B&H

Democratic values and principles have been under fire in Bosnia and Herzegovina for years, from within and without, a battle between ethnocracy and democracy is being waged in the country at the expense of its citizens.

The Dayton Agreement is centred around a warped, ethnicised view that accords a special role in the state to the three constitutional peoples – the Bosniaks, the Croats and the Serbs. The overall population, the citizens, the citoyens were effectively stripped of their powers; the individual person degraded – existing merely as an instrument of ethnic power cartels. Click here for download

At that time, in May 2006, a renowned architect from Sarajevo Lidumil Braco Alikalfić published a significant text – an expert analysis – on the shortcomings identified by that moment and the “tragedy” that was unfolding primarily in Igman and Bjelašnica in terms of the natural degradation and lack of awareness of this issue, the wrong orientation towards “cementing” the mountains in favour of apartments, hotels and parking lots.

Criminal ethno-clans have dominated the political scene in Bosnia and Herzegovina for three decades, and the destructive ideologies of the 1990s have never been placed ad acta. Many voters discovered the power of their vote at the local elections, in order to reject the ruling parties in urban centres. In Sarajevo, an alternative block won. The Serbian secessionists surrounding the obstructive member of the BiH Presidency Milorad Dodik suffered a defeat in their stronghold Banja Luka. The voting was accompanied by massive electoral fraud.

Interview with Prof. Christian Schwarz-Schilling, Former Federal Minister and former EU High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina The interview was conducted by Marion Kraske, Head of the Office of the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Sarajevo

The feminist edition of Perspectives Magazine, a regional publication published annually by the Heinrich Böll Foundation, aims to present the perspectives of Southeastern Europe to an international audience, to analyze global and regional trends and to provide insights into developments and political debates. The theme of this year's issue is gender and feminism in the Western Balkans, which is presented through four thematic units (State of the Art, Gender in Transitions: Revolution is Female?, Interventions and Resistance), which gives an overview of the context, perception of gender and the state of women's rights, and opens the issue of gender by social (re-)evolution and conflicts, initiatives and practices that contribute to the dismantling of patriarchy and very concrete practices of resistance in our countries. Through the issues of gender violence, political participation, economic relations, ecology, activism, physicality and from the perspective of female scientists, activists, journalists and writers, we focus on a kind of strategy for women's rights in the Balkans: is it based on the premise that we do not get tired and give up. This issue of Balkan Perspectives was written by women and describes the rights and fights for gender equality which last for generations in the Western Balkans.

"It all started when the fake FB profile Fatima Hadzic USK called for protests. People were called to organize and return migrants, that is, to prevent their arrival in Velika Kladuša and surrounding areas."

After not having been held for 12 years, the elections in Mostar on December 20 will be a historical event in the sense of reviving democracy in this city.

Marin Bago, a prominent activist from Mostar, submitted the list of independent candidates “Pravo na Grad” [“Right to the City”] for the Local Elections in Mostar, planned to be held on 20 December 2020, to the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) today.

Regarding the “political agreement on the amendments to the Electoral Law of BiH” reached in June between the leaders of two political parties, Bakir Izetbegović (SDA) and Dragan Čović (HDZ), so that after 12 years finally elections can be held in Mostar, the High Representative in BiH rushed to say how that was a “celebration of democracy”.  To a bystander, it looked as if a heavy load was taken off his mind, so that now one can continue under that flag as well. Of course, the conclusions of the two party leaders were agreed in the presence of representatives of the international community, then adopted by the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH at the very last second – less than a month before the deadline imposed by the Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg by the judgement in the case of Ms. Irma Baralija. This citizen of Mostar sued Bosnia and Herzegovina because no elections have been held in that city since 2008!

Bosnia and Herzegovina was not created in 1995, because Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as its peoples, the Serbs, the Croats and the Bosniaks, precede the Dayton Peace Agreement. All of them developed Bosnia and Herzegovina as their state during history. In 1995, the Serbs, the Croats and the Bosniaks did not create BiH, and no representatives of the Serbs, the Croats and the Bosniaks participated in the peace negotiations, instead Izetbegović, Milošević and Tuđman were negotiating as state Presidents . In the achieved agreement, everyone agreed that after the war “Bosnia and Herzegovina would continue its legal existence (...) along with further international recognition“.

In 2018, Irma Baralija from Mostar filed an application with the European Court of Human Rights against Bosnia and Herzegovina, for violating human rights by failing to hold elections in Mostar for 12 years. In late 2019, she received a judgement which confirmed that the rights of the residents of Mostar guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights. As of that moment, leaders of the Party for Democratic Action (SDA) and Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) launched an active quest for a solution to the Mostar ‘case’. They reached a ‘political agreement’ in June this year, allowing elections but, according to many experts, no substantive changes. For Interview.ba, Baralija speaks about the nationalists’ ‘plan from hell’ for Mostar, how much the agreement damages the civic parties, how the city list of 17 members dropped to 13, and whether it is time for women to remove men from power... 

After 12 long years, the ballot boxes for electing political representatives may be open again in Mostar on 20 December this year, following the 18 June signing of the ‘political agreement’ on elections by leaders of the Party for Democratic Action (SDA) and the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ). The recent history of Mostar has seen numerous changes to the election system, and only four elections held since 1995 until today.

After 12 years of deprivation of each citizen of the fundamental human right to elect and stand at elections in a democratic society, a political agreement was reached in the city of Mostar on 18 June, between leaders of the Party for Democratic Action (SDA), Bakir Izetbegović, and of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), Dragan Čović, on holding the elections in this city. Thus, Mostar is no longer a ‘case’, at least on paper. Professor Suad Arnautović, Ph. D., member of the Central Election Commission, spoke to Interview.ba about reasons for scheduling the Mostar elections for December, unlike other places in BiH, what changes have been made through the recent political agreement, can a Serb, or a Croat like Željko Komšić (whom the HDZ deems an illegitimate representative) become mayor of Mostar, whether all the agreed items can be effected by the deadline, and whether we will have local elections this year or not.

That which the BiH political leaders had failed (or avoided) to do over the past 12 years ended in a matter of months: SDA and HDZ reached an agreement on elections in the city of Mostar. The political analyst Adnan Huskić believes that this agreement is the result of, above all, the pressure by the international community. Here he provides his views regarding statements by Dragan Čović, alternatives in Mostar, abuse of the voting procedures, and also answers the question whether the election would be decided by the voters or the counters.

The Democratic Front (DF) recently tabled amendments to the countries Election Law in parliamentary procedure. Of course, it didn't take long for the HDZ and SNSD headquarters to make it known that they didn't want to talk about it. At the same time, however, the first people of these two parties are threatening to block the state unless the Election Law changes. If, however, they do not want to discuss material put out by DF, the only thing that can be concluded is that the amendments to the Election Law must follow the basic principles under which HDZ operates. So, it’s either the Election Law according to the solutions offered by the HDZ or the combined Čović-Dodik blockade of the state.

The awarding of the Nobel Prize to Peter Handke has far-reaching consequences: His denial of the greatest atrocities which were committed after World War Two on European soil, is likely to disrupt the foundation of our democracies. Values and standards of a civilisational coexistence have been weakened. Thus, anything seems possible again: Human dignity is once more violable.

The European Commission considers on 22 October 2019 that Croatia fulfils the necessary conditions for its entry into the Schengen area. Despite numerous reports and appeals from various civil society (Are you serious, Center of peace study) representatives, gouvernmental and non-governmental organisations (UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, Council for Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International..) to alert Brussels and the public concerning the human rights violations committed by Croatia.