Faculty of Political Sciences UNSA organizes a conference on the Dayton legacy: Some participants advocate for a third entity!

(Patria) - A conference on the topic “Peace, Power Sharing, and Citizen Inclusion: Lessons for and from Bosnia and Herzegovina” will be held at the Faculty of Political Sciences of the University of Sarajevo on October 9 and 10, featuring some participants who are proponents of ethnic representation in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Federation of BiH, and the third entity as the ultimate goal of Croatian policy and generally the policy of HDZ, writes Istraga.ba.

Valentino Grbavac will present two topics: “From Strasbourg with Indifference: Discrimination of Others in Bosnia and Herzegovina” and “Dayton Reform: Citizen Perspectives”. He is a member of the Institute for Social-Political Research (IDPI) from Mostar and the executive director of CAA (Croatian American Association).

In one of his analyses, Grbavac claims that the biggest problem in Bosnia and Herzegovina is when members of one constituent nation are elected by representatives of another constituent nation. He sees the federalization of BiH, i.e., the formation of a third entity, as a solution.

“A much better system than the operationalization of the constitutionality of the three nations through institutional parity, which is impossible to achieve in practice due to the extreme territorial homogenization of the three nations caused by the war, is operationalization through territorial federalism inspired by EU federal member states like Belgium. Through federal regions where one of the three nations is an absolute majority, discrimination at the state level can be resolved, because political representatives in common institutions would represent regions and not nations, so their personal identification would not play any role,” Grbavac wrote for analihpd.hr in 2022 in an article titled “Why should I be a minority in your country when you can be a minority in my country?”.

Another IDPI member, Ivan Pepić, will give a presentation on the topic “How to Talk to Policymakers: From Research to Influencing Decision-Makers”.

In the midst of the crisis caused by Milorad Dodik, Pepić wrote on his X profile on March 3 that the Court of BiH, the Prosecutor's Office of BiH, SIPA, the Armed Forces of BiH, and many other institutions are “unconstitutional, because they are formally not part of Annex 4”.

He expressed his support for Dodik's destructive policy by writing that Dodik is serious about achieving his goals, “while HDZ offers (nothing but empty talk) about the 'path to the EU, EU laws'”.

Pepić also advocates for the abolition of the Bonn Powers of the High Representative, which he believes have no basis in the Dayton Peace Agreement.

Regarding the verdict against Slobodan Praljak and the leadership of the Croatian Community of Herceg-Bosna, Pepić stated that it is proof that Croatia has done nothing to affirm “the truth about the war”.

“Praljak's death is a summary of all these years in which Croatia has systematically done nothing to affirm the truth about the war and the Croatian issue in BiH. I deliberately emphasize systematically nothing, because some individuals worked, but without systematic action, as Slobodan Praljak's lawyers warned due to the non-submission of requested documents and cooperation with the defense, of course the result will be the loss of equality of Croats in BiH. And no one could, like Slobodan Praljak, unfortunately tragically, point out this inaction in protecting Croatian interests in BiH,” Pepić said in an interview for HKV in 2018.

As announced by FPN, this international gathering brings together leading domestic and international experts and academics from the fields of political science, comparative politics, and federalism, as well as former diplomats and participants in the peace process, to discuss the legacy of the Dayton Agreement, its results, and the prospects for future reforms in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Participants come from Canada, the USA, New Caledonia, the United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, Poland, and Japan, giving the conference a truly global character.