The Chairperson of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Željka Cvijanović, spoke on Wednesday before the United Nations Security Council, at a session dedicated to the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“If Bosnia and Herzegovina will ever be sovereign, independent, stable, functional and prosperous, then governance in Bosnia and Herzegovina must rest in the hands of the Constitution and its citizens, in accordance with democratic principles and the rule of law, and not in the hands of unelected foreigners who make despotic decrees according to her wishes and preferences,” Cvijanović pointed out in her address before the UN Security Council.
Cvijanović said that she was glad to hear a significant number of statements in which it is said that all the governments whose representatives are participating in this session share the same goal, which is: a sovereign, independent, stable, functional and prosperous Bosnia and Herzegovina.
With this common goal in mind, Cvijanović said she wanted to highlight three points that any informed observer would agree are key to achieving that goal.
“First, and most importantly: the only realistic path to this common goal is to respect the Dayton Agreement, including the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and its formula for the division of power between the three constituent peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina that share a long history of conflict. The Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina was carefully designed based on respect for this simple reality, where a system with decentralized competences and important mechanisms of power sharing was established, which assured each nation that it would not be ruled by other nations. This carefully composed system has successfully kept peace in BiH for more than 27 years,” Cvijanović emphasized.
Cvijanović said that since Republika Srpska, the entity whose citizens elected her to the Presidency of BiH, was mentioned so many times at the session, she would like to mention that in Dayton, Republika Srpska agreed, with other parties, to be part of a highly decentralized BiH in which all competencies belong to the entities except several that the Constitution expressly entrusts to the institutions at the BiH level.
According to her, in the decades after the signing of the Dayton Agreement, BiH was transformed into a significantly more centralized system, almost entirely thanks to foreign interventions, rather than legal, democratic action.
“If we all share a common goal, which is a sovereign, independent, stable, functional and prosperous Bosnia and Herzegovina, then the most important thing that the Security Council and its members can do is to support the Dayton Agreement in word and deed and condemn the actions by which this carefully conceived and guaranteed by the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the system of mutual control mechanisms was destroyed,” Cvijanović stressed.
Citing the security situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina as the second point, Cvijanović pointed out that BiH is, in fact, quite stable in this respect, which was recently confirmed by EUFOR, stating that BiH is not a powder keg at all as portrayed by some who are looking for a bigger side. intervention and control over it.
It is true that BiH is often in a state of political tension, Cvijanović said, but that state is typical for most democracies, including many whose representatives are here today.
“And now we come to the third point – the threat to the stability of BiH does not come from harsh political statements, but primarily from the inconsistent implementation of the Dayton Agreement. Simply put: if the agreement reached in Dayton is not respected, there is no hope that BiH will succeed,” she pointed out. chairman of the Presidency.
She said that Dayton is being disrespected in two particularly dangerous ways – the first is the illegal modification of the role of the high representative from a mediator to an autocrat with unlimited powers, which go far beyond the strictly limited mandate stipulated in Annex 10 of the Dayton Agreement.
The chairwoman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Željka Cvijanović, expressed her criticism of the move of the high representative and again pointed to two dangerous threats that threaten the constitutionality, stability and sovereignty of the country.
The first threat is the illegal transformation of the high representative into an autocrat, which leads to the expansion of despotic powers that are not subject to limitation and supervision.
“The second threat to constitutionality comes from the very institution that promised to defend it. The Office of the High Representative (OHR) and certain international powers are interfering in the judiciary, and three foreign judges who do not speak the local languages and do not know the details of the country’s legal system are also disrupting democratic processes in the country,” said Cvijanović.
The chairwoman also looked critically at the decision of the special representative on state property, and called for respect for the Dayton Agreement and the rule of law in accordance with democratic principles, and not under the influence of international actors.
Cvijanović emphasized that Republika Srpska has an official policy that advocates for the sovereignty and peace of BiH and the Dayton Agreement, but does not accept the decisions of dictatorial high representatives and international influences.
She expressed dissatisfaction and criticism towards the high representative for his “colonial style” and called for respect for democratic processes in the country, stressing that he has no right to rule BiH by decisions without the consent of BiH institutions.
“Dear members, if you read the report of the high representative for this country, you will see that he behaves extremely colonially, as if the locals, whom he rules, do not behave in a civilized manner and do not want to listen to their benevolent ruler,” concluded Cvijanović, stating that the report of the Republika Srpska emphasizes that the RS respects the sovereignty of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina within the framework of the Dayton Agreement.
Cvijanović previously left the session of the UN Security Council, during the address of the high representative in BiH.
Cvijanović said that she left the session during Schmidt’s address because, as she stated, “he was not verified in that council, he continues to make an experiment from BiH, putting himself above democratically elected institutions, for which the Dayton Agreement did not give him a mandate.”
