CCPR/C/112/D/1966/2010 missing person since 4 July 1992, and one issued by ICRC, indicating that Sejad Hero had been registered as missing and that the process of searching for him had been initiated. 2.10 On 22 December 2005, Tija Hero, together with other members of the Association of Families of Missing Persons from Vogošća, submitted an application to the Human Rights Commission of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, claiming a violation of articles 3 and 8 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and of articles II, paragraph 3 (b) and (f), of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina.7 The Constitutional Court decided to join together all the applications submitted by members of the Association of Families of Missing Persons from Vogošća, and therefore dealt with them as one collective case. On 23 February 2006, the Constitutional Court adopted a decision, concluding that the applicants of the collective case were relieved from exhausting domestic remedies before ordinary courts, as “no specialized institution on enforced disappearance in Bosnia and Herzegovina seems to be operating effectively”. 8 The Court further found a violation of articles 3 and 8 of the European Convention, because of the lack of information on the fate of the disappeared relatives of the applicants. The Court ordered the Bosnian authorities concerned to provide “all accessible and available information on members of the applicants’ families who went missing during the war, … urgently and without further delay and no later than 30 days from the date of the receipt of the decision”. The Court also ordered “the parties referred to in article 15 of the Law on Missing Persons” to provide for operational functioning of the institutions established in accordance with the Law on Missing Persons, namely the Missing Persons Institute, the Fund for Support to the Families of Missing Persons in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Central Records of Missing Persons in Bosnia and Herzegovina, immediately and without further delay, and no later than 30 days from the date of the court order. The competent authorities were requested to submit information within six months to the Constitutional Court about the measures taken to implement the decision of the latter. 2.11 The Constitutional Court did not adopt a decision on the issue of compensation, considering that it was covered by the provisions of the Law on Missing Persons concerning “financial support” and by the establishment of the Fund for Support to the Families of Missing Persons. The authors argue that the dispositions on financial support have not been implemented and that the fund has still not been established. 2.12 On 3 August 2006, Tija Hero received a letter from the government office for tracing missing persons of Republika Srpska, declaring that Seja Hero had been inscribed in the register of missing persons of ICRC, while he was not registered by the office in Republika Srpska. The letter further indicated that “the Government of the Republika Srpska is determined to resolve the issue of missing persons as quickly as possible and has accordingly instructed all relevant institutions in the Republika Srpska to urgently and without delay conduct investigations and other necessary activities with the aim to establish facts about the persons mentioned in the decision of the Constitutional Court of BiH”. 9 The letter further states that “within its mandate, the Republika Srpska Office for Tracing Detained and Missing Persons will give its full contribution in order to discover the whereabouts of Mr. Sejad Hero”. Since August 2006, Tija Hero has not received any further information. 7 8 9 A copy of the complaints is available in the file. Principle on admissibility stated in the Constitutional Court, M.H. and others (case No. AP-129/04), 27 May 2005, paras. 37-40, referred to in the judgement for the case of Mensud Rizvanović: Jele Stepanović and others (case No. AP 36/06), 16 July 2007. Letter No. 647-144/06, annexes 48 and 49 of the file. 5