On this day, 31 years ago, Bosnia and Herzegovina became a member of the United Nations, and the flag with lilies fluttered in front of the building on the East River.
As pointed out by Izudin Hasanović, professor of International Law at the Faculty of Philosophy in Tuzla, that date is one of the most significant dates in the thousand-year history – in addition to the date of independence, statehood, and the Charter of Kulin Ban.
He recalled how the Faculty of Law initiated an initiative to name a street in Tuzla after May 22. The city council considered and accepted it, and he took the opportunity to thank them – right from where that street is located.
BH delegation to the UN on May 22 was led by Haris Silajdžić, the then Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and accompanied by the first President of the Presidency of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Alija Izetbegović. Together with Bosnia and Herzegovina, two other former Yugoslav republics – Slovenia and Croatia – became members of the UN. The UN General Assembly, by a resolution passed two days earlier, granted Bosnia and Herzegovina the status of a member state.
“These three new members bring a new wealth of nations, religions, languages and cultures and we welcome them, and especially honor them for fulfilling the obligations and responsibilities that have been placed before them in the family of 175 member countries,” said Boutros Boutros Ghali, Secretary General. of the UN from 1992 to 1996.
At the time of obtaining the status of a UN member state, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina was already under siege. The war was raging, no one believed, but it will turn out that the fear was justified – Bosnia and Herzegovina became a symbol of civilian suffering, urbicide and genocide.
“A human tragedy of enormous proportions, accompanied by threats and fear, is happening in my country, and if urgent steps are not taken, Bosnia and Herzegovina will be faced with terror of enormous proportions. According to the current situation, I call on the UN Security Council to activate Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which allows international military intervention to preserve basic human rights, civilians need food and medicine to survive,” said Silajdžić in his speech.
There was no timely reaction, Silajdžić reminded the UN Security Council in his address in 2010: “Thousands of civilians killed and more than two million displaced are the result of four years of aggression and ignoring international organizations.”
The reminder is important because 31 years later, those who are supposed to be the future of the country, live in fear and the shadow of bold, unpunished, incendiary and secessionist rhetoric, according to Professor Hasanović: “Bosnia cannot be manipulated in this way, it is a permanent state value, a state and territorial, and any other interpretation is wrong because only states are admitted to the United Nations and any other appearance of individual politicians outside state institutions is a violation of the United Nations Charter and the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina”.
Constant testing of the patience of the international community contributes to the creation of fear, but also to the undermining of peace and security, and slows BiH’s progress on the European path, Professor Hasanović concludes. But it is encouraging that BiH has the support of the international community, which always emphasizes the most important element guaranteed by the Dayton Peace Agreement – BiH is an independent and sovereign state of all its citizens.
