It's not a 'straitjacket' shirt, but lunatics wear it: It's time to change Dayton, as it has become a tool for killing Bosnia!

Written for NAP: Enver Išerić, President of the Association Guardians of Bosnia and Doctor of Legal Sciences

29 years have passed since the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement in Paris. Before that, on November 21st, it was initialed in Dayton. That is why we call the agreement the Dayton Peace Agreement. And it is a peace agreement because it stopped the double aggression against our country. First by Serbia, and then by Croatia.

The latter was stopped by the Washington Agreement on March 18, 1994, an agreement between Croats and Bosniaks. The signatories of that agreement were the presidents of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Croatia, Alija Izetbegović and Franjo Tuđman. Thus, Croatia's aggression was stopped and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina was agreed upon. In the second phase, areas held under occupation by the Army of Republika Srpska were to be included in this agreed Federation.

The signatories of the Dayton Peace Agreement were the presidents of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Serbia. This stopped the aggression against our country. And at that time, these two countries recognized the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. And these two countries, or their representatives, continue to interfere in the internal affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina today, based on false claims that they are somehow guarantors of the Dayton Agreement.

These two countries grossly interfered by participating in the adoption of our country's constitution. These are exclusively internal matters of all sovereign states. This violated the Charter of the United Nations. This agreement violated the imperative norm of international law prohibiting aggression and genocide. It also violated the norm recognized by the entire international community, which guarantees and protects human rights. And our Constitution is full of discriminatory provisions.

The international norm on the conclusion of international treaties was also violated, specifically Article 52 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties of 1969, which stipulates: "A treaty is void if its conclusion has been brought about by the threat or use of force in violation of the principles of international law embodied in the Charter of the United Nations." Our country was threatened with no aid if it did not sign the agreement, and if it did not stop the liberating actions of our glorious Army - our forces would be bombed.

The principle of international law, which states that no situation created by force shall be recognized, was also violated. And this agreement recognized a situation created by force, and based on that situation, the internal restructuring of our country was carried out.

The goal of the Dayton Peace Agreement was to stop aggression, persecution, killing, looting, burning, and devastation of economic facilities. The goal was to stop the genocide that was carried out not only in Srebrenica but also in other parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Genocide was also committed in Sarajevo, which was under siege for 1,425 days and in which 11,500 of its citizens were killed. Women and children were killed by shells and snipers. Conditions were created that led to the complete or partial destruction of an ethnic group (food, electricity, and water supply were cut off). And this is one of the acts considered genocide.

The Dayton Peace Agreement contains great possibilities, even an obligation to build, or rather, to supplement our Constitution in order to ensure equal rights for all citizens and improve the functioning of institutions and the state as a whole. That is why the Constitution states that the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms applies directly in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

And since 1995, we have not moved an inch with our own actions. Everything that has been improved has been improved by the work of the international community in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Dayton Agreement is violated by many politicians at every step. They invented the slogan that the Dayton Peace Agreement is a "straitjacket". It is not a straitjacket at all, but rather this shirt, which represented the protection of our country by ending the aggression and the opportunity to improve the protection of human rights, has been put on by lunatics who continue their aggressive actions towards Bosnia and Herzegovina.

It is time for the Dayton Peace Agreement to be changed. Either it will be changed to prevent state blockades, or it will be completely abolished due to its daily violation, both by Belgrade and Zagreb, and by their branches in Bosnia and Herzegovina.