities also gradually prepares the authorities to make use of the tools themselves. Another positive example is the introduction of the “Law of the Council of Europe” as a master’s programme at the Law Faculty of the University of Sarajevo and the training of professors to effectively oversee and tutor the activities of their law students. The whole Council of Europe approach to co-operation is geared towards sustainability. This concept is part and parcel of the PMM, which also covers the human rights approach as well as the gender mainstreaming toolkit. This approach ensures that a results-oriented and inclusive approach is adopted when planning and managing co-operation projects in order to create favourable conditions for the sustainability of their outcomes on the basis of a common understanding and strong partnership among all stakeholders. The nature of the activities implemented, which typically target the improvement of the legislative and policy framework, the development of institutional and personal capacities and awareness raising at different levels, factors in the sustainability criterion, trying to create all the necessary conditions for sustainable results.

3.4  LESSONS LEARNED

The Council of Europe Project Management Methodology (PMM) involves looking at lessons learned. The following emerged from the implementation of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina 2022-2025 (the “Action Plan”) during the reporting period.

·         Long-term follow-up projects and activities are necessary to continue working towards reaching the desired outcomes, all the more given Bosnia and Herzegovina’s decentralised legislative and decision-making process. The support provided under the previous action plan materialised in the adoption of several key strategic documents during the reporting period. Continuous co-operation is also necessary to support the national authorities in the implementation of these documents, as it appears for instance in the field of education with the Policy Recommendation with a Roadmap for Improving Inclusive Education (the “Roadmap”). As far as building capacity is concerned, structured and in-depth capacity building is necessary as changing behaviours and habits takes time. Refresher training sessions are also useful. In this regard, preparing future generations, by working with students, promotes the retention of knowledge and know-how and is therefore a positive factor for the sustainability of the Action Plan’s outcome.

The Council of Europe also demonstrated efforts to put in place measures implementing the recommendations from the external evaluation of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina 2018-2021.

·         Donor co-ordination and continuous communication with all relevant donors and organisations implementing programmes and projects in Bosnia and Herzegovina was essential to ensure complementarity of the actions and to avoid overlaps. Working together also facilitates exchanges of good practices and fosters access to information, which is paramount for the reform process. Conducting a full donor mapping and extensive consultations with partners was found to be beneficial when starting projects under the Action Plan, especially in the area of justice and combating economic crime, given the multiplicity of stakeholders and donors working in these fields.

·         The support provided under the Action Plan is multifaceted. This is of particular importance given that the areas covered are closely interlinked. This entails addressing common challenges but also provides potential for results to spill over across the various aspects of the reform. Therefore, internal co-ordination across the projects implemented under the Action Plan, including with regional interventions, is key. For instance, the topic of anti-discrimination and fighting hate speech was central to many initiatives, including in the support provided to law enforcement, schools and law students, and in the fields of freedom of expression and freedom of the media. Projects therefore joined forces. This was the case with the schools participating in the Council of Europe intervention in the field of quality inclusive education, which joined the activities of the “Block the Hatred. Share the Love” initiative to raise awareness of hate speech and bullying. Joint initiatives in the field of Roma integration, inclusive education and anti-trafficking provided training sessions to professionals from the educational sector on child trafficking prevention. Synergies were particularly ensured when working with the Centres for Judicial and Prosecutorial Training of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska.

·         A multistakeholder/multidisciplinary approach bolsters the sustainability of the Action Plan interventions. For instance, the multistakeholder approach continued to be central to all capacity-building activities in the field of preventing and combating trafficking in human beings, supporting various governmental and non-governmental anti-trafficking bodies, not only to strengthen their knowledge of anti-trafficking issues but also to create synergies, facilitating an exchange of information and good practices and encouraging joint responses.

3.5 FUNDING AND PARTNERS

Country action plans and other strategic programming documents detailing the strategic priorities for co-operation and the resources needed to achieve them constitute valuable tools for pooling voluntary contributions (VCs) that are not earmarked or that are broadly earmarked.

Continued financial support for the Council of Europe Action Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina 2022-2025 (the “Action Plan”) allows the Organisation to build on and create activities that support the principles of the European Convention on Human Rights (the “Convention”) and other legal instruments and Council of Europe standards. The Council of Europe increasingly seeks to deliver on agreed priorities rather than on individual projects and activities.

Ensuring the sustainability of reforms supported by the Action Plan requires long-term funding. Action Plan-level funding, in particular, allows flexibility for allocating funds where they are most needed (such as when addressing emerging co-operation needs) and where they are most likely to contribute to the sustainability of key policy and institutional reforms. The Council of Europe also promotes longer-term framework co-operation agreements and multi-annual contracts with key partners and donors to facilitate strategic and effective partnerships and ensure predictable and flexible funding.

As a direct result of the “Reykjavík Declaration – United around our values”,[102] which recognises the importance of the Council of Europe’s co-operation dimension, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe included in its Ordinary Budget 2024-2027 a contribution for the co-operation dimension, which is traditionally mostly funded by extra-budgetary sources/VCs. As of 31 December 2023, the Council of Europe Action Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina 2022-2025 had received a total funding volume of €15.7 million. As for extra-budgetary resources, Action Plan-level funding totalled €4.3 million, and project-level funding totalled €9.3 million.

Contributions by the European Union correspond to 50.7% of the funding secured.[103] VCs by member States and other donors represent 35.7% of the funding secured. The Council of Europe’s own resources represent 13.6%.

Donors (in descending order according to the volume of their financial contributions) are the European Union, Norway, Germany, Sweden, Belgium, the Human Rights Trust Fund (HRTF),[104] Liechtenstein and Slovenia.

Figure 2: Funding situation of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina 2022-2025, % shares as of 31 December 2023

Figure 3: Funding situation per pillar of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina 2022-2025 in millions of euros as of 31 December 2023

 

Figure 4: Funding sources for the Council of Europe Action Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina 2022-2025, % of total funding as of 31 December 2023[105]

Figure 5: Donors contributing to the Council of Europe Action Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina 2022-2025 in thousands of euros as of 31 December 2023


APPENDIX I: LIST OF PROJECTS                                                                                    

Country-specific projects:

Title

Duration

Funding source(s)[106]

HFII: Freedom of Expression and Freedom of the Media in Bosnia and Herzegovina

24/05/2019 – 31/12/2022

(43 months)

Joint programme (JP)

Media and Information Literacy: for Human Rights and More Democracy

01/09/2020 – 31/12/2022

(28 months)

VC and OB/APP

Enhancing Institutional Capacities on Freedom of Expression and Information in Bosnia and Herzegovina

01/02/2022 – 31/01/2025

(36 months)

VC

HFIII: Protecting Freedom of Expression and of the Media in Bosnia and Herzegovina

01/01/2023 – 31/12/2026

(48 months)

JP

Combatting Digital and Sexual Violence against Women in Bosnia and Herzegovina

01/06/2023 – 30/11/2024

(18 months)

VC

HF II: Promotion of Diversity and Equality in Bosnia and Herzegovina

24/05/2019 – 31/12/2022

(43 months)

JP

HFIII: Towards an Equal, Inclusive and Tolerant Bosnia and Herzegovina

01/01/2023 – 31/12/2026

(48 months)

JP

Initiative for Legal Certainty and Efficient Judiciary in Bosnia and Herzegovina - Phase III

01/01/2022 – 31/12/2023

(24 months)

VC and OB/APP

HFIII: Strengthening the Efficiency and Quality of Justice in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiHSEJ)

01/01/2023 – 31/12/2026

(48 months)

JP

HFIII: Action against Corruption, Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing in Bosnia and Herzegovina

01/01/2023 – 31/12/2026

(48 months)

JP

Action against Corruption, Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing in Bosnia and Herzegovina

01/01/2023 – 31/12/2025

(36 months)

VC

HF II: Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Human Beings in Bosnia and Herzegovina

