Bosnia and Herzegovina Chairman Addresses UN General Assembly on Peace, Human Rights, and International Law

UNGA 80th Session: Peace and Human Rights

• 🇧🇦 The Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Željko Komšić, addresses the UN General Assembly's 80th session, themed "Better together: 80 years and more for peace, development and human rights."
• 🕊️ He emphasizes that peace in every part of the world has no alternative and must be persistently worked towards, despite geopolitical actors often prioritizing conflict for their own interests.

Challenges to International Law and Order

• ⚖️ The speaker asserts that international law is not applied equally to all states, citing instances where borders are changed by armed force, contrary to the UN Charter.
• ⚠️ He highlights the deliberate provocation of armed conflicts and the subsequent pressure on weaker states to cede territory under the guise of peace, which he argues is coercion, not sincere will.
• 🇺🇦 The situation in Ukraine is presented as an example where pressures to give up territory for peace create a dangerous precedent, potentially leading to an unstable world where peace loses its value.
• 🇵🇸 The situation in the Gaza Strip is described as involving violence against the local population with elements of genocide, including the imposition of living conditions that threaten to destroy the group, used as a means to forcibly occupy territory.

Bosnia and Herzegovina's Experience and Challenges

• 🇧🇦 Komšić recounts Bosnia and Herzegovina's experience with aggression in the 1990s, where the UN peacekeeping force (UNPROFOR) was largely an observer of war crimes and genocide.
• 🎗️ He notes the embargo on defensive weapons imposed on Bosnia and Herzegovina, which prolonged the war and led to unnecessary loss of life.
• 🏛️ The Dayton Peace Agreement, while bringing peace, created a dysfunctional political system in Bosnia and Herzegovina characterized by a deviant form of democracy where ethnicity is prioritized, and basic human rights are denied.
• 🚫 The speaker argues that Bosnia and Herzegovina is now facing an "embargo on democracy" from certain international actors who seek to preserve this dysfunctional system, preventing the minority from governing the majority.
• ⚖️ He references five judgments from the European Court of Human Rights establishing discrimination against Bosnian citizens based on ethnicity or residence, which have not been implemented by political elites or the international community present in the country.

Call for Consistency and Equality

• 🌍 Komšić calls for consistency and principled insistence on protecting peace and human rights globally, without distinction between states.
• 🤝 He urges the international community to actively seek and facilitate solutions, emphasizing that peace and human rights are not privileges but obligations for all.
• ✊ The goal is to leave future generations a better world by actively confronting deviant phenomena through international law and ensuring equality for all individuals.