As U.S. Vice President, Joe Biden, and EU foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, visit Sarajevo this week, they will usher in a new chapter in Bosnia and Herzegovina's relations with the West. But there is one legacy of the Bush administration they should repudiate: the erosion of human rights and the rule of law in the name of fighting terrorism.
In recent years, Bosnia has stripped the citizenship of around 300 people, most of them men of Middle Eastern origin. Many were granted citizenship after coming to Bosnia to fight during the war, and some are now said to pose a threat to national security. The Bosnian government has seized 6 of these men, all Arabs, and placed them in its new Lukavica detention centre pending deportation, including to countries such as Syria, where they face the risk of serious human rights abuses, including torture.
While the stripping of citizenship and deportations are said to be motivated solely by concerns over irregularities in naturalisation decisions, these initiatives appear to be linked to concerns about the presence in Bosnia of alleged Islamist radicals who it is claimed, are either members of or communicate with radical Islamic organizations. (The measures also appear to enjoy support from Western governments, who so far have been silent about the risk of torture on return.
One of the men in Lukavica, Imad al Husin, is being held pending an appeal even though the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina cancelled the deportation order against him and noted that he does not present a threat to the security of the state. Another detainee, Benkhira Aissa, has twice been sentenced to death in Algeria for his role in an alleged terrorist conspiracy.
The Bosnian government is no stranger to controversy over forced deportations having rendered Lakhdar Boumediene and a group of other men of Algerian origin into US custody despite a Bosnian court order for their release. Boumediene was finally freed without charge from Guantanamo Bay last week, seven years after his imprisonment.
The Bosnian government's willingness to ignore the courts when it comes to national security raises serious questions: - about their willingness to circumvent the law - the Bosnian State Commission, a body in charge of reviewing the post-war naturalisations of foreigners, lacks transparency and denies applicants the right to a fair hearing. The citizenship review procedure takes place behind close doors and persons involved are not present to hear their cases being discussed. The final decisions do not contain detailed justifications or even the reasons why the citizenship was revoked. The recent arrest in Croatia of its chairman, Vjekoslav Vukovic, on suspicion of involvement in an organized crime killing, also raises concerns about the Commission's credibility.
Mr. Biden and Mr. Solana, with their long experience in Balkan policy-making, should understand the need to support strong institutions to protect the rule of law and human rights.
Bosnia looks to the US and EU for leadership. But when it comes to expelling Arabs suspected of links to terrorism, the West has, at best, been silent and at worst complicit in abuse. Reform will only come with help from Washington and Brussels.
Biden and Solana should use their visit to send a clear signal to Bosnia that the West expects to see the following basic steps to bring its security policies in line with human rights law:
First, Bosnia and Herzegovina should freeze the work of the State Commission and conduct a transparent and independent review of its work, including giving those who have been stripped of their citizenship, a right to a fair appeal to an independent court.
Second, appeals by foreigners challenging their deportation should remain in the country whilst their cases are decided, in accordance with a recent Gebremedhin ruling (which condemned France for the absence of an effective right to appeal for undocumented asylum-seekers) of the European Court of Human Rights. This is necessary to ensure Bosnia and Herzegovina's complies with its obligation not to return anyone to a place where he or she risks torture.
Third, the Bosnian authorities should stop using their immigration policy to expel people who are merely suspected of links to violent groups.
Bosnian criminal courts have prosecuted both terrorism and war crimes cases, including those where the alleged perpetrators were naturalised citizens and so have the skills to take charge of such cases and the use of citizenship and immigration laws raises suspicions that the evidence against these men is insufficient and that the state wishes to avoid having to justify its concerns before independent judges.
The Obama administration has announced its desire to turn the page on its predecessor's encouragement and tolerance of human rights abuses in the name of the fight against terrorism. The Lukavica detainees and the hundreds of other individuals at risk of deportation from Bosnia need more than words to protect their human rights; they need action.
Wanda Troszczynska-van Genderen is a Western Balkans Researcher for Human Rights Watch
