Legal expert Nedim Ademovic spoke in an interview about the failure of negotiations of the Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) Election Law, but also the consequences of non-implementation of judgments and international obligations.
He also pointed out that the elections, according to the current law, are an opportunity for the citizens of the whole of BiH to punish those who do not like this country, those who plunder it, and who see it as a simple sum of ethnonational groups.
Ademovic also analyzes Russia’s threats against BiH and warns that BiH must be ready to continue the ongoing legal secessionof the Republika Srpska (RS).
Ethnic discrimination
Negotiations on changes to the BiH Election Law have failed, so another election process should be organized according to a law whose provisions have long been challenged by court rulings. How do you comment on that?
”I think, at least according to public officials who were involved in the process of amending the Election Law, that the negotiations ended without results. Once again, it turned out that there is no consensus of the strongest political parties in BiH on the scope and content of changes. As a result, international legal obligations remained unimplemented, and thus the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights. This is sad, because not a single step forward has been made, let alone systemic reforms. The Presidency of BiH, the house of peoples, as well as dozens of other institutions in BiH, are still unacceptable from the point of view of international standards. As a parasitic plant, ethnic discrimination will continue to destroy the little potential that BiH has to offer.”, Avaz writes.
Status quo
The impression is that the implementation of the verdicts has remained in the background in relation to the insistence of the HNS representatives to ensure the so-called legitimate representation of the people. What will be the consequences of such an outcome of negotiations?
”There are two unavoidable conclusions. The non-implementation of the Tribunal’s judgments is tragic. BiH will remain on the list of countries where there is a system of discrimination and undemocratic deviations. On the other hand, it has once again been shown that the current ruling parties do not have the capacity to reach a political compromise on legally acceptable solutions. However, given that we know that a great pragmatic unscrupulous has been prevailing in BiH for a long time, which the international community is inclined to accept at any time, and that anti-European and anti-civilization proposals were on the negotiating table, we can be happy that there were no reforms that would lead to further ethnonationalism of the country or its further dysfunction. In that case, this status quo is better.”
Russia’s threats
From the beginning, you have been warning that RS is heading towards secession and that it will not stop?
The political atmosphere will significantly depend on how the situation with Ukraine develops. Viewed from the angle of BiH, the connection between these two crises is unquestionable. Whether the process of secession of RS from BiH will develop in the direction of its formal declaration or in another way, the prosecution of those responsible also depends on the war in Ukraine. I do not rule out the possibility, depending on the global constellation on the ground, that RS may decide to declare independence and de facto sovereignty. Of course, the increased presence of peacekeepers in BiH discourages such thinking, which at this point would be a desperate move by Milorad Dodik. However, this scenario cannot be completely ruled out. We must be ready for it, and especially for the deepening of the legal secession, which is underway.
Are there any guarantees for the security of BiH?
”Many states have responded, including the United States (U.S.). For now, all of them, strongly declaratively, and the Dayton international community, and in fact, by increasing the presence of peacekeeping forces in the field, are behind the sovereignty and international subjectivity of our country. However, I think that this relationship must be concretized. Declarative support is not enough. I believe that BiH must seek and receive additional military assistance from the European Union (EU) and the U.S. and strengthen its defense capabilities. In my opinion, that is a priority that can be realized through the Dayton Peace Forces and the Minister of Defense, because that is his task, according to the currently valid law. If such preventive measures are urgently introduced by countries such as the Federal Republic of Germany, not to mention the countries bordering the Russian Federation, then BiH is really a priority in that sense. BiH is directly threatened, that is ‘warned’, as Ambassador Kalabukhov emphasizes.”
Serious threats from Russia
In the meantime, the threats of the Russian ambassador to BiH are becoming more open…
”The recent statements of the representatives of the Russian Federation are extremely open, threatening, and clear, and represent a direct interference in the internal affairs of sovereign BiH. It is a decisive expression of foreign policy attitudes towards the Western Balkans. It is also a message to the EU, NATO, and the international community, not just us in BiH. However, unlike Ukraine, I do not think that such statements are a reflection of the security relations between NATO and the Russian Federation in the field, or a matter of fighting for resources. I think that this is a reflection of the exclusive interest of the Russian Federation, abusing the patronage attitude towards RS, to create a crisis area in this region.”
