Title

Combating Terrorism in Bosnia-Herzegovina: Explaining and Assessing Article 201 of the Bosnian Criminal Code

Abstract

This paper explores the legal measures that have been enacted in Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH) to counter the threat of terrorism, focusing particularly on the international and domestic political context in which the reform of the Bosnian criminal code was carried out, on the apparent origins of Article 201 of the BiH criminal code in the European Union Framework Decision on Combating Terrorism of June 2002 and on the strengths and weaknesses of this definition in the Bosnian context. The paper argues firstly that the events of 9/11, while certainly of significance, were less salient to the definition of terrorism adopted in the BiH criminal code than the enhanced engagement of the European Union with processes of law reform in BiH in recent years seems to have been. The paper also concludes that despite various shortcomings (which should be addressed) the treatment of terrorism in the BiH criminal code has a number of strengths that make it particularly appropriate in the Bosnian context.

Disciplines

Comparative and Foreign Law | Criminal Law | Criminal Procedure | Human Rights Law | International Law | Law and Politics

Date of this Version

October 2006