Republika Srpska today delivered its 26th Report to the UN Security Council. Below is the report’s introduction and executive summary.
Republika Srpska’s 26th 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 autonomous Entities that make up Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), is pleased to submit this 26th Report to the UN Security Council.
The RS reaffirms that it remains fully committed to the Dayton Peace Accords, including the BiH Constitution, and to the continued progress of BiH toward regional and European integration. The RS fully respects BiH’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, and constitutional order. The RS also insists that others in BiH and abroad respect and implement the Dayton Accords as written.
Despite inflammatory accusations made by certain parties who have never believed that the RS should be able to exercise its autonomy as recognized and guaranteed by the Dayton Accords, the legislation currently being formulated and implemented by the RS to assert and protect its constitutional rights does not “roll back” any “reforms.” No prior act of any High Representative (HR) or any prior governmental entity in BiH that abuses the constitutional rights of the Entities or the constituent peoples can rightly be considered a reform. Rather, in an effort to create a more stable and successful BiH, the RS is merely correcting prior abuses, having lost hope of them being corrected in Sarajevo.
Those who accuse the RS of engaging in destabilizing or aggressive acts are merely seeking to provoke a crisis for their own benefit, typically in order to call for yet more attacks on the rights of the Entities and further erosion of the protections for constituent peoples set out in the Dayton Accords. Demands from the Serb or Croat peoples or institutions in BiH that their constitutional rights be respected in Sarajevo can only be considered destabilizing by those parties for whom “stability” is defined as total control and domination of all elections and governmental functions by the Bosniaks. It has increasingly become clear to certain members of the international community, regional leaders, and well informed analysts both inside and outside of BiH that, in reality, it is the constant pressure and attacks on the constitutional rights of the Serbs and Croats, and the refusal of the Bosniaks to accept the power-sharing principles enshrined in the Dayton Accords, that have produced instability in BiH—instability that will always persist until the Bosniak parties finally accept the Dayton principles in good faith.
The first part of this Report reiterates the commitment of the RS to the Dayton Accords and emphasizes that the Dayton formula for decentralized power-sharing is the only legitimate and viable basis upon which to build a successful BiH.
The second part of this Report emphasizes that nothing is more important for the future stability and prosperity of BiH than honoring and nurturing the rule of law in the county. This objective is severely hindered, however, when key officials and institutions in BiH ignore the Constitution, and influential members of the international community cynically disregard basic principles of due process and international law in their actions toward BiH and the RS. Such actions by certain members of the international community speak louder than their words, and rightly call into question whether it is the rule of law or rule by the powerful that really animates their policies.
The third part of this Report explains the firm legal and constitutional basis for actions under consideration to uphold the RS’s rights under the BiH Constitution, including in connection with inter-Entity consent agreements (IECAs) and laws decreed by HRs in violation of the Constitution. The IECAs, under which the Entities consent to the exercise of Entity competences by BiH institutions, did not alter—and could not have altered—the basic constitutional structure of BiH, because they bear none of the attributes of a constitutional amendment. As mere political accommodations, the IECAs are neither permanent nor binding. The illegitimate foreign coercion under which the IECAs were signed further justifies a reassessment of how such matters should be addressed today.
Finally, as the Dayton Accords have provided for a peaceful and stable environment in BiH for over 25 years, it is important for all of its Parties and all other members of the international community to respect them and adhere to the principles that underlie those agreements. It is domestic dialogue, respectful of the Dayton structure and principles, that will resolve internal political problems in BiH. Because there is no material threat to peace in BiH, the Security Council should begin the process of ending the application of Chapter VII of the UN Charter to BiH.
Read the whole report here.
