Bosnia and Herzegovina
ENTRY INTO FORCE of the European Convention on Human Rights
12 July 2002
Number of implemented cases*
65
Examples
Bosnian war widow wins legal battle to reclaim her family’s lost property
After fleeing the horrors of war, genocide survivor Fata Orlović returned to her home near Srebrenica, only to find that a church had been built on her land. Over the next two decades, Fata fought tenaciously to get the land back. Her legal battle ended in victory at the European Court of Human Rights. The court’s judgment caused Bosnia and Herzegovina to finally remove the church.
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Democracy returns to Mostar after local resident’s historic European court case
For twelve years, Mostar residents like Irma Baralija were unable to vote or stand in local elections because of a legal deadlock. Irma decided to take a case to the European court, which found that Bosnia and Herzegovina’s failure to enable a vote had violated her rights. Bosnia and Herzegovina reacted to the judgment by changing electoral law – bringing democracy back to Mostar.
Reforms after bank refused to pay out pensioner’s savings
Ruža Jeličić was a citizen of the former Yugoslavia. She worked in Germany in the 1970s and 80s and kept savings of German marks in a bank in the former Yugoslavia. However, along with thousands of others with foreign currency savings, she was banned from withdrawing the money after moving back home. After Mrs Jeličić stopped working and her husband died, she had no money to live on.
Justice for a mother who lost custody of her child
Verica Šobota-Gajić was given custody of her children after her relationship ended. However, her former husband took their son away. Due to the authorities’ inaction, Verica only regained custody of him six years later. The case led to reforms to make sure the right people have custody of children.
* This figure includes all judgments and decisions from the European Court of Human Rights (including friendly settlements) concerning which the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers has decided that all necessary follow-up measures have been taken. Source: the database of the Department for the Execution of Judgments of the ECHR, HUDOC-EXEC.