POOR RESULTS IN ENFORCEMENT OF PROPERTY LAW IN BOSNIA

SARAJEVO, Aug 27 (Hina) - The latest figures and data on the enforcement of the property law in Bosnia-Herzegovina show that the situation in relation to ownership rights is still extremely bad and refugees continue to encounter huge problems in their attempts to come back to their pre-war homes. The Office of the international community's High Representative to Bosnia (OHR), the OSCE mission and the UNHCR have gathered information on the respect for the property law throughout the country and made it public recently. According to their figures, to date 225,295 applications for the restitution of property have been submitted to local authorities. Tackling the matter, local authorities have so far made 77,979 decisions, but just above 30,000 houses, flats and business premises have actually been given back to their pre-war owners. Namely, only 13 percent in relation to the submitted applications has been really settled. Pertaining to the enforcement of relevant acts, the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina (the Croat-Moslem entity) has made better results as against the other entity - the Republic of Srpska. In the Federation, authorities have received over 119,000 applications and taken decisions on 46 percent of them. Of the entire number of contentious issues, 22,000 houses and facilities (18 percent) have been given back to the pre-war owners. Of the refugees who fled the Bosnian Serb entity and who have applied for the return, just eight (8) percent of them have got back their property. Applications for the restitution have been made by 106,263 persons. Regarding the socially-owned flats, 11,000, out of 82,000 declared abandoned during the war, have been now available to their pre-war tenants in the Federation. On the other hand, only 1,180 socially-owned flats, out of 27,000 housing units of such kind, have been given back to pre-war tenants in the Serb-controlled areas. The right to the private property is better respected in the Croat- Moslem entity compared to the situation in the Republic of Srpska. The Federation has returned 10,000 out of 36,000 'abandoned' facilities to their owners. In the Serb entity, out of 80,000 units with such status, just 7,3000 have been given back to their owners. So poor record in the enforcement of the property law has made the Serb entity's minister in charge of refugees resign. Minister Miladin Dragicevic's resignation was formally accepted by the entity's Premier Milorad Dodik a few days ago. Dragicevic said he was leaving this office due to the pressure the international community exerted on him incessantly. He asserted he had done best he could in the field of refugee returns. A spokesman for the OHR said that for the international community it was not important who was at the helm of refugees' ministry in the Republic of Srpska. What it is interested in is the expeditious process of the return of people to their homes. The Serb entity's authorities, including PM Dodik and a former minister Dragicevic, have strongly opposed the intention of exiled Moslems (Bosniaks) who have announced that they will set up tents in the downtown Banja Luka and await the return to their homes in this biggest city in the Serb entity. Serbs, who fled Sarajevo, have decided to take a counter-measure. They, gathered in the association called "Povratak (Return)" have announced they will set up tents in the Bosnian capital and insist on the resignation of the Federation's and Sarajevo Canton's ministers in charge of refugees. (hina) ms