Professor of constitutional law Siniša Karan stated that the Office of the High Representative (OHR) has created an anti-Dayton and unconstitutional Bosnia and Herzegovina, built without the consent of the three constituent peoples, and is now struggling to find a way to make that imposed system appear legal.
“The Constitution of BiH clearly defines the only possible framework for such a multiethnic state — a federal structure that guarantees the rights of all three constituent peoples. The essence of those rights is that no nation may impose its will on another,” Karan emphasized.
He explained that, in the 30 years since the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement, the OHR — an office founded on anti-Dayton principles — has issued 913 decisions, 166 imposed laws, and 122 amendments to the entity constitutions, all serving to transfer competencies from the entities — particularly Republika Srpska — to the BiH level.
“They have, in effect, created a completely new Bosnia and Herzegovina — anti-Dayton and unconstitutional — one that was never approved by its three constituent peoples,” Karan said.
He added that, realizing this construct lacked legitimacy, the OHR and its backers repeatedly tried to legalize it through constitutional reforms designed to insert into the Constitution what was, in fact, unconstitutional.
“They failed in that effort. So, they turned to joint institutions, primarily the Constitutional Court of BiH, whose only mandate is to protect Annex IV of the Dayton Constitution, and used it to create a new constitutional reality,” Karan noted.
He stressed that this effort to legalize what does not exist in the Constitution cannot succeed:
“We are fighting against it, and for us, all those decisions — the usurped competencies, the imposed amendments, and the so-called laws — remain unconstitutional, because the Constitution does not recognize them.”
Karan reminded that Annex IV — the Constitution of BiH — has been formally amended only once, with Amendment I, which incorporated the final decision on the Brčko District, but he underlined that even that remains unconstitutional, illegal, and illegitimate.
Source: RTRS
