The Government of Republika Srpska delivered its 15th Report to the United Nations Security Council yesterday. The report advises the Council on the Entity’s positions on a range of issues relevant to the international community’s involvement in BiH. The executive summary of the report is below.
Introduction and Executive Summary
Republika Srpska (RS), a party to all of the annexes that comprise the Dayton Accords, respectfully submits this 15th Report to the UN Security Council, which outlines the RS Government’s views on key issues facing Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). Among the issues examined in this Report are the importance of respect for the Dayton Constitution, the need for reform of BiH’s judicial and prosecutorial institutions, and the RS’s concern that recent abuses of authority by BiH justice institutions are undermining the rule of law in BiH.
I. BiH stability and progress rests upon respect for the Dayton Constitution, the rule of law, and the necessity of building consensus to achieve positive change.
Section I of the Report explains that BiH can be stable and successful and move toward EU membership if the Dayton Constitution is honored. The RS has taken the lead in implementing reforms to promote economic growth and BiH’s European integration. Although the RS strongly supports BiH’s application for EU membership, it is unfortunate that some in BiH are using European integration as an excuse to centralize governance in defiance of the Dayton Accords. Early this year, the BiH Council of Ministers secretly adopted changes to an EU-integration coordination mechanism that were not agreed upon with other levels of government and that violate BiH’s constitutional structure. Publication of BiH’s census is an important step toward BiH’s EU membership, but the census results must be published in accordance with law.
II. BiH’s judicial and prosecutorial institutions must be reformed.
Section II describes why BiH’s judicial and prosecutorial institutions require reforms if they are to respect human rights and meet European standards. The BiH Prosecutor’s Office and BiH Court continue to discriminate against Serb victims of war crimes. Recent indictments and convictions indicate that the BiH Prosecutor’s Office’s pattern of failing to indict the perpetrators of crimes against Serb victims is getting worse. Moreover, the Prosecutor’s Office treats Bosniak forces as immune from indictment for crimes against humanity, the charge that carries the most severe potential prison sentence. The Report notes some of the many examples of the BiH justice system’s failure to seek justice for Serb victims of war crimes.
The RS continues to seek reforms to BiH’s justice system through the EU-sponsored Structured Dialogue for Justice, working closely with EU experts and officials from BiH, the Federation, and Brčko District. There were signs of progress last year, but Bosniak officials have since acted to block necessary reforms. The RS recently suspended a planned referendum about the justice institutions imposed by the High Representative, but the RS remains fully within its rights to hold such a referendum in the future if reform continues to be blocked.
BiH’s Constitutional Court must be reformed to restore the rule of law and confidence among BiH’s Constituent Peoples. This necessity was highlighted by the court’s recent decision—without any legally defensible basis—that the RS cannot celebrate the date of its founding. The decision is just the latest key ruling in which a bloc composed of the court’s three foreign and two Bosniak judges outvoted the four Serb and Croat judges. The foreign judges lack independence from the High Representative and, as a former judge admitted, act under a “tacit consensus between the Court and the High Representative that the Court . . . will always confirm the merits of his legislation . . . .” In order to ensure the legitimacy of the court, reforms are necessary, including the replacement of the foreign judges as foreseen in the BiH Constitution. RS officials at both the BiH and Entity level—and representing all of the RS’s major political parties—condemned the Constitutional Court’s decision and called for a referendum on the issue.
III. BiH justice institutions are abusing their power to support certain political parties.
Section III describes how recent abuses of authority by BiH-level justice institutions threaten the rule of law throughout BiH. After BiH’s State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) arrested an SDA member of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly, the BiH Prosecutor’s Office abused the criminal justice system to force SIPA’s director out of office. Then SIPA’s new director, authorized by the BiH Court and Prosecutor’s Office, began a series of provocative armed raids on police stations and other facilities in the RS. There have also been other politically motivated arrests, detention, and harassment of BiH and party officials and officials of private institutions. These abuses of justice institutions seriously undermine the integrity of key constitutionally protected government institutions and the separation of powers. These abuses also seriously undermine the trust and cooperation among cantonal, Entity, and BiH agencies that is essential to combating the threat of terrorism at time when that threat is growing throughout Europe. It appears, regrettably, that some diplomatic officials have, in violation of international law and practice, involved themselves in the abuses of authority described above.
As the RS continues to pursue reforms to improve its economy and advance EU integration, it asks members of the international community to respect the Dayton Accords and support local reform initiatives in BiH. The RS believes that BiH can be a stable and successful part of Europe if the Dayton structure is respected.
