Passing a law banning genocide denial in Bosnia is a must but it is essential that this is done as a result of a “domestic process”, said Bosnia’s international administrator Valentin Inzko, who announced last year that if the parliament doesn’t do it, he will impose such a law.
Inzko is the High Representative in Bosnia, tasked with monitoring the implementation of the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement which ended the war and contains Bosnia’s Constitution. He has a special set of powers, the ‘Bonn powers’, which allow him to, among other things, impose laws and fire officials.
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Last year, Inzko told N1 that he will strongly advocate for a law on genocide denial to be passed by Bosnia’s Parliament, but added that if this does not happen, he would impose it. In any case, Bosnia will ‘surely have such a law’ by the 25th anniversary of the Srebrenica Genocide, he said.
The anniversary is on Saturday, July 11, and denying the Srebrenica Genocide is still not punishable in the country. N1 asked Inzko on Friday why he did not impose the law.
“The domestic process is essential in order for Bosnia and Herzegovina to deal with its past in a correct and honest way, for the sake of respecting the memory of the victims, but also for the sake of future generations. Therefore, it is necessary to make a new effort in that direction,” said a statement from the Office of the High Representative (OHR).
