As I wisely wrote back in 1998:
It is scarcely an exaggeration to say that certain provisions of the new Constitution accepted by the Balkan nationalists at Dayton introduced a new apartheid-like discrimination in Europe. Article V laid down that “The Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina shall consist of ... one Bosniac and one Croat, each directly elected from the territory of the Federation, and one Serb directly elected from the territory of the Republika Srpska”.
This bizarre provision meant that, for example, no Bosniac returning to live in Republika Srpska could run for the highest office in his/her own country, and that Jews or people of mixed ethnicity choosing to call themselves Bosnians were barred from candidacy wherever they lived.
It also arguably ran counter to the European Convention on Human Rights which elsewhere was incorporated directly into the BH Constitution and given “priority over all other law”. Is the Bosnia and Herzegovina Constitution unconstitutional?
The answer was obvious enough then as it is now: Yes. And now it is official:
The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that provisions in the constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina reserving certain offices of state for members of Bosnia's three ‘constituent peoples' are discriminatory and unlawful.
The case had been brought in 2006 by Dervo Sejdić, a Roma, and Jakob Finci, who is Jewish. The court today (22 December) ruled in their favour by 14 votes to three...
Finci, Bosnia's ambassador to Switzerland, is a former head of the country's small Jewish community, which dates back to the15th century.
Finci told European Voice: "This ruling was against Bosnia and Herzegovina, but at the same time I am sure that it was in favour of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The court's ruling is a major step towards an end to discrimination on ethnic grounds, and I am glad that the court has recognised the wrong that was done in the constitution 14 years ago. Finally, we - the 'others' - are no longer second-class citizens."
Better late than never.
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