HUMAN RIGHTS CENTRE SENDS OPEN LETTER TO BOSNIAN FEDERATION PARLIAMENT

PARLIAMENT $ SARAJEVO, Aug 15 (Hina) - The Steering Committee of the Coordination Centre for Human Rights, operating within the Office of the international High Representative to Bosnia-Herzegovina, on Friday sent an open letter to the lower house of parliament of the Bosnian Moslem-Croat Federation, whose members have sharply criticised a report on the human rights situation made by federal ombudsmen. The letter said that during a July 31 discussion on the report, members of the federal parliament did not criticise its content but the fact that the ombudsmen were working together in efforts to protect human rights regardless of the ethnic background of human rights violators and injured parties. The members of the House of Representatives demanded that the ombudsmen deal only with complaints filed by persons of the ethnic group they themselves belong to. (…) The deputies also condemned the ombudsmen for criticising officials from the ranks of their own nation, the letter said, noting that such discussions had mainly been initiated by members of the Moslem- led Party of Democratic Action (SDA). The Steering Committee described such views as completely unacceptable, stressing that the institution of ombudsman was a wonderful example of how members of different ethnic groups in Bosnia-Herzegovina could act together. The House of Representatives of the Federation should follow that example rather than criticise it, the letter said. The three federal ombudsmen -- Branka Raguz, Esad Muhibic and Vera Jovanovic -- were appointed to that position by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in 1994 for a term of five years. They have frequently drawn attention to drastic human rights abuses, blaming government bodies at all levels. The Coordination Centre for Human Rights warned the members of the federal parliament that the international community would continue to resolutely support the ombudsmen and that it would oppose any attempt to divide them according to their ethnic origins. (hina) vm 151358 MET aug 97