The government of the Republic of Srpska (RS) today submitted its 35th Report to the UN Security Council, which emphasizes the RS commitment to the Dayton Agreement. The report’s introduction says:
The Republic of Srpska (RS), a party to the treaties that constitute the 1995 Dayton Agreement and one of the two autonomous Entities that make up Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), respectfully submits its 35th Report to the UN Security Council. This report emphasizes the RS’s staunch support for the Dayton Agreement and BiH’s Dayton-established constitutional order, which the RS believes are essential to BiH’s future success.
Unfortunately, for many years, the Office of the High Representative (OHR) has ravaged the Dayton constitutional order, illegally ruling BiH by decree and centralizing BiH in flagrant violation of BiH’s federal structure. The German bureaucrat Christian Schmidt, who falsely claims to be the current High Representative (HR), has been especially destructive of BiH’s stability and democratic order. Notwithstanding Mr. Schmidt’s recklessness and illegal and autocratic rule by decree, the RS has taken important steps to reduce political tensions caused by Mr. Schmidt’s ill-advised edicts. Despite this, members of the Bosniak political establishment who have never accepted the RS’s existence as an autonomous Entity continue working to undermine RS governance, eroding the rights guaranteed under the Dayton Agreement. Still, the RS hopes its partners in BiH will engage in good-faith dialogue on the faithful implementation of the Dayton Agreement.
The allegation that the RS threatens the Dayton Agreement turns reality on its head. It is the Bosniak political parties—and their allies in the OHR and in certain foreign capitals—that have done everything they can to undermine the Dayton Agreement. The RS asks the members of the Security Council to steadfastly support implementation of the Dayton Agreement, including BiH’s democratic self-government and federal constitutional structure.
Read the full report here.
