How 1.8 million Bosnian Muslims became less valuable than dogs and cats: Who is being discriminated against?

By Rasim BELKO

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Relying on respect for human dignity, freedom and equality. Dedicated to peace, justice, tolerance and reconciliation. Convinced that democratic government bodies and fair procedures best create peaceful relations within a pluralistic society. In the desire to promote general well-being and economic development through the protection of private property and the improvement of a market economy.
Guided by the goals and principles of the Charter of the United Nations. Committed to the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina in accordance with international law. Determined to ensure full respect for international humanitarian law. Inspired by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenants on Civil and Political Rights, and on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities, as well as other human rights instruments.

Most people probably recognize that the quoted text is the Preamble to the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Unfortunately, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, for more than a decade, most people have not recognized that the largest religious community in Bosnia and Herzegovina is being discriminated against.

By the will of the political establishment within Bosnia and Herzegovina, and according to the Constitution and various declarations, charters, and conventions, the Muslim religious community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with 1,790,454 members, is the only one left without its status regulated.

Bosnia and Herzegovina, as a state, signed the Basic Treaty with the Holy See in 2006. A year later, a treaty was signed between the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Serbian Orthodox Church.

Thus, a decade after the war, the state signed treaties with two religious communities. The Presidency of BiH, which had to approve these signings, then included Bosniak Sulejman Tihić, Serb Mirko Šarović, and Croat Ivo Miro Jović, who signed the treaty on April 19, 2006.

A year later, a treaty was also signed with the SOC, and the Presidency of BiH at the time included Haris Silajdžić, Željko Komšić, and Nebojša Radmanović.

The Islamic Community of Bosnia and Herzegovina began preparing the treaty with the state in 2008. The initiative for signing the treaty was submitted to the Presidency of BiH in 2009. The treaty, agreed upon by representatives of the Council of Ministers and the Islamic Community of BiH, was adopted by the state government in 2015.

And the story stopped there. The treaty, submitted to the Presidency, was on the agenda in April 2018, but Dragan Čović and Mladen Ivanić decided to remove it from the agenda for reasons known to them.

From then until today, it has never again appeared on a session of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Therefore, the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina and its authorities have been systematically discriminating for almost six years, violating the Constitution, as well as international documents that guarantee human rights. Thus, 1,790,454 Muslims in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Islamic Community have been left without a resolved status in the country where they are the most numerous.

In the article "Bosniaks as Balkan Kurds: Is the problem with the God they pray to?" I wrote, "It is time to clearly and unequivocally show determination for survival in Bosnia and Herzegovina, regardless of the fact that many are bothered by who they are and the God they pray to!".

And indeed, the survival of Bosniaks, mostly Muslims, undoubtedly depends on their determination to survive and raise their heads where they have existed for centuries.

In this context, both the Islamic Community and Bosniak politics have failed equally. For decades, the Islamic Community has institutionally taken steps that determined Bosniak political representatives. Apart from realizing individual interests, they received nothing in return.

At the same time, that Bosniak politics and its highest representatives, apart from posing for photos during holidays and emphasizing their religious affiliation in election races, have shown nothing to indicate that the survival of Muslim Bosniaks is their priority.

Because how else to explain that the proposal for the Treaty between the state and the IC appeared on the session of the BiH Presidency only once, and there are constantly Bosniak representatives in that Presidency who are 'pushed' by the Islamic Community at crucial moments.

At the same time, everything and anything is traded in the political space of Bosnian society. It is clear to everyone that in that trade, the treaty of the IC in BiH with the state has never been a priority for Bosniak politics.

But that is one part of the problem. The other part, as Islamic scholars in BiH have often noted, is actually Islam itself. Because those in politics who belong to the Serb or Catholic religious communities would welcome a treaty with the IC of BiH that they would draft and in which they would "adapt" Islam to themselves.

Ivanić was bothered by circumcision, and what Čović, Dodik, and others are bothered by, we can only guess.

For years, Čović has been talking about the endangerment of Croats, and Dodik about the "apocalyptic" life of Serbs in the Federation. No one in the Bosniak Muslim political corps has ever thought to respond to them and raise the issue of the treaty with the IC.

The international factor is also not too concerned that almost 1.8 million people in Bosnia and Herzegovina are discriminated against precisely on the rights defined by that international community.

So, in summary, Muslims in Bosnia and Herzegovina will long remain collateral damage of a mix of internal and foreign interests in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

It is not reinventing the wheel to say that the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina is a state of paradoxes. And is it not a paradox that those who are the most numerous are discriminated against by those who are fewer in number.

Thus, it seems, it will remain for a long time, probably until the birth of some new era and the definition of some new political currents in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

And we will continue to witness the emergence of dozens of organizations and associations for the protection of dogs, cats, LGBTQ, and whatnot, all on the budget of Bosnia and Herzegovina and foreign embassies.

And then the question is entirely justified: are Bosnian Muslims in trouble because of the faith they belong to and the God they pray to?!

Everyone should just ask themselves what if Muslims decide to implement the saying, "when oppression becomes the rule, the fight for justice becomes an obligation!"