News in English     | 22.12.2019. 23:45 |

Ten years of failure to implement the judgment in Sejdić-Finci case

FENA Hana Imamović

SARAJEVO, December 22 (FENA) - Ten years ago, on 22 December 2009, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg ruled in the case of Sejdić and Finci v. Bosnia and Herzegovina, stating clearly that the BiH Constitution is discriminatory because it does not allow members of non-constituent peoples to run for office as a member of the Presidency or a deputy in the House of Peoples of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly.

Dervo Sejdić, on behalf of the Roma community in BiH, and Jakob Finci, President of the Jewish Community in BiH, appealed to the European Court of Human Rights, warning of the discriminatory provisions of the highest legal act in BiH.

In these ten years, numerous debates and roundtables have been organized, gatherings of international, governmental and non-governmental organizations, dealing with the implementation of that judgment, which should amend the Constitution, and consequently the Election Law, but this has not happened yet.

The essence of the verdict is clear, namely that all BiH citizens should have equal rights, and this is not some radical idea, warns High Representative in BiH Valentin Inzko, but the way normal democratic societies function, underlining that discrimination based on one's ethnicity is a form of racial discrimination.

This year has certainly been lost because the Council of Ministers has not yet been formed, although the citizens gave their vote on who should represent them in the government 14 months ago by voting in the general elections.

Several deputies in the BiH PA House of Peoples after this week's session in a press statement also recalled the fact that the issue had not yet been resolved.

An MP in the Bosniak caucus, Denis Bećirović (Social Democratic Party - SDP), said that for several months, his proposal has been stored in the archives, which relates precisely to the implementation of the judgment, but the House of Peoples has not sat down so far and there was no opportunity to discuss it at all.

"The fact itself is not at all commendable for anyone in this country," says Bećirović.

An MP in the Croat caucus, Zlatko Miletić (Democratic Front - DF), affirms that the changes to the Election Law must happen, and recalled of a proposal to reorganize election constituencies, which was a proposal set forth by the DF with other political parties in the Federation of BiH last year.

He also announced that the party he represents is currently preparing a second proposal that would address all the problems identified by the European Commission in May this year. The proposal, he said, should also allow for the implementation of the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights.

However, the ruling in the Sejdić-Finci case is not the only ruling of the Strasbourg Court that the BiH authorities have persistently ignored. Steps need to be taken in order to implement the judgments in the Zornić, Pilav and Šlaku cases as well, to finally end discrimination on the basis of ethnicity and place of residence in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

(FENA) S. R.

Vezane vijesti

CoE to the autorities in BiH: It is high time to implement the judgments from the Sejdić-Finci group

Lučić: We all have the right to personal choice and orientation

Scanlan: Reform must be comprehensive if Brčko District is to be prosperous

Promo

BBI Banka nagrađuje za ukazano povjerenje novim Programom lojalnosti

Obuka za CNC operatere u Tehnološkom parku INTERA

M:tel: Savršena kombinacija – Huawei telefon i pametni sat s popustom