Section I. Introduction 1. Background According to Article XIII of Annex 6 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and its subsequent documents,1 the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Mission to BiH (the Mission) closely monitors the human rights situation in the country. The Mission takes a comprehensive approach in the assessment of BiH’s adherence to international human rights norms with respect to the criminal justice process by monitoring all stages of criminal proceedings, as well as the system of enforcement of criminal sanctions. OSCE Missions are traditionally involved in prison monitoring and reform efforts2 and this is even more so with the recent focus on the establishment of National Preventive Mechanisms (NPM) in line with the Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Optional Protocol) within the OSCE region. The Mission’s prison monitoring and advocacy seeks to support the establishment of such a mechanism in BiH, to assist in the implementation of the Justice Sector Reform Strategy, and to assist the authorities in identifying ways to improve compliance with human rights standards within prisons, as well as combat reoccurring problems, such as prisoner escapes.3 It should be noted at the outset that the Justice Sector Reform Strategy4 includes a significant focus on ameliorating the effectiveness of the prison system throughout BiH. Pillar II, devoted to the execution of criminal sanctions, outlines a number of specific activities to develop a more harmonized system of criminal sanctions compliant with human rights standards. These activities are divided into three sub-sections that focus on: 1) more effective and harmonized management of criminal sanctions;5 2) reducing prison overcrowding;6 and 3) enhancing application of international standards within prisons in BiH.7 1 See in particular the Budapest Ministerial Decision MC (5), which elaborates on the OSCE’s mandate to monitor the human rights situation in BiH. 2 See e.g. Final Report from the OSCE Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting on Prison Reform, July 2002, and the OSCE Human Dimension Commitments elaborated in the Copenhagen Meeting of the Conference on the Human Dimension of the CSCE (1990). Both documents are available here: http://www.legislationline.org/topics/organisation/3/topic/13. 3 For example, Radovan Stanković, a convicted war criminal, escaped from Foca prison on 25 May 2007 and is still at large. Karray Kamel bin Ali, also known as Abu Hamza, failed to return from a 16 day leave from Zenica prison in July 2009. At the time of his escape, Abu Hamza was serving a sentence of four years for robbery, threatening of a prosecutor as well as domestic violence in a Zenica prison; he became notorious for alleged connections to Al-Qaeda. He was apprehended and returned to prison on 7 August 2009. 4 The Justice Sector Reform Strategy, adopted in 2008, represents an agreed upon framework for reform within the justice sector over the period 2008-2012, and includes 69 specific strategic programmes with 207 activities in total. The Strategy’s activities are divided into five main areas: 1) judicial system; 2) execution of criminal sanctions; 3) access to justice; 4) support to economic growth; and 5) coordination, management and accountability. More information on the Strategy and its accompanying Action Plan may be found at: http://mpr.gov.ba/en/str.asp?id=434. 5 Strategic programmes include harmonization of all standards and regulations pertaining to criminal sanctions execution in Bosnia and Herzegovina, establishment of prison administrations using harmonized legislation and standards, and re-categorization of the prisons and classification within the prisons. 6 Strategic programmes include development of conditional release system, achievement of recognition for execution of alternative sentences and implementation of the "community service“ institute, and improvement of conditions by reconstructing existing prisons, abandoned military facilities and construction of the state prison 7 Strategic programmes include advancement of the system of treatment for specific categories of prison population (minors, women and persons under obligatory treatment), advancement of the system of health protection for the entire prison population, establishment of a system of independent prison inspection in Bosnia 2