Victims Protection in Bosnia

[Ivo Skoric]

With the International Community eager to leave Bosnia, the drive 
to return refugees and internally displaced persons back to their 
hometowns intensified. While this is definitely a commendable 
proposition, it creates sometimes an awkward situation.

In the U.S., communities vehemently oppose and often succeed in 
blocking the return of individuals that were convicted for rape or 
pedophilia or similar crimes back into the same community once 
they are released from prison. The rationale is a) that the felons 
may feel compelled to repeat the crime and b) that their victims 
would unjustly have to live in fear.

In Bosnia, the situation is different: it is not the criminals who are 
coming back to the community, it is the victims who are coming 
back to the community, where criminals lived all this time 
unbothered by the international community and its so-called laws.

What I am interested in is to see whether someone knows if there 
are any legal protections that victims of crimes would enjoy in 
Bosnia upon return to the community in which their victimizers still 
live?! 

In a concrete situation an individual that was raped and/or tortured 
and lived as a refugee somewhere else for past 5 or more years, 
may now be returned to his/hers hometown in Bosnia. 
Unfortunately, more often than not the criminal perpetrator of that 
torture/rape will still live there.

If SFOR is not prepared to arrest those criminal perpetrators, what 
measures will it take to protect their victims now upon their return? 
Are there any legal mechanisms in place for their protection? Or 
are there going to be at the mercy of local Republika Srpska police 
- the same that hide the criminals that victimized them?

ivo
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Ivo Skoric
19 Baxter Street
Rutland VT 05701
802.775.7257
ivo at balkansnet.org
balkansnet.org