Article II. Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms
2. International Standards.
The rights and freedoms set forth in the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and its Protocols shall apply directly in Bosnia and Herzegovina. These shall have priority over all other law.
3. Enumeration of Rights.
All persons within the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina shall enjoy the human rights and fundamental freedoms referred to in paragraph 2 above; these include:
c.The right not to be held in slavery or servitude or to perform forced or compulsory labor.
d.The rights to liberty and security of person.
m. The right to liberty of movement and residence.
Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina 1995 (Rev. 2009) (PDF)
Article 147 Unlawful Deprivation of Freedom
(1) An official or responsible person in the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina who unlawfully imprisons another person, keeps him imprisoned or otherwise restricts his freedom of movement, shall be punished by a fine or imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years.
(2) If the unlawful deprivation of freedom lasted for more than thirty days, or if the manner of the execution was cruel, or if such a treatment of the person who was illegally deprived of freedom caused grave impairment of his health, or if some other serious consequences occurred, the perpetrator shall be punished by imprisonment for a term between two and eight years.
(3) If the person who has been illegally deprived of freedom lost his life as a result of the deprivation, the perpetrator shall be punished by imprisonment for a term not less than five years.
Article 172
(1) Whoever, as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of such an attack perpetrates any of the following acts:
Article 173 War Crimes against Civilians
(1) Whoever in violation of rules of international law in time of war, armed conflict or occupation, orders or perpetrates any of the following acts:
Article 185
(1) Whoever, in violation of the rules of international law, places another in slavery or in a similar status or keeps him in such a status, buys, sells, hands over to another person or mediates the purchase, sale or handing over of such a person or induces someone else to sell his freedom or the freedom of the person he provides for or takes care of, shall be punished by imprisonment for a term between one and ten years.
(2) Whoever, in violation of the rules of international law, buys, sells, hands over to another person or mediates in the purchase, sale or handing over a child or a juvenile for the purpose of adoption, transplantation of organs, exploitation by labour or for other illicit purposes, shall be punished by imprisonment for a term not less than five years.
(3) Whoever, in violation of the rules of international law, transports persons who are in a position of slavery or in similar status, shall be punished by imprisonment for a term between six months and five years.
Article 186 Trafficking in Persons
(1) Whoever takes part in the recruitment, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to obtain the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation, shall be punished by imprisonment for a term between one and ten years.
(2) Whoever perpetrates the criminal offence referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article against a juvenile, shall be punished by imprisonment for a term not less than five years.
(3) Whoever organizes a group of people with an aim of perpetrating the criminal offence referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Article, shall be punished by imprisonment for a term not less than ten years or long-term imprisonment.
(4) Whoever acting out of negligence facilitates the perpetration of the criminal offence referred to in paragraphs 1 through 3 of this Article, shall be punished by imprisonment for a term between six months and five years.
(5) “Exploitation” referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article includes, in particular, exploiting other persons by way of prostitution or of other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or slavery-like practices, serving under coercion or removal of organs for the purpose of transplantation.
Article 187 International Procuring in Prostitution
(1) Whoever procures, entices or leads away another person to offer sexual services for profit within a state excluding the one in which such a person has residence or of which he is a citizen, shall be punished by imprisonment for a term between six months and five years.
(2) Whoever, by force or threat to use force or deceit, coerces or induces another person to go to the state in which he has no residence or of which he is not a citizen, for the purpose of offering sexual services upon payment, shall be punished by imprisonment for a term between six months and five years.
(3) If the criminal offence referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Article is perpetrated against a child or a juvenile, the perpetrator shall be punished by imprisonment for a term between one and ten years.
(4) The fact whether the person procured, enticed, led away, forced or deceived into prostitution has already been engaged in prostitution is of no relevance for the existence of a criminal offence.
Article 188 Unlawful Withholding of Identity Papers
Whoever unlawfully withholds another person’s identification papers or passport, shall be punished by imprisonment for a term between six months and five years.
Article 189 Smuggling of Persons
Whoever, for financial or material benefit, engages in illegal transport of other persons across the state border, or whoever enables another person to cross the border illicitly, shall be punished by imprisonment for a term between six months and five years.
