Bosnia and Herzegovina

14.12.2004 Transparency International B&H received reports of a great number of "possible" corruption cases in higher education, on its phone-line 0800-55555.

14.12.2004 "A 19-year old girl from Romania, we will call her Arijana, trusted her neighbor to help her cross the border and find a job in Italy. After crossing the Romanian border, unaware of what was going on; she ended up in a collection center in Belgrade, full of young girls, just like herself. According to Arijana's testimony, she was photographed without clothes. The photographs were posted, along with those of the others, in a catalogue. Later she would discover that this was necessary so her owners at the time could sell her on. Two days later, she was illegally transported to Bosnia and Herzegovina, to the Arizona market nearby Brcko, where she was bought by a night-bar owner from Teslic", so explained Mara Radovanovic, president of the non-governmental organization "Lara" based in Bijeljina where one of the shelters for victims of trafficking in Bosnia and Herzegovina is located.

13.12.2004 At the final day of the Conference on the development of internal control mechanisms, Reinhald Danneleit, Director of the OSCE Mission Public Administration Reform Department, presented a Draft Internal Control Rulebook for municipalities.

11.12.2004 “The situation with human rights in these parts is appalling. The really sad thing is that human rights are discussed and mentioned only on December 10, the International Human Rights Day. It would be better if we talked about human right every day, for they are violated on daily basis,” said Branka Kolar, the Ombudsperson of the Republic of Srpska for OneWorld SEE.

10.12.2004 The Independent Union of Professional Journalists of B&H from Sarajevo, the Journalists Association “Apel” from Mostar and the Independent Association of Journalists of RS from Banja Luka, adopted a decision to call for a founding convention and establish a single united organization, named “BH Journalists”.

09.12.2004 On 09 December 2004 citizens around the world will celebrate the first ever International Anti-Corruption Day.

09.12.2004 The Centre for Development, Education & Business HUMANITAS from Doboja, under the “To Europe with Strong Nongovernmental Organization” campaign, supported by the BOSPO “Strengthening of Citizens Participation in Creation of Good Governance” project, financed by EU, published a book “To Europe with Strong NGOs – Yours and Our Success”.

03.12.2004 Under the “Nothing About Us Without Us” motto, the International Day of the Disabled Persons is celebrated today. All over the world, forums, debates and campaigns will take place at 13:00 hours. The central event will take place in New York, at the UN building. This year, under the recommendation of the UN Committee for Human Rights, the emphasis will be given to the promotion and understanding for political, social, economic and cultural aspects of life of disabled persons around the world.

01.12.2004 “From the day we opened the Office of the Ombudsman in Prijedor four years ago, the Office has received 2,036 individual petitions by citizens who complain of violations of their human and civil rights,” said Sanda Josic, the Deputy Ombudsman of the Republic of Srpska and head of the Prijedor Office.

29.11.2004 The OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina will mark international Human Rights Day on 10 December with a series of events in Una Sana Canton, which are already underway.