CAT/C/BIH/CO/2-5
(d)
Strengthen professional training in social-protection institutions
for persons with mental disability and in psychiatric clinics.
Trafficking in persons
23.
The Committee takes note of several measures taken by the State party, including
the adoption of the State Action Plan to combat human trafficking and illegal migration
(2008-2010), the establishment of a central database on identified victims of trafficking and
the issuance by the Ministry of Security of regulations on the protection for trafficking
victims. However, the Committee remains concerned at the absence of a provision in the
Criminal Code in relation to the legal penalties for persons who have committed or been
involved in the crime of trafficking, and at the lenient sentences imposed in cases of
trafficking. The Committee also expresses concern over the slowness and the complexity of
redress procedures for victims of trafficking (arts. 2, 4 and 16).
The State party should strengthen its efforts to combat trafficking in persons,
especially in women and children, in particular by:
(a)
Ensuring that trafficking is defined as a crime in all parts of the
State party in accordance with international standards, and that these offences
are punishable by appropriate penalties which take into account their grave
nature;
(b)
Improving the identification of trafficking victims and providing
them with appropriate rehabilitation programmes, genuine access to health
care and counselling;
(c)
Providing training to law enforcement personnel and other
relevant groups, and raising awareness of the problem among the public.
Enforced disappearances
24.
While acknowledging the State party’s statement that the Institute for Missing
Persons is fully functional and noting ongoing cooperation with the International
Commission on Missing Persons aimed at the identification of missing persons, the
Committee is concerned by the inadequate protection for the rights of relatives of missing
persons and the delay in establishing a State-level fund to assist them. The Committee also
regrets that the lack of the harmonization in the State party laws makes it difficult to
prosecute enforced disappearances as crimes against humanity (arts. 1, 4, 14 and 16).
The Committee recommends that, in line with the preliminary
recommendations made by the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary
Disappearances following its fact-finding mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina in
June 2010, the State party:
(a)
Ensure the full independence of the Institute for Missing Persons
and provide the Institute with adequate material, financial and human
resources, including available technology necessary to detect and exhume
graves;
(b)
Ensure that the fund for families of missing persons is established
without any further delay and that its financing is entirely secured;
(c)
Complete the Central Record of Missing Persons (CEN) without
further delay and make it available to the public;
(d)
Respect the right of families of missing persons, including those
who live outside Bosnia and Herzegovina, to know the truth by keeping them
informed of the progress made in the processes of exhumation and
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