The Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers adopted a resolution urging authorities and political leaders in Bosnia to reach a consensus on amending the Constitution and electoral legislation so that the general elections next year “are held in full compliance with the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights.”

“Supervising the execution of the Court’s judgments in the Sejdic and Finci group of five cases, the Committee this week adopted an Interim Resolution reiterating the crucial importance of Bosnia and Herzegovina fully abiding by the Court’s judgments,” a CoE press release said.

Dervo Sejdic, a Roma and Jakob Finci, a Jew, have sued Bosnia because the Constitution does not allow them to run for president or member of the upper house of the parliament.

That is because according to the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement, the country’s presidency consists of representatives of Bosnia’s three constituent peoples – the Bosniaks, the Serbs and the Croats. Its House of Peoples is also filled with members of only those groups.

That violates the rights of the country’s minorities and in 2009 the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg ordered the country to remove this discrimination from its constitution.

In the Resolution, the CoE Committee noted “with outmost concern that if no measures are taken by the state, 12 years after the Sejdic and Finci judgment and despite its repeated calls for progress, a fourth set of elections will be held under the present discriminatory system, clearly violating the European Convention on Human Rights.”

It noted that the Inter-Agency working group tasked with preparing amendments to the electoral legislation has not met since 23 July 2021, urging “all stakeholders engaged in the electoral reform process to ensure that the group resumes its work as a matter of priority.”

The Committee also noted “the ongoing electoral reform efforts and the commitment expressed by the authorities and political leaders to implement the Court’s judgments fully and effectively, including during the recent visit of members of the Council of Europe secretariat to Bosnia and Herzegovina (9-10 November 2021).”

The Council of Europe “stands ready to assist the country’s authorities, urging them to take advantage of all Council of Europe expertise – in particular that of the Venice Commission – to rapidly reach a consensus on electoral reform,” the Committee said.

The Committee of Ministers is expected to re-examine the cases in March next year.

“Should no tangible progress be achieved by then, the Committee affirmed its readiness to take new action to ensure that Bosnia and Herzegovina abides fully and effectively by its obligations deriving from the ECHR judgments,” the press release said.