President of the Fiscal Council of Republika Srpska, Milenko Krajišnik, stated to Srna that the resolution on Srebrenica has caused damage to the entire Bosnia and Herzegovina, including its membership in the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), from which BiH was excluded in the latest composition.
“The fact that BiH did not secure enough votes for ECOSOC is not surprising. BiH has evidently divided the world regarding the Srebrenica resolution, which was adopted but did not receive a majority of votes,” Krajišnik said.
Krajišnik highlighted that other countries also aspired to be ECOSOC members and managed to gather enough votes more easily than BiH.
According to him, the resolution on Srebrenica was heavily lobbied by many powerful countries, yet it failed to gain a majority.
“How could BiH then secure a majority where there are no lobbyists and no support from major powers?” Krajišnik asked, following the report by Zagreb’s “Večernji list” that BiH’s mission to the UN faced a fiasco by failing to secure support for BiH’s election among the 18 ECOSOC members, a fact that was not publicly announced.
ECOSOC President Paula Narváez announced that 18 countries, not including BiH, were elected to this UN body, which is the most important after the Security Council. BiH was outvoted by Azerbaijan and Armenia, which received support from 148 countries, while only 76 countries voted for BiH.
The attempt to include BiH in ECOSOC was supported by all three members of the BiH Presidency. It is believed that BiH’s ECOSOC membership became collateral damage due to recent tensions in the country following divisions over the Srebrenica resolution at the UN.
“It should be noted that small states like BiH find it difficult to simultaneously push for two candidacies or resolutions. The outcome with ECOSOC is a significant missed opportunity for visibility and positive international engagement and positioning of BiH,” the Zagreb daily noted.
Source: RTRS
