09/15/2022

25th anniversary of the STP Section Bosnia and Herzegovina

Symposium in Sarajevo

The STP Section Bosnia and Herzegovina is celebrating its 25th anniversary. The section was founded as a means to bring light to the crimes of the war in Bosnia and to facilitate reconcilement between the different ethnic groups in the Western Balkans. “Sadly, this task has still not been completed. Not all mass graves have been found yet – and not all victims have been identified,” stated Jasna Causevic, STP expert on genocide prevention and the Responsibility to Protect. “The division of the country, which was cemented in the Dayton Agreement, is still causing conflicts. There is still a lot of work for our section in Bosnia.”

On the occasion of the anniversary, there will be a symposium in Sarajevo – titled “We raised our voice because Europe has failed”. On September 15, there will be several talks by prominent figures from Bosnian politics and the country’s civil society – at the invitation of the STP. Roman Kühn, Director of the STP Germany, will also be joined Christian Schwarz-Schilling. He made a great contribution to the country during the war, and also later on, in his position as High Representative. The STP will present him with a special award for his extraordinary contribution to the well-being of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The two journalists Almasa Hadžic and Salih Brkic will be honored as well. “The symposium in Sarajevo is a reminder to the West that it is deeply indebted to the surviving victims in Bosnia; because of its inaction during the war, because it tolerated the crimes, and because of the peace treaty that the divided the country,” Roman Kühn emphasized.

During the past 25 years, the STP Section Bosnia has been trying to bring about a multi-ethnic, multi-religious, and multicultural Bosnia and Herzegovina in which all nationalities and religious communities – be it Bosniak Muslims, Croats, Serbs, Roma, Jews, and others – are able to live on an equal footing. It is committed to reconciliation and understanding among the different nationalities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and it is trying to ensure that all displaced persons and refugees will be able to return to their homes. It continues to demand the arrest and conviction of war criminals who are still out of prison.

The unjust peace – initiated by the West in 1995 – did not bring the country any prospects for the future. For the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Dayton Constitution has become a disaster. It offers ruthless nationalists a basis for their separatist politics and allows them to keep the country dysfunctional. The constant separatist threats of the current leaders of the Republika Srpska, the denial of the holocaust and the worship of the perpetrator, the unjust demands of the Bosnian Croats for a third entity within the state, and the interference from the neighboring countries Serbia and Croatia… for all of these reasons, Bosnia is now – in the run-up to the elections on October 2 – on the brink of a renewed conflict. Because of the ongoing blockade policy of the politicians of the Republika Srpska, there has not been any progress regarding an accession to the EU or NATO for years – and, in consequence, no economic progress either.