"We can say that last year Bosnia made no progress in comparison to other countries in transition," the committee's chairman, Srdjan Dizdarvic, told a news conference in Sarajevo at which copies of the report were delivered to journalists.
Dizdarevic said that the general state of affairs regarding human rights in Bosnia could be compared only with the situation in Moldova and Serbia-Montenegro, two countries which were currently the furthest from the integration in Euro-Atlantic institutions.
The accentuated ethnic divisions and the efforts of ruling nationalist parties to remain in power at any cost are still the biggest obstacles on Bosnia's path towards the fulfilment of European standards in the human rights sector, the Helsinki Committee said.
"The ruling nationalistic parties are functioning on the basis of their attempts to preserve ethnic homogenisation, and for this purpose they are fuelling fears of others," Dizdarevic said.
Those facts considerably affect the process of the return of refugees to their prewar homes.
In 2004, the number of returnees came to one million out of 2.25 million refugees and displaced Bosnians who left their homes during the war. Minority returns, an expression referring to return of refugees to prewar homes in areas where their ethnic group is now a minority, accounted for a mere 20 percent.
What is encouraging is the fact that even 96 percent of private property has so far been given back to prewar owners.
According to the Bosnian Helsinki Committee, it is realistic to expect that an additional 200,000 to 250,000 refugees will come back, while others will seek permanent accommodation outside their prewar places of residence.
The committee also criticised last year's cases of violations of freedom of media and freedom to association. In this context it pointed the finger at the police in the Bosnian Serb entity, the (Muslim) Party of the Democratic Action and the Islamic Community in the country because of their attempts to exert pressure on the media.
The protection of sexual minorities' rights is almost nonexistent.
The committee in the report proposed to the state authorities 12 recommendations so as improve the protection of human rights.