|
Using the Internet as a civic tool, Project Bosnia's general objective
is to develop an Internet-based legal information infrastructure
for Bosnia, which will promote the free flow of information and
enhance the rule of law. To that end, Project Bosnia has launched
its latest initiative: The Federation Judicial Database and Legal
Network Initiative.
At the request of the Minister of Justice for the Federation
of Bosnia and Herzegovina ("the Federation"), Project Bosnia proposes
to use the Internet to connect Bosnian courts to a national judicial
database which will store legal documents such as constitutions,
laws, regulations and court opinions. The database will be stored
on an Internet server centrally located at the Palace of Justice
in Sarajevo, with dial-up capability for all courts to access
and disseminate important judicial information through the World
Wide Web. Additionally, the database will enable Bosnian attorneys
to file specific legal documents electronically, without having
to appear in court.
Background
Project Bosnia began with the donation of a laptop computer to
three law faculty members from the University of Sarajevo, who
visited legal institutions in the United States in January, 1996.
Project Bosnia, under the leadership of Dean Henry H. Perritt,
Jr., focused initially on judicial entities in the cities of Sarajevo
and Mostar, both in the Muslim-Croat half of Bosnia. During two
trips to Bosnia in 1996, Dean Perritt and Project Bosnia students
laid the groundwork for the installation of the region's first
Internet server with telephone dial-up capability, and equipped
the Federation Constitutional Court and Ombudsmen with a number
of Pentium computers. The project subsequently arranged for the
donation and delivery of an Internet server, and obtained monetary
and other resources from the World Bank, U.S. Government, Soros
Foundation and other institutions and individuals to provide ongoing
support for the project's work.
In 1997 and 1998, Project Bosnia became an IPRO at Chicago-Kent
and the Illinois Institute of Technology, and expanded its focus
to include media institutions in Banja Luka, the seat of government
of the Serb half of Bosnia. In the spring of 1998, Project Bosnia
IPRO students spent their spring break in the Rebulika Srpska
connecting the Independent Media Server to the Internet. Since
its implementation, the Media Server has provided a mechanism
to promote the free flow of unbiased information among the press,
legal and governmental institutions, and the public. By promoting
transparency in government and greater access to information,
the server will enhance the rule of law in the Republika Srpska
and Bosnia, which is the also the overall objective of the Federation
project. Project Bosnia intends to link the Federation and Republika
Srpska projects to each other and to the Internet.
|