Bećirović: The sovereignty of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina was confirmed nine times in the Dayton Agreement!

(Patria) - Denis Bećirović, member of the BiH Presidency, has spoken out, following the continued dissemination of unfounded claims that the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina "does not have sovereignty" or that the state "only has a part of derived sovereignty" from the entities. Bećirović points out that it is necessary to highlight the following irrefutable facts:

1. Sovereignty is mentioned nine (9) times in the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
All nine mentions refer to the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina. None refer to the Bosnian-Herzegovinian entities.

2. Sovereignty is mentioned twice (2) in the main body of the Dayton Agreement, twice (2) in Annex 1-A, which relates to military matters, and five (5) times in Annex 4, i.e., the Constitution of BiH. It is directly mentioned five (5) times, but there are also two (2) "indirect" mentions: Article I 1, which refers to continuity, which is very important, and Article II 7, which refers to international agreements, emphasizing that Bosnia and Herzegovina will remain or become a party to the international agreements listed in Annex 1 to the Constitution of BiH. This is a direct confirmation of state sovereignty.

3. It is particularly important that the main text of the Dayton Agreement and Annex 1, in addition to Annex 10, are parts of the Dayton Agreement whose signatories include the Republic of Croatia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, of which Serbia is the legal successor.

4. Serbia, just like Croatia, has thus committed itself four (4) times through the main body of the Agreement and Annex 1 of the Dayton Agreement to respect the sovereignty
of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (whose legal existence was continued by the same state
under the name Bosnia and Herzegovina). Moreover, Serbia, in Article I of the Dayton
Agreement, committed to "the Parties fully respecting each other’s sovereign equality".

5. Given the "sovereign equality" of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, which Serbia acknowledged with its signature, the thesis that Bosnia and Herzegovina derives sovereignty from the entities or that the sovereignty of Bosnia and Herzegovina is diminished in any way or different in any way from the sovereignty of Serbia is completely untenable.

6. Also, Article 10 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina omits Croatia and focuses on Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, stipulating that these two countries "recognize each other as sovereign and independent states (...)". The recognition of the sovereignty of these two states was mutual and identical.

7. Annex 1 then explicitly stipulated that all armed forces on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina "shall act in accordance with the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina", and at that time this included the forces of neighboring countries that had not withdrawn from the state territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina within 30 days.