On this day, the 2nd of July 1944, the second session of the State Anti-Fascist Council for the National Liberation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ZAVNOBiH) ended. The session started on June 30, 1944 and was held in Sanski Most. At this session, the declaration on the rights of citizens in BiH was rendered on July 1, stating:
“In the flame of the just liberation war, the brotherhood of Serbs, Muslims and Croats emerges, thus placing a solid foundation to the free and brotherly BiH, an equal federal unit in the Democratic Federal Yugoslavia. For the first time in history, the Serbs, Muslims and Croats of BiH, united in the National-Liberation movement, stepped on the same path, started building their joint home, in whose foundations the bones of their best sons are walled. For the first times in history, they became the creators of their own fate, strongly determined to one and forever bury the dark and heavy past and to build a state community where they will live in equality, freedom, peace and prosperity.”
The declaration guarantees:
-Equality between Serbs, Muslims and Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is their common and indivisible homeland;
-Freedom of religion and conscience and the equality of all religions;
-Freedom of assembly and agreement, association and the press;
-Personal and property security of citizens, as well as the freedom of private initiative in economic life;
-Equality between women and men, both in the political life of the country and in all spheres of social activity;
-The right to vote in a democratic Bosnia and Herzegovina will be exercised through secret voting on the basis of universal, equal and direct suffrage;
-Active and passive suffrage for every male and female citizen who is over 18 years of age, and are not deprived of this right under the law;
-The fighters of the National Liberation Army and Yugoslav partisan detachments have this right regardless of their age;
-Every citizen is guaranteed the right to appeal on decisions of authorities, as well as the right to petition and complain to all bodies of state power;
-No one may be sentenced without court proceedings.
It should be noted that there were three sessions of ZAVNOBiH in total. The first session was held in Mrkonjić Grad on 25th of November 1943 (the present Independence Day of BiH), the second one was held in Sanski Most on June 30, 1944 and the third and the last one was held in Sarajevo, on 26th of April 1945.
(Source: nap.ba/photo: parlament.ba)
