The United States Department of State (US) has published a 2024 Human Rights Report, stating that attacks by Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik have undermined the constitutional order of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The 2024 report states that authorities in the Serb-majority Republika Srpska have taken ongoing actions that have significantly undermined national institutions, increased interethnic tensions, and restricted freedom of expression.
“Escalating verbal and legal attacks by Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik have undermined the country’s constitutional order, and divisive and provocative rhetoric by Republika Srpska leaders has contributed to increased political and ethnic tensions across the country,” the report, published on August 12, said.
The annual human rights reports, published by the US, cover the status of internationally recognized human and labor rights in nearly 200 countries around the world.
According to the US State Department, significant human rights problems in Bosnia and Herzegovina included serious restrictions on freedom of expression and media freedoms, including violence and threats of violence against journalists, and a significant presence of the worst forms of child labor.
The report, in its section on Bosnia and Herzegovina, also states that the government has not taken convincing steps to identify and punish officials who have committed human rights abuses.
Milorad Dodik, the president of Republika Srpska, who was stripped of his mandate based on a verdict that banned him from holding political office for six years for failing to implement the decisions of the High Representative, praised on the social network X on August 12 an interview that American lobbyist Rod Blagojevich gave to the American television channel NewsMax.
Blagojevich stated in it that the decisions of former US President Joe Biden need to be reconsidered. He stated that among them was the decision on US sanctions against Dodik.
The contract between Blagojevich’s firm and the Republika Srpska government was signed in March 2025 and states that he will lobby in the US for an undisclosed fee.
This is just one in a series of lobbying contracts that the Republika Srpska government has signed with US firms in an effort to improve its image with the new US administration.
