Family Mediation in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Proposals De Lege Ferenda, Education, and Prevention

Abstract

Introduction: This paper aims to provide a comprehensive theoretical basis for this crime, clarify its key elements, and place it in a broader comparative context.

 Aim: This paper aims to analyze the existing legal framework of family mediation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the protection of the rights of participants, offer de lege ferenda proposals towards improving legal and institutional regulations, and emphasize the importance of education and preventive measures as key factors for the successful implementation of mediation and achieving real gender equality.

 Materials and Methods: The research conducted shows that the existing legal acts and bylaws, with their imprecise, vague, and generalized provisions, are not in line with the recommendations of the Council of Europe and other European regulations. The existing legal solutions standardize the obligation of the mediation procedure before divorce, which is contrary to the basic principle of voluntariness in the mediation procedure. Furthermore, there are certain illogicalities in the legal solutions, such as the legal provision that states that in the event of non-response of both spouses to the mediation procedure, the impossibility of initiating divorce proceedings follows.

 Results: The implementation of family mediation is in line with legal provisions on the manner of implementation, but the quality and efficiency of the results are influenced by unfavorable and incomplete legal solutions, which can lead to situations in which the mediation procedure becomes only a formal fulfillment of existing legal obligations.

 Conclusion: Ultimately, it is necessary to amend the Rulebook on the conditions that must be met by a natural or legal person to deal with the mediation procedure before starting the divorce procedure; introduce the Code of Ethics, which will be a guarantee for the professional conduct of all mediators and prescribe the principles on which the mediation procedure is based (independence, neutrality, and confidentiality); and introduce and specify the exact course of the procedure, from which it must be visible how the mediator carried out each legal phase of the mediation procedure individually.