Platform for Progress: BiH cannot be built on anarchism and convicted violent extremism

SARAJevo, (Patria) - Not at all surprised by the fact that the president of the Citizens' Association “Croatian National Assembly” and the Croatian Democratic Union in BiH (Dragan Čović, ed.) remained without a public comment on the verdict of the founder and wartime president of Republika Srpska, understanding that he was encouraged by the absence of clear reactions and sanctions from official representatives of the international community to the glorification of the character and work of convicted war criminal Radovan Karadžić, we call on representatives of political and other organizations, who held an assembly in Mostar on March 27, 2019, and elected bodies of a creation for which the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) determined to be a joint criminal enterprise (JCE) in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the aggression against our country, to familiarize themselves with the content of that verdict, and distance themselves from the ideology that resulted in the committed, judicially determined war crimes, it was announced from the Platform for Progress.

"We call on HDZ BiH and other actors who are trying to revive the project of the so-called HZHB, convicted as a JCE, to start behaving as responsible individuals who truly follow European and universal civilizational values. Someone who presents himself as a 'bearer of European values' certainly understands the concept of the rule of law. Glorifying convicted war crimes certainly does not fall under promoting the rule of law. On the contrary, such glorification contributes to legal uncertainty and general anarchy, as well as despair for all citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina who love it and consider it their homeland," the statement said.

They add that another clear example of actions not in line with the rule of law is the attempt by the ministries of education and culture of the BiH entity RS and neighboring Serbia to contribute to the violation of domestic laws on preschool, primary, secondary, and higher education and culture, which are in force in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

"Namely, these two ministries signed the 'Charter on the Serbian Cultural Space' on March 3 this year in Sremski Karlovci, which in its preamble refers to the 'national legislation' of an unnamed state – thereby implying that BiH and neighboring Serbia are one state, positioning the BiH entity RS as a state on the same level as countries in the region that truly are, not mentioning Bosnia and Herzegovina, the fact that three equal languages (Bosnian, Serbian, and Croatian) and two scripts (Cyrillic and Latin) are in official use in Bosnia and Herzegovina, completely ignoring the interstate border between BiH and neighboring Serbia, as well as the constitutional obligation of all actors in BiH that all peoples and citizens of BiH are equal in their rights and obligations on every inch of the territory of the sovereign state of Bosnia and Herzegovina," say the Platform for Progress.

Furthermore, they add, in this document, the Republic of Serbia is listed as the 'mother country' of all residents of the BiH entity RS and the diaspora without the prefix of the country from which that diaspora comes.

"We remind the institutions of the BiH entity RS and neighboring Serbia, one of the three signatory states of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, that they have an obligation to respect the sovereignty, territorial integrity, the Constitution, and all annexes of the aforementioned international agreement. Agreements on parallel and special ties between the BiH entity RS and neighboring Serbia are not valid if they are not adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH, because only then can they have the status of international agreements. Therefore, the 'Charter on the Serbian Cultural Space' is not in accordance with the valid Constitution and laws, and thus is not part of domestic legislation, nor can it be treated as an international agreement because it was not harmonized and signed by the institutions of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which are solely authorized to do so.
Neighboring Serbia, finally, must accept the fact that it will not achieve Greater Serbia at the expense of the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In attempts to achieve this goal peacefully, i.e., through legally invalid documents such as the 'Charter on the Serbian Cultural Space,' precious time and energy of Serbia's institutions are lost, which are tasked with dealing with the progress of their own citizens and state, and with nurturing and supporting the sovereignty of independent Bosnia and Herzegovina," say the Platform.

The Platform for Progress emphasizes that international treaties, as well as verdicts of domestic and international courts, must be respected without exception. We also emphasize the importance of the continuity of legal regulations, and the obligation to respect the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina and all laws of Bosnia and Herzegovina that have been adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina by majority vote of elected representatives and delegates. The same applies to decisions adopted by the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina in all previous convocations.

"Those political options that do not like the current constitutional or any other legal solution in force in Bosnia and Herzegovina are free to propose amendments or new solutions in the way it is done in a democratic society – through the legislative bodies of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Anything else leads to anarchy, legal instability, and results in an ever-decreasing number of inhabitants living in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as they leave daily seeking a stable and predictable environment based on the rule of law," it is stated.

The Platform for Progress believes that the future of Bosnia and Herzegovina cannot and will not be based on anarchy, nor on any ideology of violent extremism, which has been established as such by the verdicts of United Nations courts. We believe in the capacity of the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina to condemn and forever reject any quasi-formal solutions and such ideologies.