A/HRC/22/49/Add.1 I. Introduction 1. The Independent Expert conducted an official visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina between 17 and 25 September 2012. She thanks the Government for extending an invitation to her and for its cooperation in the preparation and conduct of her visit. She also thanks the senior Governmental representatives and representatives of the international community whom she met for their time and information. She further thanks the numerous nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), both national and international, academic institutions, and others working in the field of minority issues who provided valuable information. 2. The most recent census was conducted in 1991, at which time the population was 4.4 million, consisting of 44 per cent Bosniaks, 31 per cent Bosnian Serbs, and 17 per cent Bosnian Croats. Due to the impact of the 1992 to 1995 war, these figures and the distribution of each population group within the country have changed markedly. Each population speaks a separate although closely related language: Bosnian, Croatian or Serbian. These languages are mutually intelligible in most respects and prior to the war were collectively categorized as Serbo-Croat. Serbian uses Cyrillic, one of two official alphabets. Generally, most Bosniaks are Muslim, Croats are Roman Catholic and Serbs are Orthodox Christians. Ethnicity, religion and language are prominent group markers and dividing lines in society, which were accentuated by the conflict and subsequent segregation of communities into separate ethnoreligious areas. 3. The 1995 General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, also known as the Dayton Agreement, created separate autonomous regions—the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republika Srpska and Brčko District—and largely divided the country along ethnic, religious and linguistic lines. Most Bosniaks and Croats live in the Federation while most Serbs live in the Republika Srpska. The Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, contained in annex 4 of the Dayton Agreement, established and categorized the three population groups that had also been the warring parties in the conflict as ―constituent peoples‖. A category of ―others‖ was created to capture groups who are not constituent peoples, including national minorities. 4. There are 17 recognized national minorities: Albanians, Montenegrins, Czechs, Italians, Jews, Hungarians, Macedonians, Germans, Poles, Roma, Romanians, Russians, Ruthenians, Slovaks, Slovenes, Turks and Ukrainians. In the 1991 census, these minorities constituted less than 1 per cent of the population; however, 5.5 per cent identified as ―Yugoslavs‖, and 1.5 per cent are listed as ―other‖, ―undecided‖ or ―unknown‖. It is acknowledged that the census significantly undercounted the Roma, many of whom are thought to have identified as Yugoslavs. Only 8,864 self-identified as Roma despite estimates that their actual number may now be as high as 100,000. 5. The Independent Expert emphasizes that minority issues have regional and local as well as national dimensions. A group that may constitute a dominant majority or a significant proportion of the population nationally or in a particular region may be numerically smaller and non-dominant in another region. In the politically, ethnically and geographically divided context of Bosnia and Herzegovina, minority rights protections must also be applied fully for those constituent peoples—Bosniaks, Croats or Serbs—who find themselves in the situation of being de facto minorities in the autonomous entities or cantons in which they live and where they face significant challenges and marginalization, often as returnee communities. 6. The Independent Expert visited Sarajevo and different regions where minority and returnee communities live, including Banja Luka, Brčko District, Mostar and Srebrenica. She visited Croat returnee communities in Derventa (Republika Srpska), Bosniak returnees 4