Permanent Representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) to the United Nations (UN) Sven Alkalaj spoke about the statements of the member of the Presidency of BiH Milorad Dodik.
”Dodik perfidiously and maliciously uses certain statements from the speech I read before the UN Security Council for daily political purposes. Dodik said that everything I said about Christian Schmidt is true. There are fundamentally important differences between the views I read in New York and what Dodik is doing and his policy when it comes to the High Representative in BiH, especially Schmidt,” Alkalaj stated.
As he points out, all pro-Bosnian policies, including the one he represents, have always supported, and today they unreservedly support the institution of the High Representative in BiH.
”In contrast, Milorad Dodik and his politics are openly destroying the institution of the High Representative in BiH, as well as personally Schmidt, whom he insulted in various ways. In my address before the Security Council, the evaluations of certain parts of the Decision of the High Representative in BiH on amendments to the Election Law of BiH were presented. My statement is not directed against the personality of Mr. Schmidt, but the statement pointed to certain facts that are in contradiction with the democratic values of the liberal world,” Alkalaj emphasized.
According to him, Dodik does not belong to these values, but destroys them and tries to stop the democratization of BiH.
He recalled that the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms is above domestic laws and it guarantees the same rights to every person regardless of religion, race, ethnicity, etc.
”The European Court ruled that Jews, Romani people, and other peoples are discriminated against in BiH, as well as Bosniaks, Serbs, and Croats in certain cases. We have the right to question this and ask the High Representative in BiH as well as our allies, the United States (U.S.), the United Kingdom (UK), and the European Union (EU), to help us remove these discriminations. The absolute majority of citizens in BiH want full membership in NATO and the EU, while Dodik is openly against NATO and increasingly against the EU,” Alkalaj concluded.
