On the occasion of the address of the Chairwoman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Zeljka Cvijanovic, at the United Nations Security Council Session on the 10 May 2023, during which the situation in BiH was discussed, the BiH Presidency member Denis Becirovic sent a letter to the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres informing him of the fact that the Presidency never approved Cvijanovic's address nor does it reflect the official position of BiH.
Below is the full letter sent to the UN Secretary-General
“Chairwoman Cvijanovic's position represents her personal opinion exclusively, which is not legally binding for the State of Bosnia and Herzegovina or the United Nations. Any expression of standpoints that are not in line with the adopted strategic and foreign policy goals of Bosnia and Herzegovina represents an abuse of the powers of the Chairwoman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
It is especially unacceptable that during an address to the UN Security Council, the Chairwoman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Zeljka Cvijanovic, expresses the standpoints of an administrative-territorial unit in Bosnia and Herzegovina instead of the official state positions. An important reminder that a practice of the Government of the Bosnian and Herzegovinian entity of Republika Srpska reporting to the UN Security Council has no legal foundation.
Neither provisions of the UN Charter nor the Dayton Peace Agreement provide with the possibility for an administrative unit inside the State of Bosnia and Herzegovina to address the United Nations. Furthermore, the United Nations Charter provides with Member States addressing the organs and bodies of the United Nations (and those are always states, not their administrative-territorial units). The independent, sovereign, and integral State of Bosnia and Herzegovina is subject to international Law, the creation and implementation of foreign policy is not under the competence of the Entities.
The foreign policy of Bosnia and Herzegovina is an exclusive competence of the State of Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina has the competence to set and lead the foreign policy of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Members of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina have the obligation to act in accordance with the adopted state legislation, strategies and other acts setting that the strategic foreign policy goals of Bosnia and Herzegovina are obtaining full membership of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the EU and NATO.
Esteemed Excellencies,
Allow me to bring to your attention the utmost concerning anti-Dayton and anti-constitutional activities perpetrated by the Bosnian and Herzegovinian Entity of Republika Srpska, and especially by the Entity's President, Mr Milorad Dodik. The dangerous politics of unilaterally undermining the Dayton Peace Agreement committed by the authorities of the Republika Srpska Entity seriously jeopardise, amongst other things, one of the fundamental goals of the United Nations which is the safekeeping of international peace, regional stability and security.
The most recent anti-Dayton conclusion of the National Assembly of the Republika Srpska Entity, calling upon the judges representing the Serbs in the BH Constitutional Court, to present their resignations to their positions represents an unfathomably dangerous attempt to recreate the anti-constitutional methods used by the convicted war criminal, Radovan Karadzic, in 1992. Unfortunately, after many years of denying the verdicts of United Nations courts on the genocide committed over the Bosniaks and publicly glorifying the convicted war criminals, which goes against all civilisational values, Mr Milorad Dodik is now himself starting to apply the methods used by war criminals in demolishing the state and constitutional order of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In such circumstances, it is important to point out the fact that a significantly stronger engagement of the International Community High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina is needed in order to stop the anti-Dayton activities of the leaders of the Bosnian and Herzegovinian Entity of Republika Srpska that threaten peace and security in the State of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The justified warning of dignitaries that there exists readiness for defending Bosnia and Herzegovina’s institutions should be understood and treated as an attempt to prevent the endangering of the peace process, but also as a decisive readiness from the vast majority of citizens to safeguard the independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of the State of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in accordance with the provisions of the International Law and the practices of other United Nations member states when threatened.
It is time to stop underestimating and tolerating Dodik's anti-Dayton and warmongering politics since it has evidently transformed from a political to a serious security threat. This is the only politician in Europe who awarded, at the start of this year, President Vladimir Putin with the highest order of the Republika Srpska entity. The fact that this was done in the midst of the Russian aggression against Ukraine says enough about the dangers of these policies for areas wider than Bosnia and Herzegovina itself.
I use this opportunity to express my utmost respect for the UN Security Council and my gratitude for all the support given to the State of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as my expectations that it will continue with the decisive efforts in the implementation of the Day ton Peace Agreement, in accordance with the Resolution n° 1031 from the 15 December 1995 as well as with the other acts of the United Nations Security Council.”
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