24/05/2019 – 31/12/2022

(43 months)

JP

Strengthening Anti-Trafficking Action in Bosnia and Herzegovina

01/01/2023 – 31/12/2024

(24 months)

VC

HF II: Strengthening Human Rights Treatment of Detained Persons based on European Standards and Best Practices in Bosnia and Herzegovina

24/05/2019 – 31/12/2022

(43 months)

JP

Ensuring Sustainable Penitentiary Actions in Managing Rehabilitation of Violent Extremist Prisoners in Bosnia and Herzegovina (ESPA-VEP)

01/04/2022 – 30/09/2024)

(30 months)

VC and OB/APP

HFIII: Further strengthening the Treatment of Detained and Sentenced ¨Persons in line with European Standards in Bosnia and Herzegovina

01/01/2023 – 31/12/2026

(48 months)

JP

Support to More Integral and Inclusive Electoral Processes in Bosnia and Herzegovina

01/06/2020 – 30/06/2022

(25 months)

VC and OB/APP

Innovating Democratic Participation at Local Level in Bosnia and Herzegovina

01/01/2022 – 30/06/2024 (30 months)

VC and OB/APP

HFII: Quality Education for All

24/05/2019 – 31/12/2022

(43 months)

JP

HFIII: Quality Education for All – Bosnia and Herzegovina

01/01/2023 – 31/12/2026

(48 months)

JP

Regional projects:

Title

Duration

Funding source(s)

HFII: HELP in the Western Balkans

01/12/2019 – 31/12/2022

(37 months)

JP

HELP in the Western Balkans

01/01/2023 – 31/12/2024

(24 months)

VC

HFII: Judicial Training Institutes for Quality and Sustainability (JA-NET)

24/05/2019 – 31/12/2022

(43 months)

JP

HFII: Freedom of Expression and Freedom of the Media in South-East Europe

24/05/2019 – 31/12/2022

(43 months)

JP

HFIII: Protecting Freedom of Expression and of the Media in the Western Balkans

01/01/2023 – 31/12/2026

(48 months)

JP

HFIII: Women's Access to Justice in the Western Balkans

01/01/2023 – 31/12/2026

(48 months)

JP

HFII: Promotion of Diversity and Equality in the Western Balkans

24/05/2019 – 31/12/2022

(43 months)

JP

HFIII: Promoting Equality and Combating Racism and Itolerance in the Western Balkans

01/01/2023 – 31/12/2026

(48 months)

JP

ROMACTED 2 - Promoting Good Governance and Roma Empowerment at Local Level

01/01/2021 – 31/12/2024

(48 months)

JP

Roma Integration Phase III

01/05/2023 – 30/04/2026

(36 months)

JP

HFII: Initiative for Legal Certainty in the Western Balkans

24/05/2019 – 31/12/2022

(43 months)

JP

HFII: Towards a Better Evaluation of the Results of Judicial Reform Efforts in the Western Balkans - “Dashboard Western Balkans”

24/05/2019 – 31/12/2022

(43 months)

JP

HFIII: Towards a Better Evaluation of the Results of Judicial Reform Efforts in the Western Balkans – Phase II “Dashboard Western Balkans II”

01/01/2023 – 31/12/2026

(48 months)

JP

HFIII: Action against Economic Crime in the Western Balkans

01/01/2023 – 31/12/2026

(48 months)

JP

HFII: Action against Economic Crime in South-East Europe and Turkey

24/05/2019 – 31/12/2022

(43 months)

JP

iPROCEEDS2 - Co-operation on Cybercrime: Targeting Crime Proceeds on the Internet and Securing Electronic Evidence

01/01/2020 – 31/12/2023

(48 months)

JP

HFII: Enhancing Penitentiary Capacities in Addressing Radicalisation in Prisons in the Western Balkans

24/05/2019 – 31/12/2022

(43 months)

JP

HFIII: Enhancing cCo-operation in the Western Balkans in Managing Violent Extremism in Prisons and Preventing further Radicalisation after Release

01/01/2023 – 31/12/2026

(48 months)

JP



APPENDIX II: FUNDING INFORMATION

(as of 31 December 2023, all amounts in euros)

Sectors

Total initial budget

Total revised

budget

Funded OB/JPP and OB/APP[107]

Funded European Union

Funded VC[108]

Total funds secured

Unfunded (vis-à-vis the revised budget)

1. Human Rights

5 462 157

7 547 062

665 565

2 930 589

2 365 257

5 961 411

1 585 651

2. Rule of Law

7 493 231

7 953 347

921 752

3 381 595

2 175 000

6 478 347

1 475 000

3. Democracy

5 643 256

3 650 246

411 099

834 147

625 000

1 870 246

1 780 000

4. Co-ordination and management[109]

539 003

1 277 631

146 645

830 986

96 173

1 073 804

203 827

5. Unallocated funding

0

0

0

0

358 019

358 019

-358 019

TOTAL

19 137 647

20 428 286

2 145 061

7 977 317

5 619 449

15 741 827

4 686 459


APPENDIX III: LOGFRAME OF THE ACTION PLAN FOR BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA 2022-2025

“Transversal dimensions such as gender equality, gender mainstreaming and civil society’s participation are key components of the Council of Europe’s human rights approach:

Overall goal: to ensure successful reforms in Bosnia and Herzegovina which will bring its legislation, institutions and practice further into line with European standards in the areas of human rights, the rule of law and democracy, and therefore support the country’s efforts to honour its obligations as a Council of Europe member State.” 

                                                                                                                                                                                
Human Rights

Thematic outcomes: Human rights protection, equality and human dignity are enhanced through the well-structured and co-ordinated implementation of human rights standards, including those on gender equality, freedom of expression and freedom of the media and an improved effectiveness of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) system.

The actions in this area will contribute to the implementation of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Goals 4 (target 7),[110] (more specifically targets 1, 2, and C),[111] 8 (target 8),[112] 10 (target 2, 3, 4 and 7),[113] 11 (target 3)[114] and 16 (targets 3, 7, 10 and B). [115]

Outcomes

Indicators

1.1.   Effective ECHR implementation

Enhancing the effectiveness of the ECHR system at national level

·         Bosnia and Herzegovina is supported in achieving full and effective execution of judgments focusing on enforcement of domestic court rulings;

·         The draft Law on Ombudsman for Human Rights of Bosnia and Herzegovina is adopted;

·         The institutional capacity of the Institution of Human Rights Ombudsman to carry out its mandate effectively is strengthened;

·         A comprehensive policy framework on the promotion and enforcement of human rights is devised;

·         Systemic human rights education among legal professionals and law faculties is introduced;

·         The digital uptake of the judicial training institutes is enhanced;

·         National legislation on the human rights protection of refugees, migrants and asylum seekers is in line with relevant European and international standards;

·         Specific protective measures for vulnerable persons in the context of migration and asylum are strengthened;

·         Effective alternatives to immigration detention are developed and implemented;

·         Child-protection systems and procedures are strengthened in the context of migration, including by promoting family-based care for unaccompanied children.

Freedom of expression and freedom of the media

·         Legislation to ensure transparency in the ownership of media outlets and on access to information is brought into line with the relevant Council of Europe standards,

·         The public service broadcasting system and the State-level management is further enhanced and unified;

·         The capacities of the Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees and other institutions to organise and lead participatory legislative drafting processes on freedom of expression and freedom of the media, access to information and media literacy legislation/regulation and to monitor their implementation are increased;  

·         The capacities of law enforcement agencies to deal with issues of protection of journalists are enhanced; 

·         The capacities of the judiciary in applying rights and duties of media actors in line with European standards is strengthened; 

·         The importance of free, qualitative and safe journalism is further promoted among all media actors and the general public with specific consideration given to the safety of women journalists;

·         The application of rights and duties concerning access to information is improved.

