Bosnia

As the Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, it is my honour to address this organ. I congratulate Mr. Shahid on successfully presiding over the General Assembly at its seventy-sixth session. Despite the difficult working conditions caused by the pandemic, he worked with dedication with the Secretary-General, Mr. Guterres, so that this organ of the United Nations could carry out its duties. I also congratulate Mr. Korosi on his election as President of the General Assembly at its seventy-seventh session. He can count on the support and cooperation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in ensuring the productive work of this organ. At the recent sessions of the General Assembly and other international forums, we regularly assessed that the global order was experiencing tectonic changes. Today, however, we can conclude that the world has irreversibly changed. The international relations on which the security architecture of Europe used to rest, as well as the wider international framework, now do not exist. At a time when towns and villages in Ukraine are facing the terrifying reality of war, the least that we can do is not to be silent about it. We must not be silent, particularly in this building, the home of the United Nations, established in order to prevent and stop what is currently happening in Ukraine. We must not be silent in Bosnia and Herzegovina either. We owe that to our vivid memories of the horrors of war and aggression. The United Nations system was unable to prevent or stop the war in my country in the period between 1992 and 1995. Unfortunately, that happened again in the case of Ukraine. I am primarily referring to the Security Council, the organ responsible for safeguarding international peace and security, in the light of the principles set out in the Charter of the United Nations. Due to internal relations and barriers, the Security Council is clearly unable to fulfil its obligations. However, the General Assembly adopted a resolution on aggression against Ukraine (resolution ES-11/1) by an overwhelming majority. That resolution affirmed the undisputed principles of the Charter of the United Nations and other acts of international law, which prohibit the use of armed force. It orders States to resolve disagreements by peaceful means. The resolution expresses support for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine. It unequivocally refers to the actions of the Russian Federation as aggression. It calls for the aggression to stop. Finally, it rejects the secessionist moves of certain regions within Ukraine directed against its territorial integrity. Bosnia and Herzegovina supported that resolution and stood on the right side of history, along with 140 other countries. That is in line with the obligations arising from the United Nations Charter, our previously held positions and our obligation, in accordance with the Stabilization and Association Agreement, to follow the foreign policy of the European Union. Although the resolution does not have the power to stop the war, it has the power to stop the lies. The clear and unambiguous language of this highest international forum drastically reduces the space for those who try to relativize the truth. The first step towards any solution is to tell and respect the truth. I hope that there will be peace as soon as possible so that people in Ukraine can live normal lives and the displaced can return to their homes The war in Ukraine, as well as the consequences of the pandemic, led to drastic changes in all spheres of life. That is currently clearly visible in the serious energy crisis, inflation, a general recession and the threat to supplies, especially in the food sector. We are all facing a very difficult and challenging winter. Global markets and international free trade enabled enormous progress in all corners of the world. The eradication of hunger, the availability of consumer goods and the continuous economic growth in all parts of the world are all unquestionable benefits of global economic liberalization. Globalization tightly connected the various parts of the world and made us interdependent. Strong economic, security and political interrelations produced an increasingly integrated global framework. Within that framework, everyone relies on each another in various areas, from the economy to security. At the same time, the interdependence of the different parts of the world is the source of the vulnerability of our global community. That became obvious during the pandemic, when transportation and supply channels were blocked. It is also obvious in the light of the current crisis related to the war in Ukraine. Due to the blockade of wheat exports from Ukrainian ports, developing countries in Africa and Asia are facing hunger. A large part of the European continent is facing an energy crisis due to dependence on Russian gas. As a result of difficulties caused by the process of political and economic integration, in recent years we have often witnessed strong advocacy for political sovereignty and economic protectionism. The consequences of the transformation of developed countries from industrial to post-industrial nations, migration and, most recently, the pandemic led many to call for the construction of economic barriers, and even actual walls and wire fences. That is the wrong path to take. The answer to the above problems is not to close up, but to open up. The solution is not less, but more, cooperation. The answer to the energy crisis in Europe, caused by dependence on a single source, is relying not only on one’s own forces. The answer lies in diversification and in finding new, multiple channels of gas supply and other energy sources. No one in the modern world has enough resources to be self-sustainable. Past crises show that dependence on individual external sources is not sufficient either. We can overcome such difficulties only by increasing our