Bosnia and Herzegovina is a federation. The Constitution provides for freedom of religion, including public and private worship. However, the situation is complicated by the high degree of ethnic animosity which has erupted since the dissolution of the former state of Yugoslavia. Generally speaking, individuals who live in areas in which their ethnic group is in the majority, enjoy unfettered freedom of religion. Minority groups have experienced harassment and attacks on places of worship. For example, in July 1996, a Mosque in Croat controlled Prozor was damaged by fire. Several days later, the last Catholic Church in the Muslim controlled town of Bugojino was firebombed.
The Republika Srpska, in which Orthodox Serbs are dominant, was singled out by the 1997 US State Department “Report on Religious Freedom” for abuse of ethnic minorities. The report states that such abuse is “tantamount to official policy,” and that Croat Catholics have experienced harassment including attacks on priests and nuns and desecration of religious property. In 1996, authorities of the Republika Srpska demolished a mosque without consulting religious leaders. Furthermore, efforts by Muslims to visit religious sites and graveyards in their former home areas were rejected. An attempt was made to require members elected to the Parliament in 1996 to take an oath referring to Christian Scriptures. While this effort was rescinded by the legal commission of the assembly, officials who refused to take the oath have been excluded from important committees in which legislative work takes place.
2008 US State Department International Religious Freedom Report on Bosnia-Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina - New World Encyclopedia
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