I thank you, Madam President, for this opportunity to address the Security Council.
I
am encouraged to hear so many statements indicating that the governments
represented in this meeting all share the same objective—a Bosnia and
Herzegovina that is sovereign, independent, stable, functional, and prosperous.
With
this shared goal in mind, I would like to emphasize three points that any
informed observer must agree are key to accomplishing it.
First,
and most important: the only realistic path toward this shared objective is
adherence to the Dayton Accords, including the BiH Constitution, which
incorporated a formula for power-sharing among the three major constituent
peoples in BiH that share a long history of conflict.
The
BiH Constitution was carefully designed based on a recognition of this simple
reality and established a system with decentralized authority and important
power-sharing mechanisms in order to give each of the groups confidence that it
will not come under the rule of the other groups. This carefully crafted system
has successfully preserved peace in BiH for more than 27 years.
Since
the Republic of Srpska, the Entity that has elected me to the BiH Presidency, has
been mentioned so many times here, I would like to note that at Dayton the RS
agreed with the other parties to be part of a highly decentralized BiH in which
all competences belong to the two Entities except for those few competences that
the Constitution expressly assigns to BiH-level institutions.
In
the decades since the Dayton Accords were signed, BiH has been contorted into a
much more centralized system, due almost entirely to foreign interventions,
rather than legal, democratic actions.
If
we all share the common goal of a sovereign, independent, stable, functional,
and prosperous BiH, then the most important thing that the Security Council and
its members can do is to support the Dayton Accords by word and deed, and
condemn actions that would undo the carefully crafted system of checks and
balances guaranteed in the BiH Constitution.
My
second point is that, despite some heated rhetoric, the security situation in
BiH is, in fact, quite stable, as EUFOR has recently confirmed. BiH is not at
all the powder keg it is alleged to be by some who seek more foreign intervention
and control over BiH.
It
is true that BiH often finds itself in a state of political tension, but that
condition is typical among most democracies, including many of those
represented here today.
And
this brings me to my third point. The primary threat to BiH’s stability does
not come from charged political statements, but from the failure to faithfully
implement the Dayton Accords. Quite simply, if the deal struck at Dayton is not
honored, then there is no hope for BiH’s success.
There
are two particularly pernicious ways in which there has been a failure to
adhere to Dayton. The first is the illegal transformation of the role of the
High Representative from a facilitator into an autocrat with unlimited powers,
vastly exceeding the strictly limited mandate agreed in Annex 10 of the Dayton
Accords.
The
despotic powers claimed by the High Representative are even more expansive than
those of a foreign viceroy, as they are asserted to be completely immune from
any limitations or oversight whatsoever.
Successive
High Representatives, having almost no relevant experience in the region and
few relevant credentials for the position, have ruled by decree with no local
hearings, no consultation with elected bodies or officials in BiH, and no due
process whatsoever—and they have done so with no authority granted by this
Council or by any valid legal instrument or international organization.
These
dictatorial actions have resulted in a flood of rash, ill-considered,
humiliating decrees— more than 460 pieces of legislation and regulations, 110
amendments to Entity constitutions, and 249 extrajudicial punishments of
individuals—all with no legal authority or oversight.
Despite
widespread agreement—even among former High Representatives—that the High
Representative’s claim to rule by decree is utterly illegal, Mr. Christian Schmidt
has rashly announced additional disruptive decrees that have infuriated large
segments of BiH’s population.
His
latest edicts, which purport to amend the criminal codes of both of BiH’s
Entities, yet again make a mockery of the rule of law, and represent just the
latest brazen usurpation of the democratic rights of the citizens of BiH to
rule themselves—rights that this Council is pledged to protect.
Furthermore, shortly before my travels to
participate in this meeting, Mr. Schmidt, whose appointment this Council failed
to approve, threatened that if I had the nerve to question his legitimacy before
this Council, I would receive an answer I would not like. The attitude that Mr.
Schmidt has shown toward the elected officials in BiH is, unfortunately,
typical of the attitude of too many foreign officials who come and go in BiH.
Their arrogant,
dismissive, and disdainful attitude toward legally elected and broadly
supported domestic officials and institutions in BiH is, to say the least,
unhelpful, and becomes particularly absurd when these officials sharply
criticize the Entities for proposing laws mirroring those that have long been
in place in these diplomats’ own home countries.
Remarkably, these
officials, who work to usurp the constitutional authority of democratically
elected officials in BiH on a daily basis, complain when local officials do not
bend the knee and honor their illegal assertions of authority, and so we are
accused of a “failure to communicate.”
The
High Representative’s dictatorial rule is not just patently illegal, but it is
also very counterproductive, as has been attested in recent years by former
High Representatives.
The
OHR’s looming presence and constant attempts to micromanage BiH suffocate the
democratic process and hinder the unfettered internal dialogue and
reconciliation essential to BiH’s future success.
Indeed,
the OHR’s ill-advised interference more often creates rather than solves
problems, as demonstrated by the way it has generated and enflamed the
controversy regarding ownership of public property.
