PRESS CONFERENCE ON SITUATION IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

At a Headquarters press conference this afternoon, Paddy Ashdown, High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, welcomed the Security Council’s unanimous support for prioritizing the three key elements of justice, jobs and reform to make the country work.

Focusing on three aspects of the current situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina -- the recent elections, the end of the United Nations Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina (UNMIBH), and the possibility that the international community might decide that its task ended with the Mission -– noted that some had seen the recent elections as a return to nationalism.  However, two of the three key nationalist parties had gone down in terms of votes, while the only one that gained had made the strongest commitments to reform.

Secondly, he said, the party that had made the largest gains was a non-nationalist party in the Republika Srpska, which were the key outright winners having made an unequivocal commitment to reform and change.  Third, the mood of the people in Bosnia and Herzegovina was absolutely not desirous of a return to the nationalism of the past, but was rather a protest against the fact that progress had not been made rapidly enough.

Pointing out that in none of the Eastern European countries in transition had the first reform-minded government been re-elected, he said that in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Government had failed to win re-election not because it had done too much, but because it was regarded as having done too little in the way of reform and change.  The ordinary people wanted to move faster in making Bosnia and Herzegovina a fully operating State in the European model.  The elections were, therefore, a call for more and faster reform, the foundations for which had been laid.  It was up to the international community, with its Bosnian partners, to press that process forward at an even faster pace than before, he emphasized.

Turning to the end of UNMIBH, he said it marked a very considerable, but unsung, success for the United Nations, contrary to some headlines.  While the European Union would now have to provide the leadership, resources and drive to build on the remarkable work done by the United Nations and UNMIBH, the Organization left with its head held high after a job well done, he added.

He cautioned the international community against concluding that if the United Nations had left, the job was over.  The handover to the European Union Police Mission was not an exit strategy for the Organization, but a transition strategy.  It was not the international community pulling out, but the Bosnians increasingly taking over.  The process now embarked upon was a transition from a State coping with the terrible problems of a war to one now moving to a more conventional, transitional trajectory towards statehood and the European Union.

That transition was very difficult, as the other nations of Eastern Europe could attest, he said.  Moreover, Bosnia and Herzegovina had three problems in addition to creating market economies and democracies with no experience of them in the past:  it must deal with the “devastations and legacy of the most terrible war of the second half of the last century”, he added.

Also present, was Jacques Paul Klein, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Bosnia and Herzegovina, who said that UNMIBH’s mandate had been to reduce the number of pre-war policemen from 44,000 to less than 20,000.  That had been done, and the remaining task was to vet those 20,000, ensuring they were not economic or war criminals; that they had the human rights, forensic, traffic-management and crime-scene investigation training that they needed.  He said the task had also included building a new police academy in Banja Luka for 3.1 million euros, renovating the one in Sarajevo for 2.9 million euros and ensuring that both had modern European police curricula.

In addition, UNMIBH had created a State border service, which Bosnia and Herzegovina had never needed before, he said.  Of the 1,800 International Police Task Force (ITPF) officers, 680 were Europeans, and a European had been brought in to spend six months as the United Nations Police Commissioner before becoming the European Union Police Commissioner.

Questioned further about his mandate, Mr. Ashdown said that his job was to ensure there an absence of obstructions to the course of peace and the creation of the structure for a modern European State.  Three goals in fulfilling that task involved creating the most trusted legal system, the most business-friendly space, and the cleanest political space.  He emphasized that the civil service must not be a political tool or a “playground for patronage”.

He said that he would use his powers to protect the process from any incoming government that tried to interfere.  Noting that the press was the “fourth estate” in the United Kingdom, he added that if freedom of the press was threatened, limited or interfered with by any government, he would act to ensure its protection.

Asked about accused war criminal Radovan Karadzic, Mr. Klein urged the media to assist in his capture.  Mr. Karadzic remained a free man and he could only be arrested if, by chance, the multinational stabilization force (SFOR) encountered him.  The media could assist by raising awareness of the need for a change in SFOR’s mandate, authorizing it to locate, detain, arrest and extradite him to The Hague.

Regarding trafficking in women, Mr. Klein said there was no executive mandate, but the local police had been trained to deal with that issue.  The result was numerous raids and repatriation of women to their home countries.  In cases where women had no documentation, it was necessary to find fellow residents of their hometowns to vouch for their identity before they could be returned.  Noting that trafficking was a Europe-wide social problem, he pointed out the need to differentiate between trafficking and prostitution, which was not necessarily illegal in many places.

Also addressing the issue of trafficking, Mr. Ashdown added that the rule of law should be established and borders protected, which was a task not just for the police, but also for the international community.  If there were no courts in which traffickers could be tried, how could the police be effective? he asked.  He noted good police chiefs were being intimidated and threatened by some in the political community and warned that the strongest action would be taken to protect the professionalism and lives of those upholding the rule of law.

Regarding possible sales of arms to Iraq, Mr. Ashdown said that anyone in Bosnia and Herzegovina found to have participated in breaking Security Council resolutions would be dealt with immediately and powerfully.  However, the process was still under investigation, and he was awaiting the outcome.

Regarding economic development, Mr. Ashdown said he aimed to work with Bosnian partners to put the country in a position to attract international investment within five to six months.  However, internal investment sources must be released before external investment could take place.  Those systems were so bureaucratic that a bulldozer must be taken to them in order to open Bosnia and Herzegovina up to enterprise and small businesses and release its internal human talent.

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