Guidelines for visitors
Dear visitors,
The Web Portal “Constitutional Reform in BiH” is a virtual gateway to basic documents, information, news, and research activities relating to the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina and constitutional reforms. Thus, the web portal will facilitate easier access to various documents and promote constitutional topics, with the aim of raising awareness on this essential element in our daily life among the key actors, including ordinary citizens, as direct holders of power in a democratic society, experts, civil society, as well as political parties and authorities. The web portal is multilingual (the languages of the Peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina and English), which will facilitate better international cooperation and interaction in the widest sense of the word.
Main Menu
On the Main Menu you will get basic information about the web portal, the partners joined together to implement this project and the web team. Through a link called “Press”, you will be able to access the update information relating to the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina and constitutional reforms.
The main objective of the web-portal is a search for documentation relating to the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina and constitutional reforms. The link “Constitution and constitutional reforms” will take you to the documentation centre. This link, in addition to “Search engine”, will offer supporting documents and information aimed at providing a more comprehensive and easier understanding and research of this subject. There you will find fundamental information about the background of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina and you will be able to access all legal acts that have a constitutional rank and legal effect. Besides, you will be able to access the relevant case law (primarily the case law of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the European Court of Human Rights), which is, for a certain reason, important for interpreting and understanding the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Search engine
“Search engine” offers a selection of documentation on the constitutional reforms according to four alternative criteria, which can also be combined. You can select a time period if you wish to get documents – proposals for amendments to the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina – from the time period concerned. The subject criterion will allow you to choose proponents of amendments to the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Subjects are classified into five categories as follows: academic community, civil society, international community, political parties, and other. By selecting a subject category you will be offered a list of subjects available under the given category. The third criterion includes the integral parts and Articles of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, starting with the Preamble, through Annexes, to Amendment I to the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Finally, you can select documentation through keywords, which are chosen primarily based on the official text of the Constitution. Keywords marked with a blue bullet points are constitutional terms, whereas keywords marked with a red bullet points are not constitutional terms. As already stated, you can combine the criteria in order to make as precise search as possible. After selecting the desired criteria, you have to select the “Search engine” option. It will offer you documents according to the given parameters. Then, you can choose your document.
Below the text of the selected document, you will see the so-called “Timeline”, where you will find your document (in bold and marked with a red line) in respect of other documents published either before or after the document you have selected. The timeline will offer you three search options (according to decades – the lower timeline; according to years – the middle timeline; according to months – the upper timeline). By dragging the cursor across the line you can move the lines left and right. In order to have access to documents, click on the “Timeline” option.
The “Filter” option, below “Timeline”, is provided for filtering the documents sorted according to keywords. By entering a word or phrase (e.g. the name of a political party), “Timeline” will show all documents containing the entered word or phrase. Coloured fields below “Select” will enable you to select a specific document according to the colours. By entering a keyword in any of the four fields, documents marked with the selected colour will appear in the middle and upper lines. Please click the “Cancel All” button to resume the “Timeline” option.
All documents shall be published in their original and integral form, either in the languages of the Peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina or in English. Accordingly, the web portal team shall publish documents as received from the relevant subjects or taken over from available sites. The web portal will not process documents technically or in terms of contents or any other terms. For these reasons, the web portal does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness or authenticity thereof. In this regard, it is necessary to contact the author of the document for checking. Translations of original documents into the English language or from English into the languages of the Peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina are courtesy translations of BiH EURAC Representative Office.
Other
In addition to the documents relating to the constitutional reforms, the web portal shall also offer an overview of the proposals on completely new constitutions. These documents are not entered into the database accessible through “Search engine”.
If you have a comment or suggestion or if you wish to exchange your opinion or ideas, you can do it through a link “Contact us”. To facilitate our communication, please fill out the offered form.
Your Web Portal Team