Article 190 Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment
An official or another person who, acting upon the instigation or with the explicit or implicit consent of a public official person, inflicts on a person physical or mental pain or severe physical or mental suffering for such purposes as to obtain from him or a third person information or a confession, or to punish him for a criminal offence he or a third person has perpetrated or is suspected of having perpetrated or who intimidates or coerces him for any other reason based on discrimination of any kind, shall be punished by imprisonment for a term between one and ten years.
Article 51 Protection of Minors
A minor may not work on particularly hard manual works, works underground or under water, nor on other jobs which could have a harmful effect or increased risk to his life or health, development or moral, given his psycho-physical qualities.
The Federal Ministry shall issue a separate regulation to determine the jobs from paragraph 1 of this article.
The labor inspector of the canton shall forbid the work of minors on the jobs in terms of paragraph 1 of this article.
Article 52 Protection of Women
A woman may not be ordered nor assigned to work on particularly hard manual works, works underground or under water, nor on other jobs which could have a harmful effect or increased risk to her life or health, given her psycho-physical qualities.
Exceptionally, restriction of work from paragraph 1 of this article shall not pertain to those women performing management or health and social protection jobs, students, employees in training or volunteers who in education or expert qualification must spend part of the time in underground parts of mines, and to women who periodically must enter underground parts of mines to perform non-manual works.
Article 140
A fine of 1,000.00 KM to 10,000.00 KM shall be imposed on an employer who is a legal entity for an offense, if:
1. fails to conclude the employment contract with the employee (Article 2),
2. discriminates a person seeking employment or an employed person (Article 5),
16. orders a minor employee to work overtime (Article 32, paragraph 3),
17. orders overtime work to a pregnant woman, a mother with a child of up to three years of age or a self-supporting parent with a child of up to six years of age, without his written consent (Article 32, paragraph 4),
18. orders night work for a woman employed in industry contrary to Article 35, paragraph 1,
19. orders night work for a minor employee (Article 36),
20. fails to allow an employee to use breaks and leave during work (Article 37),
21. fails to allow an employee to use daily and weekly breaks and leave (Articles 38 and 39),
25. assigns a minor employee to work on the jobs contrary to the provisions of this law (Article 51, paragraph 1),
26. employs a woman on the jobs where work of women is forbidden (Article 52),
Article 145- Trafficking in Human Beings
(1) Whoever, by force or threat or other forms of coercion, abduction, fraud or deception, abuse of authority or influence, abuse of relationship of trust, dependence or vulnerability, difficult circumstances of another person, by giving or receiving of money or other benefits in order to obtain consent of a person who has control over another person, recruits, transports, transfers, delivers, sells, purchases, intermediates in sale, harbours, receives or keeps a person for the purpose of the use or exploitation of that person’s labour, perpetration of a criminal offence, prostitution, use for pornographic purposes, establishment of slavery or a similar relationship, forced marriage, forced sterilization, for the purpose of the removal of organs or body parts, for the use in armed forces or of some other type of exploitation, shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of not less than three years.
(2) Whoever seizes, holds or counterfeits or destroys personal identification documents with the purpose of perpetrating criminal offences referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article, shall be punished by imprisonment for a term between two and twelve years.
(3) If the criminal offence referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Article was perpetrated as member of an organized criminal group, the perpetrator shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of not less than five years.
(4) Whoever uses, or enables other person to use sexual services or other forms of exploitation, and was aware that it concerns the victim of the human trafficking, shall be punished by imprisonment for a term between six months and five years.
(5) If the offence referred to in paragraphs 1, 2, 3, and 4 of this Article is perpetrated by an official person in the exercise of duty, he shall be punished by imprisonment for a minimum term of eight years.
(6) If the criminal offence referred to in paragraphs 1 and 3 of this Article caused grievous bodily harm, serious health damage, or the death of one or more persons, the perpetrator shall be punished by imprisonment for a minimum term of ten years.
(7) The consent of the victim to any form of exploitation referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article shall bear no relevance to the existence of the criminal offence of human trafficking.
(8) Items, vehicles and facilities used for the perpetration of the offence referred to in this Article shall be seized.
(9) When the victim of human trafficking is forced by the offender of criminal offence to participate in commission of another criminal offence, the criminal proceedings shall not be conducted against him if such action has been a direct consequence of his status of a victim of human trafficking.
