Bosnia and Herzegovina: Motorway-affected residents submit complaint to the UN

The complaint alleges violations of their rights to property and public participation in environmental decision-making. Some of the group are resisting expropriation procedures, while others will receive no compensation at all, despite having houses within metres of the motorway that will become uninhabitable and unsellable. Many of the group have already had to rebuild their lives after the 1990s war, and cannot face another upheaval.

The complaint details how the decision to route the motorway through villages, agricultural and tourist areas in the Neretva valley was taken without public consultations, breaching local legislation and depriving affected people of the chance to have a say.

Given the existence of an alternative route on the surrounding hills, whose rejection has never been convincingly explained, the group believe it is unjustified for the motorway to harm their properties.

Their view has been vindicated by the accountability mechanism of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), which is financing this motorway section (3).

In early 2024, the accountability mechanism confirmed that the route selection process had breached the Bank’s policies and recommended analysing alternative alignments, together with a new environmental and social assessment (4). However, the EBRD has dragged its feet in remedying the breach of its standards and the project is currently in a deadlock.

Azra Duraković of Eko Dvogled says: ‘The EU and its banks have been proudly vocal about their financing of the Corridor Vc motorway, but much less so about the need to properly consult people about the routing. We are therefore turning to the UN to help uphold the affected people’s right to property, as a crucial source of income, security and stability, as well as the right to participate in decision-making.

The international community helped people to rebuild their lives in this area after the last war, and now they are complicit in building a motorway across their properties. This land can’t be ceded for an illegal and illegitimate motorway route, especially when reasonable alternatives exist.’

Contacts

• Michaela Kožmínová, Communications officer, CEE Bankwatch Network, michaela.kozminova@bankwatch.org
• Azra Duraković, Eko Dvogled, azdurakovic@gmail.com
• Amna Popovac, Eko Dvogled, amna.popovac@gmail.com

Notes for editors

• For background information on the project, see here.
• For more about the United Nations Human Rights Council, see here.
• For more on the EBRD financing, see here.
• More information on the EBRD accountability mechanism’s findings is available here and here.