Initially
it was widely accepted that the Constitution left public property to the
Entities, an understanding used as the basis for various BiH laws still in
force, and upheld by the Constitutional Court. Even statements made or
supported by influential foreign officials in 2008 also demonstrated
acknowledgement of Entity ownership of public property.
The
issue was never in dispute until former High Representative Paddy Ashdown, with
his typical imperial attitude, intervened to create the entire controversy.
Years later, in 2012, when the parties in BiH agreed to a resolution of the
public property issue, the deal was quashed by then-High Representative
Valentin Inzko, simply because it was not driven by the OHR and crafted to his
liking.
Uncertainty
regarding public property, caused solely by OHR meddling, now hinders
cooperation and progress in BiH, as the issue has been seized upon by those
seeking to further centralize BiH in contravention of the Constitution.
If
BiH is ever to be sovereign, independent, stable, functional, and prosperous, then
BiH needs to be governed not by unelected foreigners issuing despotic decrees
according to their own preferences and prejudices, but by its own Constitution,
and its own citizens, in accordance with democratic principles and the rule of
law.
The
truth of this statement must, I think, be obvious to all members of the
Council, but it is perhaps particularly clear to the many countries represented
here that have proud histories of freeing themselves from despotic imperial
rule by certain foreign powers.
And
it must also be acknowledged by the members of this Council that the rule of
law needs to be honored not just by local leaders in BiH, but also by those
foreign officials that have long been ignoring or even actively subverting the
BiH Constitution agreed at Dayton; that have been routinely and cavalierly
violating the Vienna Convention’s prohibition against foreign diplomats
meddling in local politics, and that have been influencing judicial cases that should
be decided only in accordance with the Constitution and proper judicial
integrity.
This
points to a second important threat to the constitutional order in BiH.
Unfortunately, some of the greatest distortions to the constitutional structure
of BiH have been caused by the very institution established to uphold it—the
BiH Constitutional Court.
The
OHR frequently complains that the Court’s rulings are not being respected by
the Entities.
Тhis
same OHR has hypocritically decreed that its own edicts are totally untouchable
by the rulings of any court in BiH. Remarkably, the OHR never addresses the
reasons why the Court’s decisions are met with skepticism, which is due to the
corruption of the judicial process by the interference and influence of the OHR
itself, along with that of certain foreign powers, as well as the effective
control of the Court by its three foreign judges.
These
foreign judges, who were meant to be a part of the Court only for the first
five years of its operation, do not live in BiH, have no educational background
in the laws of our country, do not speak the local languages, and issue
contorted rulings that many agree read like political acts meant to please
certain foreign powers rather than soundly reasoned legal determinations.
When
a court ignores judicial propriety and the constitutional limits of its own
authority, and issues decisions that are ultra vires, that court naturally
squanders the respect of the citizens and the other branches of government. And
when such decisions are the product of a voting bloc of foreign judges subject
to outside influences, it is clear why such decisions lack credibility.
It
is in the context of this total usurpation of the democratic process in BiH by
outside powers, and the corruption of our judiciary, that so-called
“secessionist rhetoric” and other political expressions of extreme frustration
in BiH must be understood.
As
for the RS, its official policy remains what it has always been: The RS is
committed to BiH’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and to the
constitutional order established in the Dayton Accords, and it is committed to
peace above all. But it is not ready to
accept illegal, despotic rule by high representatives and unconstitutional
decisions of the Constitutional court, nor to have its constitutional,
democratic rights trampled and be treated as a colonial possession of certain
foreign powers.
Somehow
the RS has ended up in a sort of Orwellian position where complaints about the
distortion and degradation of the Dayton Constitution are said to be
anti-Dayton. The hypocrisy of such allegations, coming from some who actively
subvert the Constitution agreed at Dayton, is astonishing.
If
members of this Council will read the latest report from the OHR in this
context, then they may understand that, to many of us in BiH, the report reads
like that of a colonial viceroy to the home office, complaining that the
locals, who are too ignorant and uncivilized to rule themselves in a
constitutional democracy, do not respect and appreciate the benevolent
despotism of the viceroy’s overlordship.
And
if Council members will read the latest report from the RS, they will see that
the RS cannot be accused of being some “renegade state” simply because it calls
upon foreign officials to respect international law and the constitutional democratic
rights of BiH citizens.
I
again thank the members of the Council for their concern about the future of my
country. I ask the Council to support BiH by advocating the full implementation
of the Dayton Accords as written, and condemn foreign meddling in BiH that
undermines the Accords, violates the rule of law, corrupts our judicial system,
and hinders political cooperation within BiH.
As
the most important concrete steps in this direction, this Council should make
clear once and for all that the High Representative does not possess the
despotic authority to rule BiH by decree and to confirm that our institutions
at all levels of administration are entitled to make decisions in accordance
with our Constitution.
I
am convinced that BiH can have a successful future if the Dayton Accords are
faithfully implemented with the support of this Council.