Regarding the non-election of the co-chairman from the Serbian delegates in the House of Delegates in the Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina we are appealing for the respect of equality of the constitutive peoples in the institutions of Federation of B&H
The decisions of the Constitutional court of B&H in 2000 established the constituency of Serbs, Bosniacs and Croats on the entire territory of the state. The repeal of the ethnical exclusivity within the entities is more thoroughly regulated in the Agreement on the implementation of the decision of the Constitutional court of B&H on the constituency of the constituent peoples and in the amendments to the constitutions of the entities. The Constitution regulates that the House of Delegates has to have an equal number of delegates from every constitutive people.
Furthermore, the distribution of the key functions in the FB&H is done as it follows:
The prime minister/president of the government and his deputies cannot be from the same constitutive people.
As for the other functions no more than two of them can be filled by the same constitutive people or the Others, these functions are:
1) Prime minister/President of the government
2) Chairman of the House of Representatives
3) Chairman of the House of Delegates
4) President of the Supreme Court
5) President of the Constitutional Court
6) Public prosecutors
Despite the fact that these positive alterations are made, we are witnessing their disrespect in the House of Delegates of FB&H. So far, in the present convocation (2010-2014) of the House of Delegates the co-chairman from the Serbian People Caucus has not been elected, even though it is regulated that:
Every House chooses its chairman and co-chairmans that cannot belong to the same constitutive people, from its own members and adopts its rules of conduct with which it can determine other officials.
Bearing in mind that the process of completing the House of Delegates in the former convocation (2006 – 2010) was very late, it ended in 2008 when the Serbian People Caucus was finally filled, the question of under-representation of one people in the full composition as well as in one of the leading function within the House of Delegates of FB&H, rises. What concerns us the most is the some sort of trend of under-representation of one of the constitutive peoples, which is created, if we consider that before 2006 the Serbian People Caucus was never completely filled. This means that the Serbian People Caucus was not equal with the Caucus of delegates of the two other constitutive nations.
The Parliament of FB&H represents the highest legislative institution in the Federation of B&H, and we expect it to take over that roll seriously. The first step is to respect and implement the rights guaranteed by the Constitution of B&H. The equality of the three constitutive peoples demands the equality of a group in the institutionalised system and within the guaranteed framework.
It is important to develop a mechanism that will guarantee the respect of the rights provided by the Constitution and parliamentary Rules of conduct, and first of all to ensure effective and efficient constitution of the House of Delegates and disable the obstacles of that process.
Sarajevo, 10th July 2012
Contact:
Saša Gavrić
Sarajevski otvoreni centar/Sarajevo Open Centre
Vrbanja 4
BiH – 71000 Sarajevo
tel/fax +387 (0)33 211 617
mail [email protected]
web www.soc.ba