Member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Željko Komšić addressed the NATO Parliamentary Assembly gala dinner marking the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement.
At the beginning of his address, Komšić emphasized that, in relation to his position as a member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, he can only speak about the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and he asked other speakers from the countries of the region to do the same.
“Taking into account my position and the established foreign policy goals of my country, I can only speak about Bosnia and Herzegovina and what my constitutional and legal obligations are as a member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina without commenting on the situation and goals in other countries in the region. If you allow me, I expect the same attitude from the other participants of this gathering towards BiH,” said Komšić.
He emphasized that they are in a place that is historically connected to Bosnia and Herzegovina and thanked the hosts for all their engagement related to our country from 1995 to the present.
“BiH is a country that knows how to appreciate the importance of peace. The vast majority of people in BiH will do everything to preserve that peace and ensure that future generations of Bosnians and Herzegovinans never know the horrors that my generation was exposed to,” he said.
Komšić points out that people in Bosnia and Herzegovina are very well aware that “the gates of hell are easy to open, but very difficult, sometimes impossible, to close.”
“On the other hand, peace, a stable state and a stable society are not given forever. These are things that need to be worked on every day, fought for and preserved. The Dayton Agreement should also be viewed in this context. It is certain that the Dayton Agreement can be considered the basis of peace and stability in BiH, and indirectly in the entire region. From a distance of 30 years, I think we can correctly assess the positive achievements of the Dayton Agreement, but we also have the right to ask ourselves the question “Is the time to move on”? I know that this is a difficult question full of dilemmas, but for the sake of the future we must ask ourselves and try to find an honest and future-useful answer,” he said.
Komšić asked another question at the dinner – Is the constitutional framework given in Dayton sufficient for the country to move forward?
“To be clear, I do not mean by this the opening of the issue of the administrative organization of the country, because I know that neither now nor in the future we can reach an agreement on this. I am thinking primarily of the issue of human rights, and the issue of the rule of law is closely related to it. The fact, repeatedly established by the Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, is that Bosnia and Herzegovina discriminates against its citizens on identity issues and violates the human rights of its people,” said Komšić.
He emphasizes that there is no acceptable answer to the question of why this is so.
“The simple and logical truth is that correcting this injustice towards its citizens will certainly not destroy or destroy the Dayton Constitution and the constitutional and administrative structure of BiH as regulated by the Agreement. For this reason, I emphasize the need to urgently work on correcting this injustice towards the citizens of BiH, because this is a conditio sine qua non for further progress in BiH. I fear that without resolving this issue, we will remain permanently turned towards the past and its different interpretations, without the strength and capacity to leave the past behind and turn to the future,” Komšić concluded in his address.
