Newsroom
OSCE organizes workshops for housing officials in Bosnia and Herzegovina
SARAJEVO 22 January 2002
SARAJEVO, 22 January 2002 - In support of the Property Law Implementation Plan in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the OSCE has launched nation-wide a series of 17 workshops to present and discuss the amendments to property legislation and other legislation related to return and privatization, which were adopted on 4 December. The workshops began on 16 January in Tuzla and will continue throughout the whole country in early February.
The workshops are designed to promote rapid implementation of the property amendments by giving legal professionals an opportunity to discuss them in small groups. All municipal housing authorities from both Bosnia and Herzegovina entities - the Federation and Republika Srpska - and the Brcko District have been invited, along with the Deputy and Assistant Ombudsmen from both entities and representatives of the UNHCR network of Legal Aid Information Centres, as well as other non-governmental organizations. Representatives of the Property Law Implementation Plan agencies and the Reconstruction and Return Task Force Housing Verification and Monitoring Unit will also be present. Each workshop is designed to bring together legal practitioners who share axes of return, in order to foster professional contacts as well as mutual understanding and interpretation of the laws.
At the sessions held so far, attendance has been much greater than expected and the discussions have been extremely productive. The Republika Srpska Ministry for Refugees and Displaced Persons has decided that their legal professionals will attend all sessions, and during a recent workshop in Tuzla, the Republika Srpska Assistant Minister for Refugees and Displaced Persons, Drago Vuleta, attended to show his support. The Federation Ministry of Physical Planning and Environment has also expressed interest in attending future trainings.
The OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina welcomes the active participation of all who have attended the workshops so far, and expects that this process will result in a quick acceleration in property law implementation, allowing greater numbers of refugees and displaced persons to repossess their pre-war homes.
The workshops are designed to promote rapid implementation of the property amendments by giving legal professionals an opportunity to discuss them in small groups. All municipal housing authorities from both Bosnia and Herzegovina entities - the Federation and Republika Srpska - and the Brcko District have been invited, along with the Deputy and Assistant Ombudsmen from both entities and representatives of the UNHCR network of Legal Aid Information Centres, as well as other non-governmental organizations. Representatives of the Property Law Implementation Plan agencies and the Reconstruction and Return Task Force Housing Verification and Monitoring Unit will also be present. Each workshop is designed to bring together legal practitioners who share axes of return, in order to foster professional contacts as well as mutual understanding and interpretation of the laws.
At the sessions held so far, attendance has been much greater than expected and the discussions have been extremely productive. The Republika Srpska Ministry for Refugees and Displaced Persons has decided that their legal professionals will attend all sessions, and during a recent workshop in Tuzla, the Republika Srpska Assistant Minister for Refugees and Displaced Persons, Drago Vuleta, attended to show his support. The Federation Ministry of Physical Planning and Environment has also expressed interest in attending future trainings.
The OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina welcomes the active participation of all who have attended the workshops so far, and expects that this process will result in a quick acceleration in property law implementation, allowing greater numbers of refugees and displaced persons to repossess their pre-war homes.