Data protection

·           The legal framework on data protection is brought into line with international standards, notably with the ratified Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data;

·           The requirements in terms of data protection of the Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data are properly incorporated in the legal framework on access to information;

·           The capacities of the Personal Data Protection Agency for improved delivery of its missions are enhanced, notably as regards awareness-raising;

·           The capacities of administrations and other relevant stakeholders to give access to information while respecting the principles of personal data protection are enhanced.

Enhancing the effectiveness of the ECHR system at national level

·         Number of judgments from the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) involving Bosnia and Herzegovina under the supervision of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (CM);

·         Number of closed cases involving Bosnia and Herzegovina;

·         Percentage of staff from the Institution of Human Rights Ombudsman whose capacities have been enhanced;

·         Percentage of recommendations from the Institution of Human Rights Ombudsman implemented by public and private institutions;

·         Number of measures taken to develop a comprehensive policy framework on the promotion and enforcement of human rights compliant with European standards;

·         Number of human rights modules introduced in the Centre for Judicial and Prosecutorial Training of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Centre for Judicial and Prosecutorial Training of Republika Srpska and in law faculties;

·         Number of measures put in place to upgrade and modernise the judicial training institutes;

·         Percentage of legal professionals and student in law faculties having participated to Council of Europe human right capacity-building activities who enhanced their knowledge on the topic;

·         Percentage of recommendations from the Council of Europe taken into consideration in the adopted legislation and regulations on the human rights protection of refugees, migrants and asylum seekers;

·         Number of measures of alternatives to immigration detention developed;

·         Number of measures taken to ensure that unaccompanied and separated children are reunified with their primary caregiver or provided with family-based care/alternative care services.

Freedom of expression and freedom of the media

·         Percentage of provisions in the adopted/amended legislation, regulations and policy documents on media regulation, access to information and media literacy taking into account Council of Europe standards and recommendations;

·         Number of alerts submitted and percentage of alerts involving Bosnia and Herzegovina on the Council of Europe Platform to Promote the Protection of Journalism and Safety of Journalists resolved or closed with a State reply;

·         Number of cases of attacks on journalists effectively investigated;

·         Percentage of judgments on media-related issues which are compliant with European standards (including ECtHR case law);

·         Percentage of media actors participating to the Council of Europe activities demonstrating an increased awareness on the importance of free, qualitative and safe journalism;

·         Number of effective responses/actions to complaints on freedom of access to information requests;

·         Number of awareness-raising materials on free, qualitative and safe journalism developed and number of instances it was disseminated.

Data protection

·         Percentage of provisions in the adopted/amended legislation (including on access to information) taking into account Council of Europe standards and recommendations;

·         Percentage of staff from the Personal Data Protection Agency demonstrating enhanced capacities to deliver the Agency’s missions, notably as regards awareness-raising;

·         Number of ex officio procedures carried out by the Personal Data Protection Agency;

·         Number of expert opinions prepared by the Personal Data Protection Agency;

·         Percentage of trained staff from administrations demonstrating enhanced capacities to give access to information while respecting the principles of personal data protection.

1.2.   Equality and human dignity

Gender equality, Violence against Women and Domestic Violence

·         Authorities, justice sector professionals, and civil society introduce measures to enhance the implementation of the standards of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention), in order to remove obstacles to women’s access to justice;

·         Legal professionals have an enhanced understanding of and tools to foster and monitor women’s access to justice in line with the Istanbul Convention.

Anti-discrimination, diversity and inclusion

·           A structured policy on minority languages is established;

·           Institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina ensure that the Action Plan for improving the state of Human Rights and fundamental freedoms of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) persons in Bosnia and Herzegovina for the period 2021-2023 (yet to be adopted)  is implemented, in line with the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) standards and recommendations;

·           The Institution of Human Rights Ombudsman is better equipped to respond to discrimination and intolerance, in line with its mandate as national equality body;

·           The capacity of local authorities to design and implement plans, policies and projects, with active inclusion measures that improve Roma integration is strengthened;

·           The Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees is able to increase other institutions’ and organisations’ awareness of the normative framework on hate speech and to devise policy responses to curb;

·           Police, prosecutors and judges enhance their capacity to identify, investigate, prosecute and judge hate crime, including targeted at LGBTI persons and other vulnerable groups, in line with ECRI country-specific recommendations.

Gender equality, Violence against Women and Domestic Violence

·         Number of measures introduced to enhance the implementation of the standards of the Istanbul Convention, in order to remove obstacles to women’s access to justice;

·         Percentage of trained legal professionals demonstrating enhanced capacity to foster and monitor women’s access to justice in line with the Istanbul Convention;

·         Percentage of indictment following a criminal report for domestic violence;

·         Percentage of adults charged with the criminal offence of domestic violence who were found guilty.

Anti-discrimination, diversity and inclusion

·         Number of measures taken to develop the policy on minority languages in line with European standards;

·         Number of measures taken by the authorities compliant with the Action Plan for improving the state of Human Rights and fundamental freedoms of LGBTI persons in Bosnia and Herzegovina for the period 2021-2023 (yet to be adopted);

·         Percentage of provisions of the Recommendation CM/Rec(2010)5 of the CM to member States on measures to combat discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity implemented;

·         Bosnia and Herzegovina’s score achieved on LGBTI human rights on the Rainbow Europe index;[116]

·         Percentage of recommendations from the Institution of Human Rights Ombudsman on anti-discrimination implemented by public and private institutions;

·         Percentage of trained anti-discrimination staff from the Institution of Human Rights Ombudsman demonstrating enhanced capacities to respond to discrimination and intolerance;

·         Number of local policies and initiatives put in place and implemented to improve Roma integration;

·         Number of municipal officials coached/trained and working on the measures developed to address the needs of the Roma communities in the selected municipalities;

·         Percentage of civil servants and public administration staff trained by Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees demonstrating increased awareness of the normative framework on hate speech and to devise policy responses to curb;

·         Percentage of trained police, prosecutors and judges demonstrating enhanced capacities to identify, investigate, prosecute and judge hate crime, including targeted at LGBTI persons and other vulnerable groups.

1.3.   Social rights

·           National legislation in the area of social and economic rights is aligned with the requirements under the European Social Charter (ESC);

·           Target professionals (judges and lawyers) have a better understanding of the European Committee of Social Rights’ (ECSR) case-law and are capable of applying it in practice.

·         Percentage of provisions in the adopted/amended legislations taking into account Council of Europe standards and recommendations on social rights;

·         Number of ESC provisions for which a situation of non-conformity was found for Bosnia and Herzegovina;

·         Percentage of trained judges and lawyers demonstrating a better understanding of the ECSR’ case-law;

·         Number of references to ESC in national judgements and legal claims.

Rule of Law                                                                                                                                                                                                     

Thematic outcomes: Democratic security is strengthened by an enhanced implementation of the existing legislation and European standards, the development of an enabling legal and institutional framework for a democratic society and an improved quality of justice and efficiency in combating corruption, cybercrime and illicit trafficking.

The actions in this area will contribute to achieving SDG 3 (target 5),[117] 5 (targets 2 and A),[118] 8 (target 7)[119] and 16 (especially targets 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10 and A).[120]

Outcomes

Indicators

2.1.  Rule of Law based institutions

Independence and efficiency of justice

·         The effective implementation of the Constitutional Court’s judgments in the field of human rights within the scope of individual application and constitutionality review mechanisms is ensured;

·         The efficiency of the justice system is strengthened in line with the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) standards and tools on court efficiency (i.e. case management, judicial statistics, time management);

·         The quality of the justice system is improved in line with CEPEJ standards and tools on the quality of justice (Cyber-Justice and court users’ satisfaction surveys);

·         Case law departments of selected courts are fully operational and function in line with European best practices;

·         The functional Information Technology (IT) tools for the harmonisation of judicial practice and compliance with ECtHR judgements operated by the judiciary are enhanced; 

·         Legal professionals’ capacities are strengthened on topics related to efficiency and quality of justice in line with CEPEJ standards and tools.    

