The year 2012 marks the twentieth anniversary of important historical events for the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. First of all, we mark the anniversary of the referendum for independence of our country, which was held on February 29 and March 1 1992 in accordance with all the rules of state and international law. 99.7% of the participating voters voted for an independent Bosnia-Herzegovina. This opened the door to the recognition of our country by all relevant international organizations and nearly all countries. It is also important to highlight the twentieth anniversary of the admission of Bosnia-Herzegovina to the United Nations as its 177th member, which took place on May 22, 1992. However, this year also marks the anniversary of another event, one of a very deplorable nature: twenty years ago the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) and the Republic of Croatia began their aggression against the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in which they committed horrible war crimes and crimes against humanity on innocent Bosnian citizens. By far the largest number of victims were members of the Bosniak nation, which makes the aggression a crime of genocide as well.
The principal goals of the Canadian Institute for Genocide Research are further research of the historical facts related to the aggression and genocide which took place in Bosnia-Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995, world-wide dissemination of information on those facts, and full justice for the victims of the abominable crimes suffered by the Bosniak people.
January 9 of 2012 is the twentieth anniversary of the proclamation of the “Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina”, which was no more than a surrogate for the aggressor state of the FR of Yugoslavia, a surrogate created at the expense of numerous victims among the misled Serbian people, both in Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, but one which, unfortunately, acquired international legitimacy through the genocidal Dayton Agreement as “Republika Srpska”. On the occasion of this shameful anniversary, the Canadian Institute for Genocide Research issues the following
PUBLIC STATEMENT
Full justice for the people of today’s Bosnia-Herzegovina can be achieved only by scientific research of the following crimes committed on Bosniaks between 1992 and 1995:
– the crime of aggression against the independent, sovereign, internationally recognized Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina;
– the crime of genocide;
– the crime of culturecide;
– the crime of ecocide;
– the crime of ethnocide;
– the crime of urbicide;
– the crime of elitocide;
– the crime of torture and killing of concentration camp inmates;
– the crime of rape;
– the crime of expulsion of families and individuals;
– the crime of seizing Bosniak living space;
– the crime of seizing property and real estate owned by Bosniaks.
Furthermore, full justice in Bosnia-Herzegovina is unthinkable without the abolition of the so-called “Republika Srpska”, a parastatal entity based on genocide against the Bosniak nation. On January 9 1992 the self-appointed leaders of Bosnian Serbs convened a gathering which they called “Assembly of Serbian people in Bosnia and Herzegovina” which adopted a “Declaration about the Proclamation of the Serb Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina”. This event preceded a session of the Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which took place on January 25. The session called a referendum on the independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The parastatal entity born out of the Greater-Serbia policy got its first “constitution” on February 28 1992, prior to 63% of the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina voting for independence and sovereignty of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. At the session of the Assembly of the Serb Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, held in the same year on May 12, Ratko Mladić asserted that “the creation of the Serbian Republic within Bosnia-Herzegovina would amount to genocide.” The Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was admitted to the United Nations on May 22, 1992. This shows that the creation of the Serb Republic was a first step in the aggression against the internationally recognized Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was a crime against the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and an act of flagrant violation of international law and the United Nations Charter.
The Dayton Agreement changed the name of the Bosnian state by dropping the word “Republic” from its official name, while, ironically, including it in the name of one of its entities created by the aggression against the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the war crimes committed against its citizens as well as by the genocide of its Muslim population. The forces which conceived, launched and carried out the genocide project have not been done away with. The “Dayton process” legalized the state of affairs set up by force and by genocidal policies of those same forces which waged the war against the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Administrative units were formed which have no basis in the territorial, cultural, legal, economic and political tradition of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and which have no precedent in the political practice of multinational democratic states. The entities established by the illegal Dayton Agreement have not implemented two basic provisions of the Agreement: the provision related to bringing to justice and punishing those responsible for the genocide, and the provision for the return of refugees and banished persons to their homes. Besides, individuals responsible for the aggression and genocide have not yet been removed from positions of authority (as took place in the “denazification” program in Germany after World War II). The obstruction of refugee return to their pre-war homes has changed the ethnic make-up of the population of Bosnia-Herzegovina; by blocking the return of refugees, the Republika Srpska has violated a fundamental requirement of the Dayton Peace Treaty.
In such circumstances, the system of separate entity voting is abused, which strengthens disruptive nationalist forces, while at the same time weakening and marginalizing the democratic integrative elements within the Bosnian society. This state of affairs blocks all initiatives for changing the present untenable situation towards the establishment of a truly democratic multiethnic society, free of discrimination and apartheid on ethnic, religious, political or any other grounds.
The Genocide Convention embodied in the UN Charter forbids not only genocide but also any political and territorial results of genocide. This means that, according to this Convention, the Repubika Srpska has no right to exist. Opinions about the political and state structure of BH coming from the accused party have no value. The only important criterion of justice for Bosnia and Herzegovina is what the country’s loyal citizens think about its political system, because they are the ones who were, in one way or another, victimized by the aggression and genocide.
The Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and its citizens must make planned and systematic efforts to preserve the sovereignty and the territorial integrity of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina. And sovereignty is indivisible, untransferable, and unquestionable. These three legal attributes of sovereignty enable the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina to undertake legitimate action with the aim of canceling all the results of aggression and genocide and to pursue the ultimate purpose of renewal and preservation of its social fabric and state structure, as well as complete equality of all the nations living in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Institute for Research Genocide, Canada