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a certificate. 271 That was the initial stage but later the implementation of the property
law has been done by local authorities through municipalities. 272 In fact, the CRPC’s
mandate was extended in 2002 for one more year to finish its mandate and hand over
all data bases and the decisions to the local authorities. 273 In 2004, “local authorities
(property legislation implementation plan focal points) collected 215,845 total
property claims and closed 199,907 out of the total claims.” 274
The mandate of the Commission for Real Property Claims (CRPC) practically
ended in early 2004. As part of its transfer process, “the CRPC transferred all of its
claim files (approximately 240,000) and records to the BiH National Archives, as
well as its computer database to the BiH Ministry of Human Rights and
Refugees.” 275 At the moment, there are efforts to establish a local commission with
seven members comprising only the nationals of the BiH. The responsibility of the
commission will be to revise the previous decisions in case of an application.
Similarly, the OHR-led Reconstruction and Return Task Force (RRTF) 276 was
established in 1997 in order to undertake return and reconstruction issues in an
integrated manner:
Since the end of 2003 it brought together refugee return and human rights
experts, donors, the EUPM and SFOR, whose role have been to provide
security for returnees. The RRTF facilitated returns through initiatives aimed
at providing returnees with housing, security and sustainable socio-economic
conditions, such as non-discriminatory access to jobs, education, public
271 Interview with Bakir Jalovcic, Senior Public Information Assistant, UNHCR, Representation in
BiH, 16 July 2003.
272 Ibid.
273 Ibid.
274
‘Implementation of the Property Laws in BiH, Statistics Summary’, 31 July 2004,
http://ohr.int/plip.
275 US Department of State, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Country Reports on Human Rights Practice,
2003, Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, February 25, 2004.
276 The RRTF was an inter-agency body and comprised the OHR, the United Nations’ High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the European Commission, the European Commission’s
Humanitarian Office (ECHO), the governments of Germany, the United States and the Netherlands,
the World Bank, the European Union Police Mission (EUPM), the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe (OSCE), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the International
Management Group (IMG), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the Commission for
Real Property Claims of Displaced Persons and Refugees (CRPC) and SFOR. ‘RRTF Member
Organizations’, http://www.ohr.int/ohr-dept/rrtf/mem-struct/orgnst.asp.
227