Independence and efficiency of justice

·         Percentage of national judgments compliant with the Constitutional Court’s judgments in the field of human rights within the scope of individual application and constitutionality review mechanisms;

·         Number of CEPEJ indicators and tools on court efficiency (case management, time management, judicial statistics) and quality of justice (proactive case management, public communication and media relations, customer satisfaction surveys, cyber-justice tools) used by the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council (HJPC) and courts;

·         CEPEJ Key Performance Indicators (KPI) and dashboard;

·         Percentage of selected courts having a fully operational case law department;

·         Number of IT tools for the harmonisation of judicial practice and compliance with ECtHR judgements operated by the judiciary;

·         Percentage of trained legal professionals demonstrating enhanced knowledge on CEPEJ tools and methodologies.

2.2. Action against crime, security and protection of citizens

Fight against corruption and money laundering

·         The legal framework for prevention of corruption is enhanced with a particular focus on political party financing, assets declarations, verification of assets and income of public officials, ethics, integrity and conflict of interest;  

·         Transparency of beneficial ownership is increased and misuse of corporate entities is limited;

·         The inter-agency co-operation and exchange of information in economic crime cases, including information contained in asset declaration forms and registries of beneficial owners, is enhanced;

·         The relevant authorities’ capacities to carry out financial investigation, prosecution and adjudication of corruption, money laundering and terrorist financing are enhanced;

·         The capacities of the relevant authorities to mitigate terrorist risks in the non-profit organisation (NPO) sector and to implement risk-based supervision in financial and the designated non-financial businesses and professions (DNFBP) sectors are increased.

Cybercrime

·         Co-ordinated cybercrime and cybersecurity policies and strategies are developed and implemented by the competent authorities;

·         Inter-agency co-operation in order to conduct parallel financial investigation related to cybercrime cases is further increased; 

·         Measures to encourage information sharing and intelligence exchange mechanisms on cybercrime established between the public and private sectors are set; 

·         The efficiency and existing capabilities of institutions involved in the fight against cybercrime to co-operate at international level are increased;

·         Capacities of authorities to search, seize and confiscate cybercrime proceeds and prevent money laundering on the Internet and to secure electronic evidence are further enhanced;

·         Capacities of judicial authorities to prosecute and adjudicate on cybercrime offences and assess electronic evidence are further strengthened.

Trafficking in human beings

·         The criminal justice response to trafficking in human beings is strengthened, focusing on more effective investigation and prosecution of offences as well as on improving the protection of victims before, during and after proceedings;  

·           Prevention policies and measures that address core drivers of trafficking in human beings are strengthened, with a focus on supporting the empowerment of women, child trafficking and trafficking in human beings for the purpose of labour exploitation; 

·         A rights-based approach, focusing on improved victim identification and referral procedures is enhanced, in particular for child victims, as well as improved access to justice and effective remedies. 

Drug abuse and illicit trafficking

·         Operational co-operation at regional level between police and customs officers working at airports to tackle drug trafficking is improved;

·         Authorities adopt strategies for preventing substance use and the exploitation of migrants and refugees by criminal networks;

·         Prison staff, health care professionals and social workers have the capacity to increase access to quality drug addiction treatment for inmates;

·         Medical and non-medical staff working in temporary facilities for refugees and migrants improve their abilities to early detect and screen substance abuse.

Prisons and police

·         Relevant staff skills on the rehabilitation and re-socialisation of forensic patients and other vulnerable groups in detention are enhanced; 

·         Court police personnel are equipped with policy documents and operational guidance on the safety and security of judicial officials fighting organised crime and corruption;

·         Pilot probation services projects are implemented in individual prisons for the gradual establishment of probation service(s) in Bosnia and Herzegovina;

·         Knowledge and skills of law enforcement officers on human rights standards are embedded into practice;

·         Functional Prison Intelligence Units (PIUs) for the collection, analysis and sharing of information between prisons and other relevant agencies, based on prison dynamic security principles, are put in place in the two entity jurisdictions; 

·         Violent and extremist prisoners (VEP)-specific training for prison staff in Bosnia and Herzegovina is provided in a harmonised and sustainable manner for the uniform application of the VEP tools and rehabilitation programmes and enhancement of the use of multi-institutional co-operation mechanisms.

Fight against corruption and money laundering

·         Percentage of provisions in the adopted/amended legislations for prevention of corruption taking into consideration Council of Europe standards and recommendations;

·         Number of measures taken for the devise of the Register of Beneficial Owners in line with the Council of Europe recommendations/standards;

·         Number legal persons and legal arrangements able to provide accurate and updated information on beneficial owners to the to-be-established Register of Beneficial Owners;

·         Number of measures taken to foster information exchanges between relevant agencies in economic crime cases;

·         Percentage of trained relevant staff demonstrating enhanced capacities to carry out financial investigation, prosecution and adjudication of corruption, money laundering and terrorist financing;

·         Percentage of trained staff demonstrating enhanced capacities to mitigate terrorist risks in the NPO sector and to implement risk-based supervision in financial and DNFBP sectors;

·         Number of finalised investigations on corruption initiated by the State Investigation Protection Agency (SIPA);

·         Number of investigations for money laundering;

·         Corruption Perceptions Index.[121]

Cybercrime

·         Number of measures taken to co-ordinate the cybercrime and cybersecurity policies;

·         Number of requests for user information sent to multinational service providers;

·         Number of cybercrime investigations accompanied by parallel financial investigations and vice versa;

·         Number training modules on cybercrime and electronic evidence part of the regular curriculum of judicial training institutes;

·         Number of cases where templates developed by the cybercrime Convention Committee (T-CY) for preservation and mutual legal assistance (MLA) requests have been used;

·         Percentage of trained staff involved in the fight against cybercrime demonstrating increased capacities to search, seize, confiscate cybercrime proceeds and prevent money laundering on the Internet and to secure electronic evidence;

·         Percentage of trained prosecutors and judges involved in the fight against cybercrime demonstrating increased capacities to prosecute and adjudicate on cybercrime offences and assess electronic evidence;

·         Number of investigations in cybercrime;

·         Number of convictions for cybercrime.

Trafficking in human beings

·         Number of detected, identified and assisted victims of trafficking for the purpose of labour exploitation;

·         Number of detected, identified and assisted child victims of trafficking;

·         Number of potential victims assisted in safe houses/shelters;

·         Number of investigations into trafficking in human beings cases;

·         Number of prosecutions in trafficking in human beings cases;

·         Number of convicted perpetrators;

·         Number of measure taken to ensure that prevention policies and measures which address core drivers of trafficking in human beings are put in place;

·         Percentage of trained staff demonstrating enhanced capacities to identify victims (including among children, migrants, refugees and asylum seekers);

·         Number of victims who received compensation.

Drug abuse and illicit trafficking

·         Number of measures taken to foster exchanges of information between police and customs officers working at airports to tackle drug trafficking;

·         Number of measures put in place to prevent substance use and the exploitation of migrants and refugees by criminal networks;

·         Percentage of trained prison staff, health care professionals and social workers demonstrating increased capacities to provide quality drug addiction treatment for inmates;

·         Percentage of trained medical and non-medical staff working in temporary facilities for refugees and migrants demonstrating enhanced capacities to early detect and screen substance abuse.

Prisons and police

·         Percentage of relevant trained staff demonstrating enhanced skills on rehabilitation and re-socialisation of forensic patients and other vulnerable groups in detention;

·         Percentage of adopted/amended policy documents and operational guidance on the safety and security of judicial officials fighting organised crime and corruption taking into consideration Council of Europe standards and recommendations;

·         Number of inmates covered by probation services in pilot individual prisons;

·         Percentage of law enforcement officers trained on human rights standards confirming that they have applied the enhanced knowledge and skills in their everyday work;

·         Number of functional PIUs for the collection, analysis and sharing of information between prisons and other relevant agencies put in place in the two entity jurisdictions;

·         Percentage of similarity between training curricula for prison personnel managing VEPs and VEP tools and rehabilitation programmes in all three administrative jurisdictions;

·         Number of collaboration platforms for learning, exchange of practices and information;

·         Number of prisons where the developed tools and programme have been put for use.

