Republika Srpska today delivered its 24th Report to the UN Security Council. Below is the report’s introduction and executive summary.
Republika Srpska’s 24th Report to the UN Security Council
Introduction and Executive Summary
Republika Srpska (RS), a party to the treaties that make up the 1995 Dayton Peace Accords and one of the two Entities that make up Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), is pleased to submit this 24th Report to the UN Security Council.
This December, the RS will celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Dayton Accords—and there is much for everyone to celebrate. The Dayton Accords not only ended a cruel and bloody war, but also established a mechanism—the BiH Constitution—to ensure lasting peace, stability, and democratic government in BiH.
Part I of this report reiterates the RS’s commitment to the Dayton Accords and emphasizes the need for other interested parties to show the same commitment. The Dayton Accords are among the most successful peace agreements in history because of the design of the BiH Constitution, which protects BiH’s two Entities and three constituent peoples. BiH is often dysfunctional, but the main reason for its dysfunction is not the Dayton Accords, but the refusal by important actors to accept and abide by them. BiH can only be fully successful when actors inside and outside BiH adhere to Dayton.
Members of the international community undermine BiH when they push for changes to BiH’s Dayton structure, failing to understand that it is crucial to BiH’s future stability and success. The BiH Constitution has already been changed—illegitimately and informally—through the centralization of power forced on BiH by the international High Representative (HR). In violation of the Dayton Accords, which is the source of his lawful authority as HR, Ambassador Valentin Inzko continues to claim legally absurd dictatorial powers over BIH and has even threatened to begin using them again.
Part II of this report examines challenges to the Dayton Accords coming from within BiH. BiH’s main Bosniak party, the SDA, has made clear that it does not accept the Dayton compromise. It has demonstrated its rejection of Dayton often, including with its September 2019 declaration openly calling for the abolition of BiH’s Dayton structure. Calls for a so-called “civic” BiH are really calls for a state governed by and for BiH’s most populous constituent people.
In the 2018 election, Bosniaks elected not just the Bosniak member of the Presidency, but also a nominally “Croat” member—thus depriving Croats of their representation in the Presidency. In its 2016 Ljubic decision, the BiH Constitutional Court held that Bosniaks similarly selecting “Croat” members of the Federation House of Peoples is unconstitutional. However, the SDA has resisted implementing the Ljubic decision or making the necessary changes to the election law to ensure the legitimate representation of Croats. Instead of eliminating the disenfranchisement of Croats, the SDA has threatened to expand it to other levels of government, while also reducing Croat checks in the Federation against Bosniak domination.
This year, the SDA has also illegally taken control of BiH’s Central Election Commission and has been misusing the commission for political purposes. For example, the commission unlawfully tried to ban a Serb party from participating in November’s elections, only to be overruled by the Court of BiH.
Part III of the report examines the need for leaders in BiH to promote regional cooperation and reconciliation. While the RS and its leaders have been working to build bridges with BiH’s neighbors, the SDA and many other elements of the Sarajevo political establishment have been doing the opposite.
In Part IV, the RS reiterates its commitment to BiH’s EU path and outlines progress on EU integration, as well as obstacles standing in the way. The RS has made significant progress in harmonizing RS legislation with the EU acquis and otherwise implementing reforms aimed at advancing EU integration. BiH has also been moving forward with reforms and has made progress in implementing the 14 key priorities identified by the European Commission in its Opinion on BiH’s membership application. However, the continued presence of the HR and foreign judges on the BiH Constitutional Court remain as impediments to EU integration. The EU has rightly identified the HR as “incompatible” with EU membership and said BiH must address the issue of foreign judges.
Finally, part V of the report examines the continued influx of migrants to BiH, which, in addition to being a humanitarian crisis, is also a threat to BiH’s security.
As BiH marks 25 years since the Dayton Accords, the RS reaffirms its support for the Accords, including the BiH Constitution, and looks forward to continued progress on the road to EU membership.
Read the full report here.
