The honouring of obligations and commitments by Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Assembly
debate on 2 October 2024 (29th sitting) (see Doc. 16039, report of the Committee on the Honouring of Obligations
and Commitments by Member States of the Council of Europe (Monitoring
Committee), co-rapporteurs: Mr Zsolt Németh and Mr Aleksandar Nikoloski). Text adopted by the Assembly on
2 October 2024 (29th sitting).
1. Bosnia and Herzegovina joined the
Council of Europe on 24 April 2002. Accordingly, it entered into,
and agreed to honour, a number of specific commitments which are
listed in
Opinion 234
(2002) “Bosnia and Herzegovina’s application for membership
of the Council of Europe” of the Parliamentary Assembly. To date, the
country has signed 95 Council of Europe treaties, of which 92 have
been ratified.
2. The Assembly reiterates its full support for the State of
Bosnia and Herzegovina and all its citizens, and urges all Council
of Europe member States to respect its constitutional and legal
order, sovereignty and territorial integrity.
3. The Assembly congratulates the authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina
for the pace of reforms since 2022, notably the adoption of a law
on the prevention of conflict of interest, amendments to the Law
on the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council, a law on anti-money
laundering and countering the financing of terrorism, and a law
designating the human rights ombudsman as a national preventive
mechanism against torture and ill-treatment.
4. The Assembly is pleased to note that following these reforms
the European Council decided to open accession negotiations with
Bosnia and Herzegovina in March 2024.
5. The Assembly laments the fact that the 2022 elections were
held for the fourth time under a legal and constitutional framework
which is in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights
(ETS No. 5), as made clear by the 2009 judgment of the European
Court of Human Rights in the case of Sejdić
and Finci v. Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Assembly regrets
that, as pointed out by the International Election Observation Mission
for the 2022 general elections, “the increasing segmentation along
ethnic lines and the corresponding divergent views on the future
of the country remain a concern for the functioning of democratic
institutions”. The Assembly recalls that, since the country’s accession
to the Council of Europe in 2002, it has consistently and repeatedly
urged for a constitutional reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
6. The Assembly notes that the Committee of Ministers has already
adopted five interim resolutions calling on the authorities and
political leaders to bring the constitutional and legislative framework
into line with requirements of the European Convention on Human
Rights. It also refers to the decision adopted by the Committee
of Ministers at its 1501st meeting (11-13 June 2024) which “insisted
firmly … on the utmost importance of instantly relaunching the electoral
reform work, while pursuing all consultations necessary aimed at
eliminating discrimination based on ethnic affiliation or failure
to meet a combination of ethnic affiliation and place of residence
in elections for the Presidency and the House of Peoples of Bosnia
and Herzegovina”.
7. The Assembly welcomes the changes introduced to the electoral
legislation with a view to ensuring the integrity of the electoral
process in line with European standards and the recommendations
made by the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights
of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE/ODIHR),
the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) and the European
Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission). However,
the Assembly is concerned that these changes had to be enacted by
the High Representative and could not be adopted by the authorities
of Bosnia and Herzegovina despite the high level of agreement of
the political parties on the substance of these reforms.
8. The Assembly expresses its concern regarding the deliberate
failure of the authorities of the Republika Srpska to implement
the final and binding decisions of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia
and Herzegovina. It is also concerned by the fact that the Constitutional
Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina cannot function at full capacity,
which hinders the effectiveness and credibility of the judicial
system. Deliberately obstructing the functioning of the Constitutional
Court undermines all three basic principles of the Council of Europe: democracy,
human rights and the rule of law. The Assembly therefore urges the
competent authorities to nominate all judges to the Constitutional
Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
9. The Assembly refers to the United Nations General Assembly
Resolution A/RES/78/282 on the International Day of Reflection and
Commemoration of the 1995 Genocide in Srebrenica, which recalls
the judgments of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former
Yugoslavia and the International Court of Justice on genocide committed
in Srebrenica in 1995. The Assembly reiterates that criminal accountability
under international law for the crime of genocide is individualised
and cannot be attributed to any ethnic, religious or other group
or community as a whole and joins the call on States to “preserve
the established facts, including through their educational systems
by developing appropriate programmes, also in remembrance, towards preventing
denial and distortion, and occurrence of genocides in the future”.
10. As regards the strengthening of democratic institutions and
the rule of law, the Assembly calls on the authorities of Bosnia
and Herzegovina to:
10.1 bring the
electoral legislation in line with the European Convention on Human
Rights and ensure the equality and non-discrimination of citizens;
10.2 ensure the proper functioning of the Constitutional Court
of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in line with the Venice Commission’s
opinions on the method of electing judges to the Constitutional
Court and on certain issues relating to the functioning of the Constitutional
Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina;
10.3 adopt a new law on the High Judicial and Prosecutorial
Council taking into consideration the recommendations contained
in the Venice Commission’s Interim Follow-up Opinion 1198/2024 to previous
Opinions on the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council;
10.4 improve the efficiency of the institutional framework
and adopt reforms with a view to meeting the objectives and conditions
required prior to the closure of the Office of the High Representative
for Bosnia and Herzegovina, as set out by the Peace Implementation
Council;
10.5 intensify the fight against corruption, improve the legal
framework for the prevention of corruption and implement the outstanding
recommendations contained in GRECO’s Second Interim Compliance Report
on corruption prevention in respect of members of parliament, judges
and prosecutors;
10.6 adopt legislation ensuring permanent funding of the three
public broadcasters and transparency in the ownership of media outlets.
11. As regards the protection of human rights, the Assembly:
11.1 recalls Bosnia and Herzegovina’s
accession commitment to continue reforms in the field of education
and reiterates its call on the authorities to take all necessary
steps to eliminate all aspects of segregation and discrimination
in education. Such action should promote the right to mother language-based
education and multilingual education as promoted by the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO);
11.2 encourages the establishment of a common core curriculum
in history allowing for all to understand the diversity of points
of views, while prohibiting the honouring in the school curriculums
of individuals convicted of genocide, crimes against humanity and
war crimes;
11.3 urges political parties and media outlets to address hate
speech, in particular in the context of electoral campaigns, in
line with the recommendations of the European Commission against
Racism and Intolerance (ECRI).
12. The Assembly, while welcoming positive developments in a number
of areas, remains concerned about the lack of or insufficient progress
in some areas crucial for the functioning of democratic institutions.
Therefore, it resolves to pursue its monitoring of the honouring
of obligations and commitments by Bosnia and Herzegovina.
13. The Assembly invites the authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina
to translate this Resolution and its explanatory memorandum (
Doc. 16039) into
the national languages, and to make these translations public.