Democracy

Thematic outcome: The democratisation of society is fostered through electoral integrity, strengthened local democracy, civil participation in democratic decision-making and education. 

The actions in this area will contribute to achieving SDG 4 (target 7),[122] 5 (target 1),[123] 10 (target 2),[124] 11 (target 3)[125] and 16 (targets 6 and 7).[126]

Outcomes

Indicators

3.1. Democratic governance

Elections

·         Media coverage on the election period is improved to be more efficient and professional;

·         The capacity of the Central Election Commission (CEC) and election commissions is increased to become more professional, inclusive and transparent;

·          Awareness of under-represented categories of voters (especially women and national minorities) is raised in relevant municipalities.

Civil participation in democratic decision-making

·         The regulatory framework for civil participation in pilot municipalities and regions provides a conducive environment for the inclusion of citizens and civil society organisations (CSOs) in the reforms/decision-making process of their communities and regions;

·         Citizens’ and CSOs are actively involved in the decision-making process in pilot municipalities and regions of Bosnia and Herzegovina;

·         Effective dialogue platforms in pilot municipalities and regions contribute to dynamic interaction between citizens and public authorities.

Promoting good governance and local government reforms

·         The authorities from the City of Mostar implement appropriate measures and policies to address citizens’ recommendations and embed deliberative activities in their decision-making; 

·         In selected municipalities, local elected representatives and public officials strengthen their capacities and skills to include innovative approaches to collaborative governance, deliberative democracy and citizen engagement;

·         Local authorities increase their capacities in building public ethics, transparency, advocacy and in protecting human rights at local level;

·         The institutional capacities of the two main associations of municipalities and cities are strengthened;

·         Inter-municipal and inter-entity networks are supported through capacity-building and peer-learning to develop place-based, transboundary co-operation.

Confidence-building measures

·         Inter-ethnic dialogue at the level of local communities is further reinforced;

·         Co-operation among women mayors is further strengthened;

·         Young people from all divided municipalities take part in new joint projects and the youth network is further developed.

Elections

  • Percentage of trained media representatives demonstrating enhanced capacities on professional observation of the electoral process;
  • Percentage of trained staff of the CEC demonstrating enhanced capacities to carry out its mandate;
  • Turnout of women and underrepresented citizens at the elections;
  • Number of positive references on the holding of the elections in international observation mission reports from European and international organisations.

Civil participation in democratic decision-making

·         Number of measures taken to ensure that the regulatory framework for civil participation in pilot municipalities takes into account Council of Europe standards and recommendations as regard the inclusion of citizens and CSO;

·         Number of dialogue platforms for citizens and public authorities established in pilot municipalities and regions;

·         Number of local officials, citizens and CSOs whose awareness on the participatory decision-making process has been raised in pilot authorities (villages, towns and municipalities).

Promoting good governance and local government reforms

·         Number of measures adopted to address citizens’ recommendations by the authorities from the City of Mostar;

·         Percentage of trained local elected representatives and public officials demonstrating enhanced capacities and skills to include innovative approaches to collaborative governance and citizen engagement and on building public ethics, transparency, advocacy and in protecting human rights;

·         Number of measures taken to strengthen the institutional capacities of the associations of municipalities to carry the associations’ mandate;

·         Number of trained staff from inter-municipal and inter-entity networks to develop place-based, transboundary co-operation.

Confidence-building measures

·         Number of inter-municipal projects implemented;

·         Number of participants (also considering the gender perspective) to inter-municipal projects;

·         Number of activities jointly organised by the women mayors network;

·         Number of activities organised by the youth network.

3.2. Democratic participation

Education for democracy

·           National education decision-makers and practitioners further align Bosnia and Herzegovina’s educational standards and approaches with European standards, including as regards segregation in schools;

·           Higher education institutions implement mechanisms to prevent corruption and to strengthen ethics, transparency and integrity in higher education;

·           Education professionals and students of higher education institutions act with integrity in their academic endeavours in accordance with international standards;

·           The capacities of teachers, school leaders and other school staff to implement the Policy Recommendation with a Roadmap for Improving Inclusive Education objectives are enhanced;

·           Society’s awareness of quality education as a public good and a basic human right is raised.

Education for democracy

·         Number of measures put in place to further align Bosnia and Herzegovina’s educational standards and approaches with European standards, including as regards segregation in schools;

·         Number of measures put in place to prevent corruption and to strengthen ethics, transparency and integrity in higher education;

·         Percentage of trained education professionals and students of higher education institutions demonstrating increased knowledge on the principle of integrity in education;

·         Academic Integrity Maturity Model (AIMM)[127] for Bosnia and Herzegovina;

·         Number of national initiatives in supporting academic integrity and transparency;

·         Percentage of trained teachers, school leaders and other school staff demonstrating enhanced capacities to implement the Policy Recommendation with a Roadmap for Improving Inclusive Education objectives;

·         Number of pilot schools using democratic school culture to strengthen participation of students in school life;

·         Number of individuals from the general public reached by awareness-raising campaigns on quality education as a public good and a basic human right.


[1] This document has been classified restricted until examination by the Committee of Ministers.

[2]. Any reference in the present report to national legislation, strategies, policies, action plans or any other national document does not represent an endorsement of such documents by the Council of Europe.

[3]. The Reykjavík Declaration was adopted at the 4th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Council of Europe (Reykjavík, 16‑17 May 2023).

[4]. Programmatic facilities are large-scale multiannual multi-beneficiary European Union/Council of Europe joint programmes (JPs).

[5]. A full list of projects implemented under the Council of Europe Action Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina 2022-2025 (the “Action Plan”) is provided in Appendix I to this report.

[6]. The Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention against Torture is the first instrument entrusting national bodies – National Preventive Mechanisms (NPMs) – with a role in the implementation of the treaty.

[7]. Through the Expertise Co-ordination Mechanism (ECM) under the third phase of the European Union/Council of Europe Joint Programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Türkiye” (the “Horizontal Facility III”).

[8]. Office of the Council of Europe’s treaties, Treaty list for Bosnia and Herzegovina.

[9] The group of cases deals with non-enforcement of domestic decisions.

[10] Communication from Bosnia and Herzegovina concerning the Kunić and Others v. Bosnia and Herzegovina group of cases (Application No. 68955/12), DH-DD(2023)31, 6 January 2023.

[11] The cases concern the lack of guarantees satisfying the procedural requirements of the applicant’s right to respect for his family life in proceedings concerning deportation on national security grounds.

[12] The courses cover the following topics: anti-discrimination, asylum and the European Convention on Human Rights, child-friendly justice, combating trafficking in human beings, ethics for judges, prosecutors and lawyers, family law and human rights, the fight against racism, xenophobia, homophobia and transphobia, freedom of expression, labour rights as human rights, introduction to the European Convention on Human Rights, pharmaceutical crimes and the Council of Europe Convention on the Counterfeiting of Medical Products and Similar Crimes involving Threats to Public Health (the “MEDICRIME Convention”), property rights and the European Convention on Human Rights, protection and safety of journalists, data protection and privacy rights, transitional justice, and international co-operation in criminal matters, reasoning of judgments and women's access to justice.

[13] Camille Massey Unlimited, Evaluation of the project: European Union/Council of Europe Joint Programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey 2019-2022” (the “Horizontal Facility II”) “HELP in the Western Balkans”, January 2023, p. 7.

