COUNCIL OF EUROPE DISCRIMINATES SOME BOSNIANS WHILE PREACHING FOR HUMAN RIGHTS OF SOME OTHER BOSNIANS

National Congress of The Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina (NCR B&H) ONLINE NEWSLETTER International, No. 963 January 28, 2018 CONTENT: 1. Council of Europe urges Bosnia to reform constitution, election law ahead of October vote 2. COUNCIL OF EUROPE DISCRIMINATES SOME BOSNIANS WHILE PREACHING FOR HUMAN RIGHTS OF SOME OTHER BOSNIANS 3. War In Bosnia - Amazon Books | Amazon Official Site ──────────── 1. Council of Europe urges Bosnia to reform constitution, election law ahead of October vote SARAJEVO, Jan 25 (SeeNews) -- The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) urged Bosnia to make progress in constitutional reforms and the reform of the election law before the general election in October . "All political stakeholders must shoulder their responsibilities and adopt the necessary changes both in the Constitution and in the Election Law at the latest six months before the next general election in October 2018," PACE declared in a resolution adopted on Wednesday. PACE remains concerned about the lack of progress in the field of constitutional reform and reform of the election law in Bosnia, which threatens the political stability of the country, it said. It pointed out that the 2014 elections were held for the second time under a legal and constitutional framework which is in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights since the 2009 judgment in the case of Sejdic and Finci: Once again, only Serbs, Croats and Bosniaks could run for the State Presidency or be elected/appointed to the State House of Peoples. The parliamentarians also stressed the urgent need to implement the Constitutional Court’s decision on the composition of the Federation's House of Peoples well ahead of the elections, as otherwise there is a serious risk that government formation both at Federation and at State level after these elections will be blocked. PACE noted its parliamentarians also regret that nationalistic and ethnic rhetoric still dominates the political discourse in the country. The text adopted by PACE indicates a series of recommendations to the authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina to strengthen the democratic institutions, the rule of law and the protection of human rights. Bosnia and Herzegovina is made up of two entities, the Federation and the Republika Srpska The country joined the Council of Europe on April 24, 2002. ──────────── 2. COUNCIL OF EUROPE DISCRIMINATES SOME BOSNIANS WHILE PREACHING FOR HUMAN RIGHTS OF SOME OTHER BOSNIANS By Muhamed Borogovac, There are not one, but three different judgments against Bosnia-Herzegovina for violating own citizens' human rights from European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg. The mentioned Sejdic-Finci case, the Dr. Pilav case, and the Zornic case. We will explain them below, but note that by mentioning only the first and leaving out the other two, Council of Europe is actually giving a very wrong picture that would then imply the wrong or incomplete solution. Namely, Bosnian politicians only ever talk about Sejdic-Finci, because they believe that they can find a formula by which they can formally satisfy the Sejdic-Finci decision, yet keep the apartheid system that keeps Bosia perpetually disfunctional. But whn you take the complete picture of all three cases, all those plans fall apart. By ignoring the other two cases, European Council is actually assisting them in their intent. So that is very disturbing to Bosnians, that the European Council can supposedly fight against discrimination in Bosnia, but assist those who are discriminating against the citizens of Bosnia by only mentioning the Finci-Seidic judgment. Here are the three rulings by ECHR about discrimination against the citizens of Bosnia by the Bosnian ethnically based constitution: (1) Dr. Ilijaz Pilav v. Bosnia: Dr. Ilijaz Pilav sued because he was not allowed to run for the Presidency of Bosnia as a Bosniak living in the Republic of the Serbs (RS) entity. He argued his ethnicity should not disqualify him for running for office (of course!). Bosniaks and Croats from RS and Serbs from Federation should be able to run for Presidency and other offices at the state level. (2) Azra Zornic v. Bosnia: Azra Zornic declined to be affiliated with any of the ethnic groups. Because of that, she could not run for any office, anywhere. On behalf of tens of thousands of citizens of Bosnia like her who do not have an ethnic affiliation, she sued Bosnia because they should be able to run for any political office in Bosnia-Herzegovina without being forced to declare for one or another. As we know, Bosnia, during the Yugoslavian rule, was a melting pot of ethnic groups and cultures for decades. There are many people who feel only as citizens and patriots of Bosnia-Herzegovina. (3) Finci-Sejdic v. Bosnia: Finci and Sejdic, argued taht Jewish and Roma people (and other declared minorities) were unable to run for presidency of Bosnia. According to Dayton constitution only Serbs from the Republic of Serbs, and Bosniaks and Croats from the Bosniak-Croat Federation can run for Bosnian Presidencu. Bosnia lost all three cases, i.e. the Bosnian constitution was found to be in violation of the rights of Dr. Pilav, Ms. Zornic, Mr. Sejdic and Mr. Finci, and the countless Bosnian citizens who in some way share their situation. Therefore, there is an obligation for Bosnia to change the Bosnian constitution in a way that all three rulings of the European court will be implemented. Yet the politicians in power in Bosnia have made proposals that are subversive to the spirit of human rights and non-discrimination. Namely, they only focus on Sejdic-Finci and ignore the other two decisions, to propose just more ethnic offices (members of presidency, etc.) to represent certain minorities as groups. Many Bosnians argue against this, and say it is clearly impossible to satisfy all three rulings within the ethnic apartheid Dayton constitution, with its ethnic offices and ethnic territories. Only a non-ethnic non-apartheid constitution, based on rights of individual citizens regardless of their self-determination, can satisfy all three rulings. That dooms the Dayton constitution, which was intended to break the country along the ethnic lines, instead of creating a normal prosperous country that belongs to its citizens. Unfortunately, the enemies of Bosnia have much stronger voice in the media than Bosnians. and, as we can see, they are able even to reach The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. ──────────── 3. War In Bosnia - Amazon Books | Amazon Official Site https://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=war+in+bosnia&tag=googhydr-20&index=aps&hvadid=241597391000&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=4941247337590490307&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=e&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9001993&hvtargid=kwd-314767678500&ref=pd_sl_fglsbhjm9_e