Article 146 - Trafficking in Children
(1) Whoever recruits, transports, transfers, delivers, sells, purchases, intermediates in sale, harbours, keeps or receives a child with the purpose of use or exploitation of his labour, perpetration of a criminal offence, prostitution or other uses of sexual exploitation, pornography, establishment of slavery or similar relationship, forced marriage, forced sterilization, illegal adoption or a similar relationship, for the purpose of the removal of organs or body parts, for the use in armed forces or of some other type of exploitation, shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of not less than five years.
(2) Whoever perpetrates the offence referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article by use of force, serious threat or other forms of coercion, by deception, abduction, blackmail, abuse of office, abuse of relationship of trust, dependence of vulnerability, difficult circumstances of another person, by giving money or other benefits in order to obtain consent of a person who has control over another person, shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of not less than eight years.
(3) Whoever uses, or enables other person to use sexual services or other forms of exploitation of a child, and was aware that it concerns the victim of the human trafficking, shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of not less than five years.
(4) Whoever seizes, holds or counterfeits or destroys personal identification documents with the purpose of perpetrating criminal offences referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Article, shall be punished by imprisonment for a term between three and fifteen years.
(5) If the criminal offence referred to in paragraphs 1, 2, 3, and 4 of this Article was perpetrated as member of an organized criminal group, the perpetrator shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of not less than ten years.
(6) If the offence referred to in paragraphs 1, 2, 3, and 4 of this Article is perpetrated by an official person in the exercise of duty, he shall be punished by imprisonment for a minimum term of eight years.
(7) If the criminal offence referred to in paragraphs 1 and 3 of this Article caused grievous bodily harm, serious health damage, or the death of one or more persons, the perpetrator shall be punished by imprisonment for a minimum term of ten years.
(8) The consent of the minor to any form of exploitation referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article shall bear no relevance to the existence of this criminal offence.
(9) Items, vehicles and facilities used for the perpetration of the offence referred to in this Article shall be seized.
(10) When the victim of child trafficking is forced by the offender of criminal offence to participate in commission of another criminal offence, the criminal proceedings shall not be conducted against the child if such action has been a direct consequence of his status of a victim of child trafficking.
Article 207a - Human Trafficking
(1) Whoever, by force or threat of force or other forms of coercion, abduction, fraud or deception, abuse of relationship or trust or vulnerability, or by giving or receiving money or other benefits to persuade a person having control over another person, recruits, transports, transfers, delivers, harbours or receives a person for the purpose of exploiting him/her, shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of not less than five years. For the purpose of this Article the exploitation shall mean: prostitution of another person or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or similar relationship, servitude, removal of organs or body parts, or some other form of exploitation.
(2) Whoever recruits, transports, transfers, delivers, harbours or receives a person younger than 18 years of age with the purpose of using or exploiting him/her for prostitution or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or similar relationship, servitude, removal of organs or body parts, or some other form of exploitation, shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of not less than ten years
(3) If the offences referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Article were perpetrated by an official person in exercising his/her duty, s/he shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of not less than ten years.
(4) Whoever counterfeits, obtains or issues travel or identification document or uses, seizes, holds, trades, damages, destroys travel or identification document of another person to enable trafficking in human beings, shall be punished by imprisonment for a term between one and five years.
(5) Whoever uses services provided by a victim of trafficking, shall be punished by imprisonment for the term between six months and five years.
(6) If due to the criminal offences referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Article caused serious health problems, grievous bodily harm, or the death of one or more persons referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2, the perpetrator shall be punished by imprisonment for a minimum term of ten years or a long-term imprisonment.
(7) Items, vehicles and facilities used for the perpetration of the offence shall be seized.
(8) The consent of the victim to exploitation shall bear no relevance to the existence of the criminal offence of human trafficking.
(9) The victim of trafficking that was forced by the perpetrator of that criminal offence to take part in committing another criminal offence, shall not be prosecuted for the offence s/he committed if his/her actions were direct consequence of his/her status of the victim of trafficking.
Article 207b - Organized Trafficking in Human Beings
(1) Whoever organizes or leads a group, an organised group or a criminal group which jointly perpetrates or attempts a criminal offences referred to in articles 207a of this Code, shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of at least ten years or long-term imprisonment.
(2) Whoever perpetrates a criminal offence as a member of the group referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article, shall be punished by imprisonment of at least ten years.
(3) Whoever becomes a member of a group referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article, shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of at least one year.
(4) A member of a group referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article who divulges the group may be released of punishment.
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