Rule Over Law: Obstacles to the Development of an Independent Judiciary in Bosnia and Herzegovina

<body bgcolor="#ffffff"> <table width="520" border="0"> <tr> <td colspan="2"> <table cellpadding="0" border="0" cellspacing="0"> <tr> <td valign="top"><img border="0" height="74" src="../../../images/t_bosnia.gif" width="292"> </td> <td valign="top"><img border="0" height="74" src="../../../images/tnav.gif" usemap="#tnav" width="226"> </td> <map name="tnav"> <area shape="RECT" coords="6,14,115,28" href="../../../projects/bosnia/Default.html" target="main"> <area shape="RECT" coords="7,29,97,43" href="../../../projects/bosnia/reports.html" target="main"> <area shape="RECT" coords="8,47,57,57" href="../../../projects/bosnia/map.html" target="main"> <area shape="RECT" coords="0" , 0, 0, 0> </map> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> <tr> <td><div align="center"><b class="small">Bosnia Legal Project Report N�1<br>An International Crisis Group Project funded by the European Commission</b></div><br> <img src="../../../images/eclogo.gif" width="200" height="134" alt="" border="0" align="right"></td><img border="0" height="1" src="../../../images/clear.gif" width="10"> <td align="left" valign="top"><a name="top"><h1>Rule Over Law: Obstacles to the Development of an Independent Judiciary in Bosnia and Herzegovina</h1></a> <p class="small"><h2>5 July 1999</h2><br><h2>Contents</h2> <ul> <li><a href="../../../projects/bosnia/reports/bh49rep.html#1">Executive Summary</a> <p><li><a href="../../../projects/bosnia/reports/bh49rep.html#2">Introduction</a> <p><li><a href="../../../projects/bosnia/reports/bh49rep.html#3">Overview of the (13) BIH Legal System(s) - the Pull of the Homelands and the Power of the Cantons</a> <p><li><a href="../../../projects/bosnia/reports/bh49rep.html#4">Specific Issues Affecting Judicial Independence</a> <ol type="1"> <li><a href="../../../projects/bosnia/reports/bh49rep.html#4a" class="small">Selection and appointment process for judges and prosecutors</a> <ol type="a"> <a href="../../../projects/bosnia/reports/bh49rep.html#4a1" class="small">Timescale of judicial appointments</a></ol> <li><a href="../../../projects/bosnia/reports/bh49rep.html#4b" class="small">Financing and Resourcing of Judiciary</a> <ol type="a"> <li><a href="../../../projects/bosnia/reports/bh49rep.html#4b1" class="small">Budgeting for the judiciary</a> <li><a href="../../../projects/bosnia/reports/bh49rep.html#4b2" class="small">Poor salaries</a> <li><a href="../../../projects/bosnia/reports/bh49rep.html#4b3" class="small">Poor material resourcing</a> <li><a href="../../../projects/bosnia/reports/bh49rep.html#4b4" class="small">Backlog</a></ol> <li><a href="../../../projects/bosnia/reports/bh49rep.html#4c" class="small">Culture of lawlessness/ lack or respect for institutional authority</a> <ol type="a"> <li><a href="../../../projects/bosnia/reports/bh49rep.html#4c1" class="small">The cosy relationship of politics and organised crime</a> <li><a href="../../../projects/bosnia/reports/bh49rep.html#4c2" class="small">The failure of law enforcement institutions to enforce court decisions</a> <li><a href="../../../projects/bosnia/reports/bh49rep.html#4c3" class="small">The Judicial Police and enforcement of court decisions</a></ol> <li><a href="../../../projects/bosnia/reports/bh49repb.html#4d" class="small">Human resources</a> <ol type="a"><li><a href="../../../projects/bosnia/reports/bh49repb.html#4d1" class="small">Lack of adequate cadre</a> <li><a href="../../../projects/bosnia/reports/bh49repb.html#4d2" class="small">Poor training</a> <li><a href="../../../projects/bosnia/reports/bh49repb.html#4d3" class="small">Intimidation of inexperienced judges</a> <li><a href="../../../projects/bosnia/reports/bh49repb.html#4d4" class="small">Scarcity of legal materials</a></ol> <li><a href="../../../projects/bosnia/reports/bh49repb.html#4e" class="small">Institutionalised ethnic separation</a> <ol type="a"> <li><a href="../../../projects/bosnia/reports/bh49repb.html#4e1" class="small">Institutionalised favouritism?</a> <li><a href="../../../projects/bosnia/reports/bh49repb.html#4e2" class="small">Political courts</a> <li><a href="../../../projects/bosnia/reports/bh49repb.html#4e3" class="small">"Tit-for-tat?"</a> <li><a href="../../../projects/bosnia/reports/bh49repb.html#4e4" class="small">Who's a good "one-of-us", then?</a></ol> <li><a href="../../../projects/bosnia/reports/bh49repb.html#4f" class="small">Influence of international community</a> <ol type="a"><a href="../../../projects/bosnia/reports/bh49repb.html#4f1" class="small">Sold a bad deal?</a></ol> <li><a href="../../../projects/bosnia/reports/bh49repb.html#4g" class="small">Direct influence of political parties/ figures</a> <li><a href="../../../projects/bosnia/reports/bh49repb.html#4h" class="small">Media</a> <li><a href="../../../projects/bosnia/reports/bh49repb.html#4i" class="small">Legislative measures to limit independence of judiciary</a> <li><a href="../../../projects/bosnia/reports/bh49repb.html#4j" class="small">Self-imposed bad work practices/ institutionalised judicial corruption</a> <ol type="a"><li><a href="../../../projects/bosnia/reports/bh49repb.html#4j1" class="small">Judicial corruption</a> <li><a href="../../../projects/bosnia/reports/bh49repb.html#4j2" class="small">Collusion of judges</a> <li><a href="../../../projects/bosnia/reports/bh49repb.html#4j3" class="small">Case allocation</a></ol> <li><a href="../../../projects/bosnia/reports/bh49repb.html#4k" class="small">Weakness of the Public Prosecutors</a> <li><a href="../../../projects/bosnia/reports/bh49repb.html#4l" class="small">Origins of the BiH legal system as Background to the current problems</a> </ol> <p><li><a href="../../../projects/bosnia/reports/bh49repb.html#5">Conclusions</a> </ul> <p> </td> </tr> </table>