Youth Forum of Krug 99: Generations not part of the referendum bear the responsibility to preserve and enhance its essence

(Patria) - The Youth Forum of Krug 99 issued a statement today on the occasion of March 1st, Independence Day of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Forum emphasizes that the referendum, held on February 29th and March 1st, 1992, represented a democratic, constitutional, and historical act by which the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina expressed their sovereign will to live in an independent and internationally recognized state.

"Are you for a sovereign and independent Bosnia and Herzegovina, a state of equal citizens, the peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Muslims, Serbs, Croats, and members of other peoples living in it?"

This question, the Forum states, did not represent a political declaration on the status of the state, but a normative affirmation of two fundamental principles of contemporary Bosnian-Herzegovinian statehood: sovereignty and equality.

"The referendum held on February 29th and March 1st, 1992, was a democratic act of direct citizen will, confirming Bosnia and Herzegovina's right to independence and international legal subjectivity.

International recognition in April 1992 and admission to the United Nations confirmed the continuity of Bosnia and Herzegovina's statehood. Thus, sovereignty gained both an internal and external dimension: the right to independently regulate its constitutional order and an equal position on the international stage," emphasize the Youth Forum of Krug 99.

They also emphasize that sovereignty is not a completed historical act, but a permanent institutional and political obligation. Its substance is measured by the quality of the rule of law, the functionality of institutions, the implementation of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, and the actual equality of all citizens before the law.

"Any form of discrimination, institutional blockade, or challenge to the constitutional order and territorial integrity represents a negation of the referendum will from 1992. The role of youth in this process is crucial.

Generations that were not part of the referendum bear the responsibility to preserve and enhance its essence: a democratic, inclusive, and European-oriented Bosnia and Herzegovina. Independence is defended today with knowledge, institutional reform, and political responsibility. Bosnia is our Bosnia," concludes the statement of the Youth Forum of Krug 99.