V. CASELOAD OF THE CHAMBER
During 1999, more citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina turned to the Human Rights Chamber for redress of human rights
violations than in previous years after national institutions and domestic courts had failed to provide an effective
remedy. From March 1996, when the Chamber was first constituted, through December 1998 the Chamber had registered
1,496 individual applications. As of 31 December 1999, that number had more than doubled to 3,449. However, after
four years of functioning, the Chamber still has received almost no applications from some parts of the country such
as the eastern part of Republika Srpska and parts of the Federation in which the majority population is of Croat descent.
To deal with the growing number of applications, the Chamber increased substantially the number of decisions it issued in
1999 over the previous year from 67 to 206. The Chart below illustrates the increase in applications received and decisions
taken over a period of 4 years. Many decisions resolve more than one case. By the end of 1999, the Chamber had rendered
a total of 292 final and binding decisions including decisions on admissibility and merits, strike-outs, compensation claims
and requests for review involving 408 individual applications. It had also considered over 100 requests for provisional
measures. A statistical summary of the Chamber's cases is attached to this Report as Annex D.
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