Standpoint of the Human Rights Chamber, i.e., the Human Rights Commission within the BiH Constitutional Court

Some injured parties claimed that they were denied certification along with a violation of their human rights and freedoms. There was one case before the Human Rights Chamber, Case No. CH/03/12932, whereupon the appellant claimed that the certification procedure was in contravention of the standards under Article 6 of the ECHR, i.e., that he was not provided access to an independent court, or in other words, “a tribunal”. Some of the decertified officials addressed the domestic courts, which adopted very unequal decisions in similar cases.³⁵¹⁸ At the end of its mandate, the Human Rights Chamber declared the application of an injured party admissible in accordance with Article 6 of the ECHR.³⁵¹⁹ However, the Human Rights Commission within the BiH Constitutional Court, which adopted a decision on the merits, refused to grant the applicant’s request.³⁵²⁰ Admittedly, the procedure before the IPTF and the Ministry of Internal Affairs is not a fair procedure within the meaning of Article 6 of the ECHR and a denial of certification cannot be challenged before a domestic court and therefore the right of access to court is limited.³⁵²¹ However, based on the explicit international obligations under Annex 11 and based on the resolutions and declarations of international authorities concerning this Annex – which is different from what the Human Rights Chamber originally established – the Federation could not be held responsible for the activities of the IPTF.³⁵²² Moreover, the fact that the peace in BiH was jeopardised was the reason for the UN Security Council and the Federation to initiate a process of police reform in order to establish security and order in the territory of the Federation. Therefore, the Commission concluded that the restrictions on the right to a fair trial and right of access to court may be accepted for the purpose of achieving a priority goal of ensuring peace.³⁵²³