Domestic Mechanisms Database
The Domestic Mechanisms Database includes mechanisms from around the world that have been put in place at national levels to address the crime of enforced disappearances. It includes criminal, constitutional and civil legislation, truth and reconciliation bodies, search and forensic mechanisms, reparation among other domestic frameworks. Users can search the source bank through a filter-based or key-term search and access text in English, Spanish, Russian and French.
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National Reparation and Reconciliation Board
The National Reparation and Reconciliation Board was a decentralised public entity, subjected to the supervision of the President of the Republic through the Ministry of the Interior, functioning between 1992 and 1996. Its purpose was the coordination and execution of the recommendations of the National Truth and Reconciliation Commission, aimed at determining the whereabouts and circumstances of the disappearance or death of missing persons and of those whose remains have not been located, despite legal recognition of their death. The Board also collected background information and carried out investigations on cases in which it was not possible to form a ...click to read more
Keywords: Rehabilitation | Reparation | Satisfaction | Compensation | Reconciliation | Search
National Commission on Political Prisoners and Torture (Valech Commission)
The National Commission on Political Prisoners and Torture was created by the Ministry of Interior as an advisory body to the President of the Republic, to the aim of identifying the people who suffered deprivation of freedom and torture for political reasons by State agents or people at their service, in the period between September 1973 and March 1990. It was active between September 2003 and June 2005. The Commission did not make legal findings, but issued a final report on the basis of the evidence gathered through testimonies and information received. The Commission proposed to the President of the ...click to read more
Keywords: Reparation
Law on Missing Persons
The Law applies to persons who disappeared in the period from 30 April 1991 to 14 February 1996 as a consequence of the armed conflict that happened on the territory of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. It provides that the families of missing and disappeared persons have the right to know their fate, place of residence or, if dead, the circumstances and cause of their death and the location of the burial site, as well as to receive their mortal remains. It also provides that all relevant authorities are obliged to provide families of the missing or disappeared ...click to read more
Keywords: Search | Rehabilitation | Persons and groups affected | Reparation | Memorialisation
Central Records on Missing Persons
The Central Records on Missing Persons serves as a central database of information on missing or disappeared persons, containing data on their identity, place and circumstances of disappearance, and any other information important for tracing them. It consolidates records kept at various levels by government and regional offices, by associations of families of missing or disappeared persons or other associations of citizens, and by Tracing Offices of the Red Cross. A competent expert authority is designated within the Missing Persons Institute to maintain the Central Records and provide measures to secure data. All data entered into the Records is ...click to read more
Keywords: Forensics / DNA | Search
Missing Persons Institute
The Missing Persons Institute was established as an independent, administrative authority for tracing missing or disappeared persons in/from Bosnia and Herzegovina and expediting the identifications of their mortal remains. Tracing requests for the registration of a missing person are submitted to the Institute by any family member or by other persons or institutions, if they can provide the minimum information about the missing or disappeared person's identity and the supposed date and place of the disappearance and the circumstances of the disappearance. Requests for tracing foreign citizens may also be submitted by foreign citizens if the missing or disappeared person: ...click to read more
Keywords: Search
Law Establishing a Mechanism for Paying Tribute to Victims of Forced Disappearance and Providing for Measures to Locate and Identify Them
The Law establishes, among a number of obligations, that the relatives of the victims are paid the necessary resources to cover funeral expenses, travel, lodging and food throughout the process of delivering bodies or remains. Victims' families are allowed to participate in the exhumation proceedings in which their relative is to be found. The competent authorities for identification, exhumation and investigation must provide the bodies or remains to the affected family in conditions of dignity, and the Ministry of Social Protection must ensure that the relatives of the victims who are identified receive psychosocial care. The Law further provides that, ...click to read more
Keywords: Memorialisation | Reparation | Compensation
Advisory Commission on the Classification of Disappeared Detainees, Victims of Political Executions and Victims of Political Imprisonment and Torture (Valech II Commission)
The Advisory Commission for the classification of Disappeared Detainees, Politically Executed Persons and Victims of Political Imprisonment and Torture was established by the President of the Republic. It was active between December 2009 and August 2011. Its mandate was to receive new information about possible cases of enforced disappearance, political execution, political imprisonment or torture that had not been recognised by the previous Commissions. The relatives of the victims recognised by the Commission were granted the same rights as those recognised by the National Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the National Reparation and Reconciliation Board.
Keywords: Search | Access to information
Bank of Genetic Profiles of Disappeared Persons
The Bank of Genetic Profiles of Disappeared Persons is established under the direction and coordination of the Attorney General's Office. The State's forensic genetics laboratories process, index, organise and enter into the Bank the information on the genetic profiles obtained from the bodies and remains of the victims. They also take, process and cross-check the biological samples of victims’ relatives who voluntarily authorise the operation for the identification of the disappeared. The laboratories code all information in a way that allows confidentiality, preservation and traceability. The Attorney General's Office is responsible for keeping relatives informed on the identification process, on ...click to read more
Keywords: Forensics / DNA | Search
Mapping System of the Location of the Bodies or Remains of Forcibly Disappeared Persons
The Attorney General's Office is responsible for preparing maps indicating the alleged location of the bodies or remains of disappeared persons, according to the National Search Plan. The confidential sharing of information on the location of bodies or remains of the disappeared is facilitated by the creation of a communication channel by the Public Ministry, the Attorney General's Office and the Judges. The bodies and remains that have not been identified are registered in the Missing Persons and Corpses Information System. Competent authorities are obliged to take a biological sample for genetic identification before the burial of unidentified remains or ...click to read more
Keywords: Forensics / DNA | Search
Search Unit for Persons Considered Disappeared
The Search Unit for Persons Considered Disappeared is established within the Comprehensive System for Peace as a transitory, autonomous and independent entity. It directs, coordinates and contributes to the search for persons considered disappeared as a consequences of and in context of the armed conflict. The Unit is competent for events of enforced disappearance and kidnapping occurred before 1 December 2016 in the course of hostilities. Its main functions are as follows: a) seek information from official sources and civil society; b) confidentially interview people who have information about the disappeared persons; c) design and implement the National Search Plan; ...click to read more
Keywords: Search