NATO assembly in Dayton (May 22)

On the occasion of the Spring Session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly – which will take place tomorrow, Thursday, in Dayton (Ohio) in the United States – the Society for Threatened Peoples has sent an urgent appeal to NATO, the European Union, the Peace Implementation Council, and the government of Bosnia and Herzegovina, calling for a comprehensive reform of the peace agreement of 1995: “Now, 30 years after Dayton, it is high time to transform the hard-won ceasefire into a just, democratic peace,” stated Jasna Causevic, STP expert on genocide prevention and the Responsibility to Protect, in Göttingen today. “If the NATO Parliamentary Assembly truly wants to stabilize the Western Balkans, it must now agree on a clear roadmap for a constitutional and administrative restructuring of Bosnia and Herzegovina.”

In the appeal, the STP demands an abolition of the constitutional and administrative system based on ethnic-religious quotas, which to this day prevents an effective unified state, encourages corruption and secessionist tendencies, and impedes urgently needed reforms. Further, all relevant judgments of the European Court of Human Rights – such as in the Sejdić/Finci case – must be fully implemented. These decisions, as well as the “Rule of Law” catalogue of the Venice Commission, must be bindingly anchored in Annex IV of the Dayton Agreement to ensure that political rights no longer depend on ethnic affiliation. International support must specifically empower those authorities that oppose the separatist ambitions of Milorad Dodik, the President of the Republika Srpska. Unconstitutional attacks on state order must be consistently sanctioned.

“The only way to put an end to the mass exodus of young people and to bring about inclusive growth would be to finally ensure that everyone has equal access to political participation, education, and public offices,” Causevic emphasized. “If existing structures prevent democratic self-correction, reforms are indispensable. Thus, NATO must push for comprehensive constitutional reforms while ensuring that the High Representative does not impose destabilizing electoral law changes.”

The entire appeal can be found here.