CAT/C/BIH/CO/6
cuts, understaffing and lack of necessary equipment, and that a fund for families of missing
persons has not been established due to political disagreement. The Committee regrets the
lack of records on assistance provided to families of missing persons (arts. 1, 4, 14 and 16).
27.
The Committee urges the State party to complete the establishment of a central
register of missing persons and establish a fund for families of missing persons
without delay, in accordance with the Law on Missing Persons. The State party should
also provide the Missing Persons Institute with sufficient financial and human
resources necessary to discharge its functions without any restraint, and ensure that
the Institute has adequate technology and equipment to detect and exhume graves.
The State party should also compile data on the provision of assistance to families of
missing persons and accurately assess their needs, including for rehabilitative services.
Refugees and non-refoulement
28.
The Committee is concerned at the extremely low rate of successful asylum
applications in the State party and notes with concern that no refugee status was granted in
2015 and 2016. While the domestic legislation on asylum provides for access by refugees
and asylum seekers to their rights, the Committee is concerned that, in practice, inadequate
legal aid and low quality interpretation service prevent asylum seekers from accessing the
asylum procedure and being identified at an early stage. The Committee notes with concern
that, in 2016, 42 per cent of asylum seekers applied for asylum only after they had been
placed in an immigration detention facility. The Committee is also concerned at
information received that the State party detains asylum seekers whose asylum applications
are pending and that neither the appeal proceedings before the Court of Bosnia and
Herzegovina nor the Constitutional Court have automatic suspensive effect on a deportation
order (arts. 2–3 and 16).
29.
The State party should ensure full protection from refoulement by establishing
the necessary legal and administrative safeguards and remedies in forced return
procedures and thereby guarantee at all times that no person in need of international
protection will be returned to a country where he or she is in danger of being
subjected to acts of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, conditions or
punishment. To that end, the State party should:
(a)
Facilitate access to a prompt and fair individualized refugee
determination procedure, including by ensuring a timely identification of asylum
seekers and by providing training to border police and immigration officials on
promptly providing information on the right to seek asylum;
(b)
Guarantee, in law and in practice, access to independent, qualified and
free legal assistance and interpretation services for asylum seekers throughout the
asylum procedure;
(c)
Enhance the capacity of immigration officials to thoroughly assess
country-of-origin information and apply reasonable standards of proof of persecution
faced by asylum applicants;
(d)
Refrain from detaining refugees, asylum seekers and undocumented
migrants for prolonged periods and use detention only as a measure of last resort and
for as short a period as possible, including by promoting alternatives to detention.
Juvenile justice
30.
While commending the adoption by Republika Srpska of the 2011 Law on the
Protection and Treatment of Children and Juveniles in Contact with the Law and
welcoming the opening of the Juvenile Educational and Correctional Facility of Orasje, the
Committee remains concerned at reports that juveniles seldom benefit from rehabilitation
services and alternative measures to detention, that they are occasionally detained together
with adults, and that they may be subject to pretrial detention of extended duration (art. 11).
31.
The State party should bring its juvenile justice system fully into line with
international standards, including the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for
the Administration of Juvenile Justice (the Beijing Rules), including by:
7