Open Letter to the OHR and Ambassadors of the PIC Member States

Melika Mahmutbegović, Vice-President of the BiH entity FBiH, and Ramiz Salkić, Vice-President of the BiH entity RS, have sent a letter to the OHR and the ambassadors of the PIC member states, in which, as they state, they wish to point out the continuity of their unprincipled attitude towards the mandate in Bosnia and Herzegovina, entrusted to them by the international community.

We are transmitting the letter in its entirety:

- We witnessed your sharp and firm stances on the very announcement of the SDA's appeal, which would seek, in accordance with legal procedures, for the Constitutional Court of BiH to declare the constitutionality of the discriminatory name of the BiH entity Republika Srpska. In this regard, at the request of Russia, an extraordinary session of the ambassadors of the PIC member states was also scheduled.

In the reactions and demands for the convening of the PIC session, it is claimed that the very announcement of the appeal, which would seek the removal of discrimination against non-Serbs in the RS entity, undermines trust among peoples and the stability of the country. We ask you, and demand that you explain to the public in BiH how the demand to remove discrimination in society can undermine trust among peoples and endanger the stability of the country? Should it not be the other way around, that the removal of all forms of discrimination contributes to establishing trust among peoples and preserving stability in the country? Or, in fact, do you want to send us a message with your reactions and the convening of the PIC session that discrimination in the RS entity is an acceptable practice for you and the Russian ambassador, and that Bosniak political representatives are not allowed to even point it out, nor initiate legal actions to abolish it?

We would be very pleased if you had reacted every time trust among peoples was truly undermined, and when Bosnia and Herzegovina was openly attacked with statements and concrete actions, when the Dayton Peace Agreement was called into question, when the BiH entity was called the "second Serbian state", etc., in the same way you reacted in the case of the announcement of the appeal to remove discrimination in the RS entity.

But you did not do that. On the contrary, with your and the PIC's reactions, which were mild, without concrete actions, and often completely absent, you only further encouraged the leaders of policies that are openly working to break up Bosnia and Herzegovina. The leaders of destructive policies have clearly understood your mild reactions and lack of concrete actions as weakness and retreat, as a message that they can continue with the policy of ethnic disintegration of BiH, supported by policies in the region. 

We believe that you will understand your latest reactions directed towards political forces opposing such destructive policies in the same way – as a sign that they can continue. You have given them a reason to do so. By your inaction, indecisiveness, and policy of equidistance towards both the builders and destroyers of BiH, you have left room for blocking the processes of its Euro-Atlantic integration. 

It is very indicative for us that the extraordinary session of the PIC was scheduled at the request of the Ambassador of the Russian Federation, who met with the Chairman of the BiH Presidency the day before the session, and that the meeting was held with prominent flags of the Russian Federation and the BiH entity RS, without the state flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina. On the same day, the Ambassador of the Republic of Serbia, a signatory to the Dayton Peace Agreement, also held a meeting with the Chairman of the BiH Presidency. The flags of the Republic of Serbia and the BiH entity RS were displayed, without the flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This is not only a symbolic but also a substantial anti-Dayton message.

Mr. Inzko,

On the same day that you reacted strongly to the announcement of the SDA initiative, Milorad Dodik stated that the entity "RS is ready for secession". We did not see your reaction, nor was an extraordinary session of the PIC scheduled.

We will remind you of some other situations where your reaction and the PIC's reaction should have been more decisive. You are very well aware of everything we will list:

1. We asked for your help in resolving the cases of the murder of 13 and wounding of 20 returnees in the RS entity in recent years, but there was no response from you. 
2. There was no response or solution when we asked to resolve the issue of apartheid in the educational process of the RS entity and to ensure the respect, observance, and acceptance of the Bosnian language as an indisputable linguistic and constitutional-legal fact, and to ensure education in the Bosnian language.
3. We asked you to react so that the referendum on the entity's day, which caused the departure of a certain number of returnees due to fear for the safety of their families, would not be held. In this case too, your serious reaction was, unfortunately, absent. 
4. We asked to resolve the issue of discrimination in employment and to respect constitutional provisions, but this request also went unanswered.
5. We asked to resolve the issue of the application of the unconstitutional and illegal Rules of Procedure of the RS Constitutional Court, which practically prevent Bosniaks and Croats from protecting their national and other interests through the highest judicial instance in this part of Bosnia and Herzegovina. 
6. You are silently observing the daily naming of the BiH entity RS as the "second Serbian state", and those who advocate separatism go only one step further, as they are not adequately sanctioned.
7. You did not oppose the establishment of a joint curriculum with the Republic of Serbia, and the introduction of lessons into textbooks that speak affirmatively and relativize convicted war criminals and crimes. You are certainly aware that in this way the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina is directly attacked, as entities are obliged to align their plans with state laws and plans. 
8. You are silently observing or are "concerned" about the implementation of the final phase of genocide, which includes glorifying war criminals, denying crimes, and insulting victims. You allowed Milorad Dodik to open a student dormitory named after war criminal Radovan Karadžić in Pale, without any sanctions. 
9. You do not sanction Dodik's announcements about the secession of RS from BiH, with which he provokes new conflicts and suffering for all people in these areas. 
10. In addition to denying genocide in the UN "protected zone" of Srebrenica, the entity authorities have awarded the highest recognitions to convicted war criminals, and you remain only "concerned".
11. The RS entity is trying to impose itself on the state of BiH by making decisions that are not within the entity's jurisdiction but the state's – military neutrality, non-implementation of the Law on Defense, halting BiH's NATO path; representatives of RS in state institutions are threatened with sanctions if they do not implement entity decisions, and the dismantling of the BiH Armed Forces is threatened. Without your reaction. 
12. The RS entity refuses to implement the decisions of the Constitutional Court of BiH – an unconstitutional referendum was organized, and the celebration of January 9th as the Day of RS, which the Constitutional Court abolished, continues; RS refused to implement the Constitutional Court's decision on state property. You are silent on that too. 
13. In the days when the entire civilized world commemorates the victims of the Holocaust, HNS and Dragan Čović publicly announce that they do not recognize the judgments of the International Court of Justice in The Hague, in the same way as the authorities of the RS entity, as well as the authorities of the Republic of Serbia. In the case of HNS and Čović, there was neither your proverbial concern, let alone your or anyone else's request for an extraordinary or urgent session of the PIC. 
14. Upon the announcement by SDA that they will submit an appeal to the Constitutional Court to include "Bosniak and Croat" in the name Republika Srpska, in accordance with previous decisions of the Constitutional Court of BiH, the authorities in RS threatened unconstitutional and anti-Dayton measures – deploying police to the entity border, decisions on RS's independence from BiH. Without your reaction, except to the SDA initiative.

Dear Mr. Inzko, esteemed ambassadors,

the list of previous examples to which you have not reacted at all or not nearly adequately could be extended many times over, but this is quite enough to openly ask you the question:

Are you truly unaware that by your passivity and failure to undertake everything that the Dayton Peace Agreement obliges you to do, you are encouraging destructive policies directed against BiH, which aim to halt its Euro-Atlantic path and gradually lead this country into a state of complete instability, with severe and unpredictable consequences?

It is high time that, in accordance with your mandate, you ensure the decisive implementation of the Dayton Peace Agreement in its entirety, and especially Annex 7 and Annex 4. 

In accordance with the powers granted to you by the Dayton Peace Agreement, your authority is unquestionable. Just as your responsibility is completely clear and unquestionable – the letter states.