The OSCE mission in Sarajevo within the scope of building a system for the protection of the rights of national minorities in Bosnia-Herzegovina with specific reference to the Roma community

Abstract

The OSCE mission in Sarajevo started soon after the Dayton Accords had been signed. Apart from monitoring of the implementation of this peace agreement, one of the main areas of OSCE's activity has been promoting and helping to build the rule of law in Bosnia and Herzegovina. A special task has been to create state mechanisms for monitoring the observance of basic human rights in this ethnically and socially divided country. This paper will therefore analyse the activity of the OSCE mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) in the above mentioned area, with particular emphasis placed on the situation of the Roma population in this country. It will also be an attempt to assess B&H's achievements so far as well as the main setbacks and obstacles in the normalisation process and to approaching international standards.