[14] From the Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees of Bosnia and Herzegovina (MHRR), the Ministry of Justice of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Ministry of Communications and Transport of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Ministry of Civil Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Ministry of Justice of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Ministry of European Integration and International Cooperation of Republika Srpska, the Institution of the Human Rights Ombudsman, the Judicial Commission of Brčko District, the Government Office for European Integration of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Department of European Integration and International Cooperation of the Brčko District Government, the Communications Regulatory Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina (CRA), the Press Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the BH Journalists Association.

[15] Finalised thanks to the support of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina 2022-2025 (the “Action Plan”).

[16] The working group is composed of representatives from the MHRR, the Ministry of Justice of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Ministry of Communications and Transport of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Ministry of Civil Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Directorate for European Integration, the Ministry of Justice of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Ministry of European Integration and International Cooperation of Republika Srpska, the Judicial Commission of Brčko District, the Government Office for European Integration of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Department of European Integration and International Cooperation of the Brčko District Government, the CRA, the Press Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the BH Journalists Association and the Institution of the Human Rights Ombudsman (observers).

[17] According to participants’ written self-evaluation, 100% of them answered that they were satisfied with the training and 81.8% that they increased their knowledge of the topic. Additionally, 86% of participants stated that they will start using the knowledge gained straight away and 9.1% of them within the next three months.

[18] According to participants’ anonymous written self-evaluations, 91.6% of them answered that they were satisfied with the capacity-building activities and 83.3% said that they had increased their knowledge of the topic. Additionally, 91.6% of participants stated that they will start using the knowledge gained straight away and 8.3% of them after three months.

[19] In co-operation with the Agency for Gender Equality of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the context of the Thematic Review of Recommendation CM/Rec(2010)5).

[20] According to participants’ written self-evaluations, 91.2% of them answered that they were satisfied with the training and 91.6% said that they had increased their knowledge of the topic. Moreover, 66.7% of participants stated that they will start using the knowledge gained straight away, 16.6% of them within the next three months and 16.6% after three months.

[21] The current law states that the number of members of the Council of National Minorities is determined as per the following: for every 1 000 members of associations of national minorities, one member shall be delegated to the council. However, none of the relevant associations has such a high number of members.

[22] The document was developed by the MHRR with the support of the Council of Europe and the active involvement of 34 relevant entities, including representatives from State institutions, both entities, the Brčko District, the Institution of Human Rights Ombudsman, the media, international organisations and civil society.

[23]The Institution of Human Rights Ombudsman, together with representatives of the government and the police have joined the network of professionals from South-East and Eastern Europe empowered to better address racism and racial discrimination at the domestic level and participated in its 2023 initiatives.

[24]An informal group that was established by the Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees of Bosnia and Herzegovina (MHRR) and the Council of Europe in 2018. It aims to strengthen communication and co-ordination between parties directly involved in the protection of the rights of national minorities.

[25] The local action plans were adopted in the following municipalities: Gradiška, Kalesija, Travnik, Tuzla and Visoko.

[26] From Bijeljina, Brčko, Doboj, Donji Vakuf, Gradiška, Kakanj, Kalesija, Prnjavor, Travnik, Tuzla, Visoko, and Vukosavlje.

[27] The Young European Ambassadors is a European Union-funded platform of a creative network of future young activists from across the region and beyond. The network is a non-political, activist initiative established in 2020 as part of the “European Union Regional Communication Programme for the Western Balkans”.

[28] European Commission, Bosnia and Herzegovina 2023 Report, 8 November 2023, SWD(2023) 691 final., p.24.

[29]The establishment of the e-sentences database was supported under the previous action plan with the introduction of harmonised descriptors (keywords related to a particular legal area) and human rights keywords.

[30] The overall process was recognised by the European Commission as “a positive exception” for parliamentary oversight of the executive. European Commission, Bosnia and Herzegovina 2022 Report, 12 October 2022, SWD(2022) 336 final p. 10.

[31] The High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council (HJPC) regularly participates as an observer to the work of the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) cyberjustice working group to become familiar with existing tools and best practices in this area.

[32] As acknowledged by the European Commission. European Commission, Bosnia and Herzegovina 2023 Report, 8 November 2023, SWD(2023) 691 final, p.28.

[33] Group of States against Corruption (GRECO), Second Addendum to the Second Compliance Report on Bosnia and Herzegovina on the Third Evaluation Round, GrecoRC3(2022)1, adopted on 25 March 2022, published on 1 September 2022.GRECO, Evaluation Report -Fifth Evaluation Round, GrecoEval5Rep(2022)8, adopted on 2 December 2022, published on 9 March 2023. GRECO, Second interim compliance report on the fourth evaluation round), GrecoRC4(2023)9, adopted on 24 March 2023, published on 8 June 2023.

[34] Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism (MONEYVAL), Report on Fourth Assessment Visit – Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism – Bosnia and Herzegovina, MONEYVAL(2015)30, 17 September 2015. MONEYVAL, Fourth Round Mutual evaluation of Bosnia and Herzegovina – Exit follow-up report submitted to MONEYVAL, MONEYVAL(2020)22-ANALYSIS, 7 September 2020.

[35]At the time of writing, the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina had adopted the assessment report and the Action Plan (1 February 2024 session).

[36] At the time of writing of this report, the Parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina adopted the draft law.

[37] At the time of writing of this report, the visit took place.

[38] Such as the Underground Economy Conference, ISS World Europe, Octopus Conference, the Balkan Cybersecurity Days, International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) training courses, the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (EUROPOL) event, the Annual Meeting of the 24/7 Points of Contact and the Experts’ Annual Meeting on Child Sexual Exploitation.

[39] Such as general practitioners, specialists in emergency medicine, gynaecologists, occupational therapists, psychologists, nurses, social workers, speech therapists, heads of health centres, expert advisers for public relations at hospitals, etc.

[40] Excluding forced begging.

[41] The provision of the 2023 set of data is pending the finalisation by the Ministry of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina of its annual report.

[42] Article 10, paragraph 2, of the European Convention on the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment reads as follows: “If the Party fails to co-operate or refuses to improve the situation in the light of the Committee’s recommendations, the Committee may decide, after the Party has had an opportunity to make known its views, by a majority of two-thirds of its members to make a public statement on the matter.”

[43] The last CPT report makes a clear reference to the manual: “The [Council of Europe] Office had contributed to the drafting of a practical guidance under the title ‘Human Rights of Persons Deprived of their Liberty’ which has been translated and distributed to all interested police agencies in [Bosnia and Herzegovina]. The document aims at providing guidance on the treatment of persons in police custody (during the whole chain of detention) combining elements of international standards as well as examples of good practice developed in [Bosnia and Herzegovina]. The Sarajevo Cantonal Police had taken for example the document in question as the basis for drafting its own new instructions on the treatment of persons deprived of liberty. European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT), Report to the Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina on the ad hoc visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment from 17 to 27 September 2021, CPT/Inf (2023) 08, 11 May 2023, p. 8.

[44] The Court Police of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Court Police of Republika Srpska, the Ministry of Interior of the Sarajevo Canton, the Tuzla Canton Ministry of Interior, the Zenica-Doboj Canton Ministry of Interior, the Central Bosnia Canton Ministry of Interior, the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton, the Federal Police Administration and the Ministry of Interior of Republika Srpska.

[45] In particular, the Ministry of Interior of Republika Srpska, the Canton Sarajevo Ministry of Interior, the Tuzla Canton Ministry of Interior, the Court Police of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republika Srpska Court Police and the Federal Police Administration.

[46] In August 2023, the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina adopted the amendments to the Law on the Human Rights Ombudsman to strengthen the independence and effectiveness of this body and designate it as a National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) against torture and ill-treatment. The NPM set up was recommended by the CPT.

[47] Such as the basic screening tool for the identification of signs of radicalisation, a risk and needs assessment tool, and sentence planning and the treatment programmes for violent and extremist prisoner (VEPs).

[48] The entire multidisciplinary team dealing with VEPs of the State prison was trained together with 12 staff from the multidisciplinary teams coming from other prisons.