international cooperation. We live in unstable times, unprecedented in recent history. As we face an extremely difficult winter, we are aware of the destabilizing potential of the current economic and energy crisis. The twentieth century provided extremely valuable lessons about the correlation between an economic crisis and right-wing populism. The Nazi movement came to power on the wave of a great economic depression. That led to the greatest cataclysm in the history of humankind. Following that, the United Nations was established and the United Nations Charter, as well as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and other United Nations acts, were adopted. The fundamental idea of the United Nations is that of the equality of all people, regardless of their origin, skin colour, religion and national or other affiliation. All the acts of international law I mentioned are based on that idea. Modern civilization was built on that idea. Today, almost eight decades later, we can hear voices openly or implicitly denying those basic tenets. Right-wing populists increasingly say that all people and nations do not have equal rights and that some are more valuable than others. It is becoming increasingly frequent that they openly advocate the ideas of ethnic and racial supremacy and claim that domination and brute force are the only principles on which interpersonal and international relations can, and should, be structured. It takes only one step from those ideas to violence. From this rostrum, from the United Nations building, I call for caution and action. We will face enormous challenges in the coming period. We must fulfil our duty and fight for the ideas of civilization. We must defend those ideas at all costs. Bosnia and Herzegovina has been home to many peoples, cultures and religions for centuries. Our long tradition of multiculturalism is something in which we take pride. We are proud of our Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Roma and other communities, as well as the culture of living together and mutual respect that we have developed over the centuries. All those communities, individually and collectively, make up the structure of the mosaic of the State of Bosnia and Herzegovina. That is the way things are, and that is how things will remain. At the same time, Bosnia and Herzegovina, as a meeting place of cultures, was a thorn in the side of policies based on the idea of the impossibility of living together and the necessity of confrontation. Such policies led to the terrifying war in Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1992 to 1995. That war culminated in the genocide in Srebrenica. The resolutions from that period adopted by the General Assembly and the Security Council, as well as the reports of the Secretary-General and the judgments of the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, recognize the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina as an international armed conflict, in which neighbouring countries participated. The judgments handed down by the International Tribunal in the The Hague conclude that joint criminal enterprises took place. The goal of those enterprises was the elimination of certain ethnic groups from parts of the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina so that those territories would ultimately be annexed to neighbouring countries. That was the most serious violation of international general and humanitarian law. Bosnia and Herzegovina has undergone an arduous peacebuilding process since the conclusion of the Dayton Peace Agreement. However, we still face numerous challenges. Some of the major challenges are certain policies in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the neighbourhood that have never abandoned the war-time goals of dividing our country. There are parties in Bosnia and Herzegovina that are part of the broad wave of right-wing populism in Europe. They openly claim that Bosnia and Herzegovina is not sustainable because, according to them, it is not possible for Muslims and Christians to live together. Muslims and Christians live, and can live, together. Such a way of living has a perspective. What certainly has no perspective are retrograde policies that oppose that way of living Bosnia and Herzegovina has a centuries-old history and is a living example and proof of the civilizational idea that people of different religions, nations and cultures can live together. The fact is that Bosnia and Herzegovina, even despite the war aimed at its destruction, managed to survive. That shows the exceptional resilience of my country. The majority of people in Bosnia and Herzegovina want to live in peace with their differences. There is sufficient strength for such a Bosnia and Herzegovina to persevere. I am convinced that that will be the case. The experience of Bosnia and Herzegovina shows that the rule of law is a crucial factor in peacebuilding. The International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, formed by the United Nations, granted the victims the minimum of justice. It sent a message to criminals that their actions would not go unpunished, and that they would be brought to justice and face the consequences for their actions. Moreover, there were other international community bodies that made a huge contribution to the building and safeguarding of peace, primarily the Office of the High Representative for the Implementation of the Peace Agreement on Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Peace Implementation Council. Both those bodies were established on the basis of Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations, which mandates the intervention of the international community in order to maintain peace. The establishment of those bodies was also upheld by the relevant Security Council resolutions. Consequently, the closure of those bodies is possible only following a new decision of the Security Council. It