organizations, ethnic or religious associations active in BiH. On various occasions in 2009,
individuals and groups belonging to those associations and organizations caused incidents
by displaying intolerant, provocative and aggressive attitude, varying in form and intensity,
towards members of other ethnicities, religions or religious beliefs, creating incidents,
perpetrating incidents, and expressing intolerance and hatred, sometimes under the false
pretext of their own national and religious interests. All those activities further affected the
security situation in parts of BiH where they were committed or in the whole of BiH. They
are more or less of the same intensity, characteristics and background as in the previous
period.
Same or intensified activities of some members of radical religious groups in BiH and the
region continued in the previous period. Those activities aim at spreading radical religious
ideology and recruiting new followers. Some of them, through intensive religious and
ideological activity (mainly verbal), generally deny the constitutional order and rule of law,
regulations and laws of any state, including BiH, and democracy and democratic trends,
calling for disrespect for the rule of law, democratically elected government, etc.
In terms of active display of hatred and creating of incidents, some individuals and groups
have been more prominent lately. They belong to legally established organizations and
associations with ethnic or religious denominators, active in BiH, whose members or
followers display, spread, and incite ethnic and religious hatred and intolerance. This is
done mainly verbally, but also through writing and dissemination of offensive nationalistic
graffiti, posters and stickers, sending threatening and radical email and text messages,
disturbance of law and order and participation in incidents and fights due to disagreement
and disapproval of ideas and beliefs of others.
The impression may be that the intensity and background of those activities are directly
linked to certain “current public developments in the society” (and general negative
atmosphere) related to the resolution of problems in BiH (primarily political, but economic
and social as well as of lately) and its neighborhood.
A relatively new trend in BiH is abuse of cyber technology by extreme radical subjects of
security interest (individuals, groups, organizations, associations, etc.). However, there are
no reliable indicators as to the extent of problem. There are some indications that cyber
technology is used by individuals and groups from this area for purposes which have or
may have security implications.
The main characteristic of the mentioned structures is that they use cyber technology
primarily for their mutual communication, to spread radical ideology, to indoctrinate
declared or potential followers, to distribute various materials (such as propaganda and
support to global terrorist organizations and movements using chat, web forums and web
sites), to collect and exchange data and information (documents, brochures, books, audio
and video materials), to raise funds, to woo, recruit, mobilize and train new members, for
networking, and connecting cells and members, for planning, coordination and control of
activities, and to conduct computer and psychological warfare.
By analyzing some web sites, it becomes clear that cyber attacks are no longer sporadic
individual activities and that they become increasingly coordinated. In BiH and in the
region, the use of modern technology for promotion and spreading of radical beliefs and
ideas is a new phenomenon, primarily targeting young people, who are computer literate
and most eager Internet users.
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