Member of the BiH Presidency, Denis Bećirović, proposed that at the 5th regular session of the BiH Presidency on Wednesday, the Draft Conclusions be included and considered, which instructs the Council of Ministers of BiH to initiate concrete activities with the aim of enabling BiH to gain insight into the archives of the former SFRY and download originals and copies belonging to BiH .
As Bećirović wrote in the explanation, aware of the need to, in the interest of all successor states and their citizens, as well as in the interest of stability in the region and good mutual relations, resolve the issues of succession of states that arose after the breakup of the former SFRY, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia , Slovenia and FR Yugoslavia signed the Agreement on Succession Issues in Vienna on June 29, 2001.
Five sovereign equal states
“Five sovereign equal successor states of the former SFRY, by signing the Agreement on Succession Matters, accepted the principle that they must at all times take the necessary measures to prevent the loss, damage or destruction of state archives, state property and assets of the SFRY that are in accordance with the provisions of the Agreement on matters of succession, one or more other successor states are interested,” Bećirović stated in the explanation.
The agreement on matters of succession also contains Annex D, which regulates the issue of archives, and the provisions of Annex D stipulate that “State Archives of the SFRY” means “all documents, of any date or type, regardless of where they are located, that were created or received by SFRY (or any previous constituent structure of the Yugoslav state from December 1, 1918) in the process of performing its functions and which belonged to the SFRY on June 30, 1991, in accordance with its internal legislation, and in accordance with the Federal Law on Archives of the Federation , kept under indirect or direct control as an archive for any needs.”
“According to the provisions contained in Annex D of the Agreement on matters of succession, Republic and other archives means the archives of any of the states in their previous capacity as constituent republics of the SFRY, or their territorial or administrative units, and means all documents, of whatever date or type, without regardless of where they are located, which were created or received by any of these republics or territorial or administrative units in the process of performing their functions and which on June 30, 1991 belonged to them in accordance with the applicable law, and which, in accordance with with the Law on archival materials of each republic, kept under their indirect or direct control as archives for any needs,” the statement said.
Article 2 of Annex D stipulates that a republican or other archive, if it was moved from the republic to which it belonged, or if the state archive of the SFRY was moved from the place of creation, and in accordance with the international principle of provenance, will be returned to the respective republic to which it belonged or its appropriate location as soon as possible, by the successor state which currently controls them.
Provisions of Annex D
“The provisions of Annex D stipulate that part of the State Archives of the SFRY (administrative, current and archival documents) necessary for the normal management of the territory of one or more states will pass, in accordance with the principle of functional relevance, to the jurisdiction of those states, regardless of where these archives are located. are currently found. The term ‘document’ used in Annex D of the Agreement on Succession Matters means film, audio, video and other materials, as well as any form of computerized records, and documents representing cultural heritage,” it was pointed out.
Article 4 of Annex D stipulates that parts of the state archives of the SFRY that represent a group that directly relates to the territory of one or more states, or were created or received on the territory of one or more states, or consist of contracts of which the SFRY was the depository and relate applies only to matters concerning a territory or institutions that had their headquarters in those territories, one or more states will belong to those states, regardless of where those archives are currently located.
“Article 7 of Annex D of the Agreement stipulates that, until the implementation of the Agreement, immediate free and unhindered access to the state archives of the SFRY, dated on or before June 30, 1991, will be provided to the representatives of the interested countries. This access applies to both republican and other archives (except current archives) now located in the States concerned.If the archives are to belong to two or more States, according to the provisions of Annex D of the Agreement on matters of succession, those States shall agree which of them shall receive the originals and enable others to make copies,” the statement said.
It was concluded that the state archive of the SFRY, which according to the provisions of Annex D represents the common heritage of the states, can be accessed freely and unhindered by all the signatory states of the Agreement, whereby each state should be allowed to make copies of the archive on the basis of equal participation in the costs.
“A state that allows the copying of archives will provide the best possible document for copying, and free and equal access to all countries that carry out copying,” the statement concludes.