is not yet time for that. Allow me to remind Member States of the international supervision that was present in some significantly developed countries, such as Germany, with even greater executive powers than the Office of the High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina. That supervision was ended after 45 years of existence, only once the necessary prerequisites for that had been created. The Office of the High Representative and the Peace Implementation Council have been helping domestic political actors to implement reforms for the past 27 years. Through joint efforts, we managed to unite the three once-warring armies into a single armed force. We also united the three intelligence services, tax systems, judiciaries, et cetera. Thanks to those reforms and the existence of the armed forces and other State institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, even after the gradual withdrawal of 60,000 international troops from Bosnia and Herzegovina, the peace remained intact. The past year brought attacks against the 27 years of implementation of the Dayton Peace Agreement. In particular, there was an attempt to disband State institutions established on the basis of the clear provisions of the Dayton Peace Agreement. Thanks to the action of the Office of the High Representative and the Peace Implementation Council, Member States, led by the United States of America, the attack on State institutions was stopped and peace was once again preserved. That demonstrated the expediency and efficiency of the international community institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina. There were requests for the closure of the Office of the High Representative in the past. More recently, there have been frequent requests that the High Representative take steps that would weaken the unity of Bosnia and Herzegovina and introduce additional ethnic divisions. In accordance with the Dayton Peace Agreement and the United Nations Charter, it is the obligation of the High Representative to protect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and not to contribute to its disintegration. In addition to the civilian international presence in the country, there is also an international military presence in the country, specifically the European Union Military Operation in Bosnia and Herzegovina (EUFOR-Althea) and the NATO headquarters, with a total of 1,100 troops. In that regard, Bosnia and Herzegovina is not special. Many more developed sovereign States need the presence of international military forces in much larger numbers than is the case in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The international military presence was established by the Dayton Peace Agreement. The Security Council reaffirms the mandate of the EUFOR-Althea mission on an annual basis. The Security Council will vote on the EUFOR-Althea mandate again in less than a month. It is very important for the stability of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the region that the draft resolution be adopted. However, it is important to emphasize that in any case, in accordance with the Dayton Peace Agreement, NATO has the right and obligation to deploy its forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Also, the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina took decisions in the past that gave consent for the presence of EUFOR-Althea and NATO forces without any time limits. Those decisions are a sufficient legal basis for the presence of an international military mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina until the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina takes a different position. Bosnia and Herzegovina’s foreign policy goals are membership of the European Union (EU) and NATO. The June 2022 session of the European Council opened up the space for granting Bosnia and Herzegovina the status of a candidate for membership of the European Union if certain conditions are met. Bosnia and Herzegovina has recently made specific progress in terms of fulfilling the 14 priorities defined in the opinion of the European Commission on Bosnia and Herzegovina’s application for EU membership. We have fulfilled some of the said priorities in full and some partially, including, I am pleased to say, over the past few weeks. I expect that we will continue making even more progress after the general elections scheduled to be held next month on 2 October. I also expect Bosnia and Herzegovina to be granted EU membership candidate status as soon as possible. Regarding our relations with NATO, Bosnia and Herzegovina is part of the membership action plan. In order to undertake the reforms that NATO expects from us as a potential candidate country, the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina adopted its reform programme, which is our annual obligation. Regional cooperation is one of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s foreign policy goals. We want good relations with our neighbours, based on mutual appreciation and respect under the principle of reciprocity. That is the only way to build relations with Bosnia and Herzegovina. Everyone in our region must understand that the geostrategic and geopolitical configuration of the region is complete. The path to security and prosperity is the path of mutual cooperation and solving current issues, in accordance with the principles of international law. We are all equal in the region. No one can dominate anyone else. We all need peace and stability. The whole world needs peace and stability. All ongoing disputes in the world should be resolved in accordance with the principles of international law, with the involvement of the international judicial institutions. That is why it is very important to strengthen multilateral mechanisms and institutions. I therefore believe that the strength and authority of the United Nations as a key multilateral mechanism must be enhanced.