The readiness of Western embassies to selectively and subjectively interpret the Dayton Peace Agreement and its Annex IV – the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina – is distasteful, stated the Public Relations Bureau of the Government of Republika Srpska.
“It is disheartening that part of the international community views Republika Srpska’s insistence on respecting Dayton as a ‘serious threat to the constitutional order of the country.’ Is this a serious threat to the constitutional order of BiH, or to your disruptive policies that have burdened this country for 29 years? The only serious threat to the constitutional order is your embassies in Sarajevo,” the statement reads.
The Bureau reminded the ambassadors that Article 3 of the BiH Constitution contains additional provisions, not just the one they highlighted in their statement.
“The Constitution of Republika Srpska is aligned with the BiH Constitution, as confirmed by the Venice Commission, making your interpretations redundant. What is alarming, however, is that certain embassies refuse to read and accept the text of the Dayton Constitution, which explicitly states in Article 3 that all powers not expressly assigned to BiH by the Constitution belong to the entities,” the statement added.
It also highlights that Article 3 of the Constitution defines additional competencies for BiH, which can only arise through agreements between the entities.
“Therefore, ambassadors, the Constitution must be read as a whole. It is not a buffet where you can pick and choose only what suits you,” the statement asserts.
The Bureau further reminds Western ambassadors that most current competencies of BiH were not established through agreements between entities but imposed by high representatives. It emphasized that these high representatives, whether elected through proper procedures or not, have no right to impose decisions.
“High representatives, as the main drivers and enforcers of anti-Serb policies aimed at the unitarization of BiH, have made hundreds of unlawful, illegitimate, and uncivilized decisions that violate human rights, erode the rule of law, and undermine constitutionality and legality. What Schmidt has done surpasses even those actions,” the statement declared.
The Government of Srpska reiterated that its institutions remain steadfast protectors of the Dayton constitutional order. It noted that the National Assembly of Republika Srpska, in its conclusions from the 16th special session, called on all relevant domestic and international actors to respect the Dayton Peace Agreement as a legally binding international treaty protected by the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties.
“Your distortion of facts, along with Ambassador Murphy and other embassy staff, demonstrates blatant disrespect for all peoples in BiH and ventures into the realm of attacking and violating an international treaty,” the statement continues.
The Government’s Bureau criticized the claim that the adopted conclusions undermine BiH’s Euro-Atlantic path, labeling it as yet another example of the West’s deceptive policy towards Republika Srpska and its institutions.
“We remind the authors of this shameful and false statement that there is no Euro-Atlantic path for BiH—only the path toward the European Union, which is incompatible with BiH as a protectorate whose sovereignty has been eroded for years by the institution of the high representative, with the latest blow delivered by the unelected foreigner, Christian Schmidt,” the Bureau emphasized.
“While we fight for peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, you are the ones undermining that peace,” the statement concluded.
Source: RTRS
