DECISIONS OF THE EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS ON ETHNIC DISCRIMINATION IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA. ENDLESS SOLUTIONS
DECISIONS OF THE EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS ON ETHNIC DISCRIMINATION IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA. ENDLESS SOLUTIONS

Author(s): Emilian-Mădălin BUZEA
Subject(s): Law, Constitution, Jurisprudence, Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, EU-Legislation
Published by: Carol I National Defence University Publishing House
Keywords: ECHR; BiH; DPA; constitution; fundamental rights; structural reforms; political implications.
Summary/Abstract: The Bosnian War was concluded with the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement (DPA) on December 14, 1995, leading to the creation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a state of unique complexity in the world. Although the signing of the DPA ended the war, the newly formed state continues to face structural issues that seem nearly impossible to resolve. The Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) is part of the DPA (Annex 4) and contains discriminatory provisions against certain social groups, as it does not fully respect fundamental human rights. Since 2009, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has issued definitive rulings in favor of Bosnian citizens Jakob Finci, Dervo Sejdić, Azra Zornić, Ilijaz Pilav, and Slaven Kovačević, obliging local authorities to adopt measures ensuring their civil rights and freedoms. However, to this day, BiH has failed to implement the ECHR rulings, which highlight violations of fundamental human rights by excluding certain ethnic groups from the electoral process. While a review of the specialized literature has identified these cases won at the ECHR by Bosnian citizens, there is a lack of sufficient explanations as to why the necessary steps have not been taken to eliminate ethnic discrimination in BiH, especially given that the country was granted EU candidate status on December 23, 2022. Therefore, this article aims to identify the reasons behind the failure to implement the ECHR decisions on ethnic and territorial discrimination in BiH and to contribute to the academic discourse on the subject by analyzing the case of Slaven Kovačević. By examining the Bosnian Constitution, this paper describes how members of the Tripartite Presidency and the House of Peoples of BiH are elected, highlighting the provisions that lead to territorial and ethnic discrimination – issues that resulted in the successful lawsuits at the ECHR. Furthermore, the study explains the details of these legal cases and outlines the necessary reforms that authorities should undertake to guarantee fundamental rights for all citizens. Using a deductive reasoning approach, the article argues that implementing the ECHR rulings would require structural reforms of the Bosnian state, ultimately leading to constitutional amendments, a document that is an integral part of the Dayton Agreement. This article is part of an ongoing study that will continue as further data is collected on the potential implementation of ECHR rulings in BiH. In this context, our scientific research aims to explore different scenarios for implementing the ECHR decisions on ethnic and territorial discrimination in BiH.

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