[49] The platform is currently being used by 71 prison professionals from the region and will be extended to points of contact from the prison intelligence units (PIUs) and staff from centres for social work.

[50] Including by learning from the experience of the prison administrations in the South-East Europe region, the Netherlands, Germany and France.

[51] The European Parliament, the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe), the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODHIR), the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Parliamentary Assembly, International Election Observation Mission (IEOM) – Statement of preliminary findings and conclusions – Bosnia and Herzegovina – General elections, 2 October 2022, 3 October 2022. Statement by Stewart Dickson, Congress observed cantonal elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 3 October 2022.

[52] For more information on the observations and recommendations from PACE, see the elections observation report.

[53] For more information on the observations and recommendations from the Council of Europe Congress of Local and Regional Authorities (the “Congress”) Monitoring Committee, see the elections observation report.

[54] In particular, 14 informative videos detailing all the tasks and responsibilities of the Polling Station Commission (PSC) members (also used for voter education purposes), as well as the Manual for E-Day Procedures delivered to every PSC member.

[55] European Parliament, Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE, ODHIR, PACE, NATO Parliamentary Assembly, op. cit., p. 8.

[56] Ibid.

[57] Ibid.

[58] Ibid., p. 3.

[59] Thanks to funds from the European Union provided outside of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina 2022-2025 (the “Action Plan”), the Council of Europe has also been supporting the Local Democracy Agency of Mostar (LDA Mostar) to develop the capacities of local authorities and civil society in respect of the 12 Principles of Good Democratic Governance. LDA Mostar received accreditation to deliver the European Label of Governance Excellence (ELoGE) in Bosnia Herzegovina. Support was provided for the preparation of a strategic plan to develop citizen participation and implement awareness raising and mobilisation activities in respect of the EloGE. Twelve municipalities and 40 civil society representatives participated in the first cycle of ELoGE in Bosnia and Herzegovina with three municipalities being awarded the label in 2023.

[61] These actions encompassed an awareness-raising campaign on ecology for young people (in 21 primary and 17 secondary schools), the greening of two primary school yards and the purchase of 50 waste bins throughout the city, selected in consultation with citizens and 42 local neighbourhood communities. The activities were organised in an inclusive manner, with the participation of pupils, students, the general public and representatives of the Mostar City authorities.

[62] Banja Luka, Berkovići, Bijeljina, Bratunac, Brod, Centar Sarajevo, Doboj Brod, Doboj Jug, Gradačac, Ilijaš, Jajce, Jezero, Kostajnica, Lopare, Lukavac, Maglaj, Modriča, Mostar, Orašje, Sokolac, Teslić, Travnik, Vareš and Vukosavlje

[63] European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), Conclusions on the implementation of the recommendations in respect of Bosnia and Herzegovina subject to interim follow-up, CRI(2020)5, adopted on 10 December 2019 and published on 19 March 2020.

[65] According to the analysis, promoting and teaching analytical and critical understanding and universal values, and using and evaluating historical sources, are evident in all reviewed history curriculum documents. However, changes remain to be made on teaching and learning about the history of democracy, addressing issues that might be sensitive, teaching diversity as a value and understanding and valuing diversity as an integral part of the society of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

[66] For example, 28 school clubs for critical thinking were created, involving more than 860 students and supported by didactic materials and a manual developed by nine pupils from the pilot school. More examples include the following: a primary school from Bihać (Una-Sana canton), a secondary school from Prijedor (Republika Srpska) and a primary school from Banja Luka (Republika Srpska) developed a project for the integration of migrant children. Joint school-community activities were also organised, such as supporting learning for pupils in hospitals; promoting traffic regulation around the school to provide a safe school environment; supporting local authorities to find solutions for the issue of stray dogs.

[67] While highlighting the number of relevant activities implemented by the Agency for Pre-school, Primary and Secondary Education, the report stresses the lack of progress in the adoption or harmonisation of the relevant legislation. The lack of financial resources was presented as an obstacle in this regard as well as for the full implementation of the Roadmap for Improving Inclusive Education (the “Roadmap”) more generally.

[68] Co-ordination was particularly ensured with projects funded by the European Union, such as EU4Justice or twinning projects.

[69] Some examples of the recommendations applying to all media outlet members of the council: 1.​ Aspire to continue to support and promote balanced gender representation in their daily work/news reporting; 2. Use gender-sensitive language in written and audiovisual communications; 3. Avoid gender stereotypical reporting, as well as open sexist interpretations of the roles of women and men in society; avoid the sexual objectification of women; 4. Avoid gender-based assumptions when reporting on the traditional roles of men/women, as well as gender stereotypes; 5. Aspire to positive action in terms of the selection of topics reported on as well as a more gender-balanced selection of experts, to remedy the current lack of women experts in media output.

[70] The paper intends to issue recommendations as to what can be done to immediately improve the status of women officers in law-enforcement agencies 1) without cost, 2) with minor investment and 3) with a change of legislation and more significant investment.

[71]. An informal group that was established by the Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees of Bosnia and Herzegovina (MHRR) and the Council of Europe in 2018. It aims to strengthen communication and co-ordination between relevant parties directly involved in the protection of the rights of national minorities.

[72]. Please see section 2.3.1 Democratic Governance: Promoting good governance through local self-government reforms.

[73]. The Reykjavík Declaration was adopted at the 4th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Council of Europe (Reykjavík, 16-17 May 2023).

[74]. The Living Library is a tool that seeks to challenge prejudice and discrimination. It works just like a normal library: visitors can browse the catalogue for the available titles, choose the book they want to read and borrow it for a limited period of time. After reading, they return the book to the library and, if they wish, borrow another. The only difference is that in the Living Library, books are people and reading consists of a conversation.

[75] Thematically, the support provided by the Council of Europe Action Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina 2022-2025 (the “Action Plan”) to the city of Mostar on deliberative democracy led to the implementation of the first Citizen’s Assembly recommendations. The city’s authorities took several actions related to the environmental dimension, such as the organisation of an awareness-raising campaign on ecology for young people, the greening of two primary school yards and the purchase of 50 waste bins to be placed throughout the city. In addition, a regional initiative will be launched in 2024 to increase the understanding of the relationship between the protection of human rights under the European Convention on Human Rights (the “Convention”) and the environment among the judiciary and legal professionals with a view to strengthening environmental protection at the domestic level.

[76] In this regard, several projects paid particular attention to make their deliverables available to partners in an online format instead of in hard copies or on a USB stick. When printing cannot be avoided, black/white, double-sided printing is favoured. Visibility items (banner, table flags, etc.) are produced in environment-friendly material. More specifically on the organisation of events, refreshments available are provided in glass bottles and not plastic ones. An identified good practice is to ask participants to confirm their presence to reduce catering quantities in cases of cancellation and avoiding waste as much as possible.

[77] Goal 3, target 4: By 2030, reduce by one third premature mortality from non-communicable diseases through prevention and treatment and promote mental health and well-being.

[78] Goal 4, target 1: By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes.

[79] Goal 4, target 7: By 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development.

[80] Goal 5, target 1: End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere.

[81] Goal 5, target 2: Eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation.

[82] Goal 5, target b: Enhance the use of enabling technology, in particular information and communications technology, to promote the empowerment of women.

[83] Goal 5, target c: Adopt and strengthen sound policies and enforceable legislation for the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls at all levels.

[84] Goal 8, target 7: Take immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labour, end modern slavery and human trafficking and secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour, including recruitment and use of child soldiers, and by 2025 end child labour in all its forms.

[85] Goal 10, target 3: Ensure equal opportunity and reduce inequalities of outcome, including by eliminating discriminatory laws, policies and practices and promoting appropriate legislation, policies and action in this regard.

[86]. Goal 16, target 1: Significantly reduce all forms of violence and related death rates everywhere.

[87] Goal 16, target 2: End abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence against and torture of children.

