The President of the Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, emphasized that the Dayton Peace Agreement is more than a peace agreement for the Republika Srpska; it is not only a guarantee of peace, but also a guarantee of its rights.
“Our every fight to respect Dayton is not just a fight for the rights of the Republika Srpska. It is a fight to preserve peace and the Constitution of BiH, the Republika Srpska, and to prevent new conflicts. And no matter how much we are attacked, slandered, and falsely accused for that reason, we are the ones who, by respecting Dayton, defend peace, defend the agreement to which we are a signatory,” emphasized President Dodik in his address to a special session of the National Assembly of the Republika Srpska on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement.
The Dayton Peace Agreement was not perfect. It was not a utopia, but it was real and it functioned. It has maintained peace for thirty years, recognizing not because it confirmed the Republika Srpska, created the Federation of BiH and BiH, but because it recognized them for what they are, with all their specificities, complexities, and all their differences.
How important the Dayton Peace Agreement is for Republika Srpska, how much we insist on its respect, how much everything we do is in accordance with its provisions, is best evidenced by two historical, confirmed facts – the Dayton Peace Agreement was ratified by the National Assembly of Republika Srpska, and the day it was initialed was declared a national holiday. Serbs and Republika Srpska celebrate peace. On the other hand, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina has never ratified this agreement. Instead of the day when peace was established, the Federation celebrates the day when the war began. For Republika Srpska, Dayton is more than a peace agreement. “This is not only a guarantee of peace, but also a guarantee of our rights,” Dodik said.
He pointed out that the war in BiH did not start because of intolerance between nations, it started because the principle of equality was violated.
Dayton was not a suggestion or a declared vision. It is an agreement that established the Constitution of BiH. It was written, agreed upon and signed by all parties. It was concluded with the full support of the United States of America, France, Great Britain, Russia, the Federal Republic of Germany, with the assistance of the EU and other partners,” he said and added:
“Our every fight to respect Dayton is not just a fight for the rights of Republika Srpska. It is a fight to preserve peace and the Constitution of BiH, the rights of Republika Srpska, Republika Srpska and the prevention of new conflicts. And no matter how much we are attacked, slandered and falsely accused for this, we are the ones who, by respecting Dayton, defend peace, defend the agreement to which we are a signatory party.”
However, since 2021, that agreement and the peace it brought — have been increasingly attacked.
The President of Republika Srpska called for direct talks with the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina to return to the foundations of the Dayton Agreement.
“The result of these talks would be Dayton two – zero,” President Dodik stressed. He stressed that this does not mean secession, does not mean escalation, does not mean giving up on peace.
“This means a return to the agreement that primarily brought about a new constitutional, legal and political order in BiH, and thus peace. This means reaffirming that laws must be interpreted as they are written, and not as some would like them to be. This means that we clearly, calmly and decisively say that we must not allow the constitutional agreement to be twisted and turned into something that was never meant to be,” he stressed.
Article 1 of the BiH Constitution states that BiH is composed of two entities – Republika Srpska and FBiH, and three peoples – Serbs, Bosniaks/Muslims and Croats.
Article 3 of the Constitution states that the BiH Constitution can only be amended if the entities, not political parties, agree, and that by a special, prescribed agreement.
The situation we face today, Dodik said, resembles the debate Americans are having about their constitution.
“Should we interpret the constitutional treaty as it was originally written? Or should we treat it as a `living document` that unelected officials can arbitrarily alter? That is the essence of our crisis – not nationalism, not secession, nor obstruction, but interpretation. We in the Republika Srpska are Dayton originalists, we stand for a literal interpretation of Dayton, and we are proud of that. Because Dayton functioned until they started changing it, violently, without authorization. It functioned until it was hijacked. It functioned until foreign, unelected bureaucrats and so-called `state builders` began to treat it as a blank canvas for their political and business projects. That is not democracy. That is not stability. And that is not peace,” he concluded.
He called on everyone to return to the agreement and the original Dayton. He also referred to the role of the High Representative in BiH:
“There is no provision in Dayton — none — that gives a foreign, unelected bureaucrat the right to criminalize dissent. There is no provision that allows state property to be confiscated by decree of that bureaucrat. There is no provision that reduces Republika Srpska to a subordinate administrative unit. There is no provision that allows one party to impose solutions on the other,” he said.
If there is a need to modernize Dayton, he said that the RS is ready for it, provided it is done the right way: not by decree, not by pressure, not by interpretations and interventions by foreigners. If it is done through dialogue, through amendments, and with the consent of the signatory parties, and not, as he put it, “by the whims of those who came decades later.”
