CCPR/C/113/D/2022/2011
3.9
The authors further allege that they are themselves victims of a violation by the State
party of article 7, read in conjunction with article 2 (3), of the Covenant. They were
subjected to deep anguish and distress owing to their relative’s enforced disappearance, as
well as to the acts and omissions of the authorities in dealing with the issues for more than
20 years. Despite their efforts, their relative’s fate and whereabouts remain unknown and
his remains, should he have died, have not been returned to the family, fostering their
ongoing anguish and frustration in not being able to give him a proper burial. They have
addressed enquiries to various official authorities but have never received any plausible
information. The authors point out that the authorities failed to implement the judgement of
the Constitutional Court of 13 May 2008 and the Law on Mission Persons (in particular,
those provisions concerning the establishment of the Fund) leaving families of missing
persons without appropriate reparations. Against this background, the attitude of
indifference of the State party’s authorities to their requests amounts to inhuman treatment.
3.10 The authors request the Committee to recommend that the State party do the
following: (a) order an independent investigation, to be carried out as a matter of urgency,
concerning the fate and whereabouts of their relative and, should his death be confirmed, to
locate, exhume, identify and respect his mortal remains and return them to the family; (b)
bring the perpetrators before the competent civilian authorities for prosecution, judgement
and sanction, and disseminate publicly the results of this measure; (c) ensure that the
authors obtain integral reparation and prompt, fair and adequate compensation; and (d)
ensure that the measures of reparation cover material and moral damage and measures of
restitution, rehabilitation, satisfaction and guarantees of non-repetition. In particular, they
request that the State party acknowledge its international responsibility, on the occasion of
a public ceremony, in their presence and in the presence of the authorities, that official
apologies be issued to the authors and that the State party name a street or build a
monument or a commemorative plate in Hambarine in memory of all the victims of
enforced disappearance during the armed conflict and of the ethnic cleansing operations
perpetrated in the village. The State party should also provide the authors with medical and
psychological care immediately and free of charge, through its specialized institutions, and
grant them access to free legal aid, where necessary, in order to ensure that they have
available, effective and sufficient remedies. As a guarantee of non-repetition, the State
party should establish as soon as possible educational programmes on international human
rights law and international humanitarian law for all members of the army, the security
forces and the judiciary.
State party’s observations on admissibility and merits
4.1
By a note verbale dated 25 March 2011, the State party submitted its observations
on admissibility and merits. It refers to the legal framework that has been established for
the prosecution of perpetrators of war crimes in the post-war period since December 1995.
It states that a national strategy for war crimes was adopted in December 2008, with the
objective of finalizing the prosecution of perpetrators of the most complex war crimes
within 7 years of the adoption of the strategy and of perpetrators of other war crimes within
15 years. The State party further refers to the adoption of the 2004 Law on Missing
Persons, creating the Missing Persons Institute, with the aim of improving the process of
tracing missing persons and identifying mortal remains. It recalls that, of the nearly
32,000 persons who went missing during the war, the remains of 23,000 persons have been
found and 21,000 identified.
4.2
In April 2009, the Missing Persons Institute established a regional office in Istočno,
Sarajevo, as well as a field office and organizational units in Sarajevo. The State party
considers that those initiatives provide the conditions for faster and more efficient processes
to search for disappeared persons in the territory of Bosnian Krajina, including Prijedor.
Their investigators are on site every day to collect information on potential mass graves and
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