[88] Goal 16, target 3: Promote the rule of law at the national and international levels and ensure equal access to justice for all.

[89] Goal 16, target 4: By 2030, significantly reduce illicit financial and arms flows, strengthen the recovery and return of stolen assets and combat all forms of organised crime.

[90] Goal 16, target 5: Substantially reduce corruption and bribery in all their forms.

[91] Goal 16, target 6: Develop effective, accountable and transparent institutions at all levels

[92] Goal 16, target 7: Ensure responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making at all levels.

[93] Goal 16, target 10: Ensure public access to information and protect fundamental freedoms, in accordance with national legislation and international agreements.

[94] Goal 16, target a: Strengthen relevant national institutions, including through international co-operation, for building capacity at all levels, in particular in developing countries, to prevent violence and combat terrorism and crime.

[95] Goal 16, target b: Promote and enforce non-discriminatory laws and policies for sustainable development.

[96] The revised Risk Management Policy was adopted by the Secretary General of the Council of Europe on 15 December 2023 and came into force immediately. To foster a pragmatic, consistent and transparent approach to risk management at the Council of Europe, this version updates the provisions of the previous policy (adopted in 2016) by: placing risk management in a wider institutional perspective; ensuring complementarity with the other components of the Organisation’s governance system (such as internal control, data protection, ethics, crisis management and business continuity); implementing recommendations from the Directorate of Internal Oversight and the Oversight Advisory Committee of the Council of Europe; and clarifying roles and responsibilities throughout the Organisation. By contributing to a greater maturity in managing risks that may affect the Council of Europe, the revised policy will also strengthen the Organisation’s governance system.

[98] See the public consultations organised by the Council of Europe beyond the framework of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina 2022-2025 (the “Action Plan”).

[99] In this regard, please see the Joint Opinion CDL-AD(2023)016 with the European Commission for Democracy through Law (the “Venice Commission”) and the letter from the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights (the “Commissioner”).

[102] The Reykjavík Declaration was adopted at the 4th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Council of Europe (Reykjavík,
16-17 May 2023).

[103] This includes the European Union/Council of Europe Joint Programmes such as the Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Türkiye – phases II and III (the “Horizontal Facility”) as well as individual Joint Programmes: Co-operation on Cybercrime: Targeting crime proceeds on the internet and securing electronic evidence (iPROCEEDS 2); ROMACTED II – Promoting good governance and Roma empowerment at local level; and the programme on Roma integration – phase III.

[105]. Council of Europe provision (Ordinary Budget) for European Union/Council of Europe joint programmes (OB/JPP) and Council of Europe provision (Ordinary Budget) for action plans and priority actions (OB/APP). Figures do not include the planned funding from the Ordinary Budget contributions to action plans (OB/CAP) under the Programme and Budget 2024-2027.

[106]. Funding sources include: voluntary contributions (VC), the Council of Europe provision (Ordinary Budget) for action plans and priority actions (OB/APP) and European Union/Council of Europe joint programmes (JP) which are funded by the Council of Europe provision (Ordinary Budget) for European Union/Council of Europe joint programmes (OB/JPP). 

[107]. Council of Europe provision (Ordinary Budget) for European Union/Council of Europe joint programmes (OB/JPP) and Council of Europe provision (Ordinary Budget) for action plans and priority actions (OB/APP).

[108]. Voluntary contributions.

[109]. Includes General Management Costs and prorated amounts for the European Union/Council of Europe Joint Programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey 2019-2022” (the “Horizontal Facility II”) and the European Union/Council of Europe Joint Programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Türkiye” (the “Horizontal Facility III”) regional components, Co-ordination and Management as well as the Expertise Co-ordination Mechanism (ECM).

[110]. Goal 4, target 7: By 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development.

[111]. Goal 5, target 1: End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere. Target 2: Eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation. Target C: Adopt and strengthen sound policies and enforceable legislation for the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls at all levels.

[112]. Goal 8, target 8: Protect labour rights and promote safe and secure working environments for all workers, including migrant workers, in particular women migrants, and those in precarious employment.

[113]. Goal 10, target 2: By 2030, empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status. Target 3: Ensure equal opportunity and reduce inequalities of outcome, including by eliminating discriminatory laws, policies and practices and promoting appropriate legislation, policies and action in this regard. Target 4: Adopt policies, especially fiscal, wage and social protection policies, and progressively achieve greater equality. Target 7: Facilitate orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility of people, including through the implementation of planned and well-managed migration policies.

[114]. Goal 11, target 3: By 2030, enhance inclusive and sustainable urbanization and capacity for participatory, integrated and sustainable human settlement planning and management in all countries.

[115]. Goal 16, target 2: End abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence against and torture of children. Target 3: Promote the rule of law at the national and international levels and ensure equal access to justice for all. Target 7: Ensure responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making at all levels. Target 10: Ensure public access to information and protect fundamental freedoms, in accordance with national legislation and international agreements. Target B: Promote and enforce non-discriminatory laws and policies for sustainable development.

[116]. Rainbow Europe – ILGA-Europe’s annual benchmarking tool – is comprised of the Rainbow Map and Index and national recommendations. ILGA-Europe have produced the Rainbow Index since 2009, using it to illustrate the legal and policy situation of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people in Europe. The Rainbow Index ranks European countries and territories on their respective legal and policy practices for LGBTI people, from 0-100%.

[117]. Goal 3, target 5: Strengthen the prevention and treatment of substance abuse, including narcotic drug abuse and harmful use of alcohol.

[118]. Goal 5, target 2: Eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation. Target A: Undertake reforms to give women equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to ownership and control over land and other forms of property, financial services, inheritance and natural resources, in accordance with national laws.

[119]. Goal 8, target 7: Take immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labour, end modern slavery and human trafficking and secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour, including recruitment and use of child soldiers, and by 2025 end child labour in all its forms.

[120]. Goal 16, target 1: Significantly reduce all forms of violence and related death rates everywhere. Target 2: End abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence against and torture of children. Target 3: Promote the rule of law at the national and international levels and ensure equal access to justice for all. Target 4: By 2030, significantly reduce illicit financial and arms flows, strengthen the recovery and return of stolen assets and combat all forms of organised crime. Target 5: Substantially reduce corruption and bribery in all their forms. Target 6: Develop effective, accountable and transparent institutions at all levels. Target 10: Ensure public access to information and protect fundamental freedoms, in accordance with national legislation and international agreements. Target A: Strengthen relevant national institutions, including through international co-operation, for building capacity at all levels, in particular in developing countries, to prevent violence and combat terrorism and crime.

[121]. Since its inception in 1995, the Corruption Perceptions Index, Transparency International’s flagship research product, has become the leading global indicator of public sector corruption. The index offers an annual snapshot of the relative degree of corruption by ranking countries and territories from all over the globe. In 2012, Transparency International revised the methodology used to construct the index to allow for a comparison of scores from one year to the next. Measurement is carried out on a scale from 0 (“highly corrupt”) to 100 (“very clean”).

[122]. Goal 4, target 7: By 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development.

[123]. Goal 5, target 1: End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere.

[124]. Goal 10, target 2: By 2030, empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status.

[125]. Goal 11, target 3: By 2030, enhance inclusive and sustainable urbanization and capacity for participatory, integrated and sustainable human settlement planning and management in all countries.

[126]. Goal 16, target 6: Develop effective, accountable and transparent institutions at all levels. Target 7: Ensure responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making at all levels.

[127]. The Academic Integrity Maturity Model (AIMM) calculates a maturity profile for a country based on nine metrics calculated from survey data. Please see Council of Europe Platform on Ethics,

Transparency and Integrity in Education (ETINED), Volume 5: South-East European Project on Policies for Academic Integrity, January 2018, p.61, available at http://rm.coe.int/prems-016918-gbr-2512-etined-vol-5-couv-texte-recadre-8482-bat-16x24-w/168078499c.