Human Rights vs. The Constitution of Bosnia & Herzegovina

Cases that Bosnia & Herzegovina lost against its citizens in the European Court of Human Rights, proving that the current constitution infringes on people's human rights. The decisions are ordered by the date of judgment, from oldest to newest.

Background

All the six rulings are based off of two articles in the Constitution of Bosnia & Herzegovina and three articles from the European Convention on Human Rights, making them fairly easy to understand.

Relevant articles from the Constitution of Bosnia & Herzegovina

View the Constitution of Bosnia & Herzegovina

• Article 4 defines two chambers of the Parliamentary Assembly:
  • House of Peoples as a group of 15 Delegates, two thirds of which are elected from the Federation of Bosnia & Herzegovina (five of Croat and five of Bosniak origin) and one third from the Republika Srpska entity (of Serb origin).
  • House of Representatives as a group of 42 members, two thirds of which are elected from the Federation of Bosnia & Herzegovina, and one third of which are elected from the Republika Srpska entity. This chamber has no ethnicity requirements.
• Article 5 defines the Presidency as a collection of three members, two of which are elected from the Federation of Bosnia & Herzegovina (one of Croat origin and one of Bosniak origin) and one from the Republika Srpska entity (of Serb origin).

Relevant articles from the European Convention on Human Rights

View the European Convention on Human Rights

• Article 3 of the Protocol No. 1 (Right to free elections)
  • The High Contracting Parties undertake to hold free elections at reasonable intervals by secret ballot, under conditions which will ensure the free expression of the opinion of the people in the choice of the legislature.
• Article 14 of the Protocol No. 1 (Prohibition of discrimination)
  • The enjoyment of the rights and freedoms set forth in this Convention shall be secured without discrimination on any ground such as sex, race, colour, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, association with a national minority, property, birth or other status.
• Article 1 of the Protocol No. 12 (General prohibition of discrimination)
  1. The enjoyment of any right set forth by law shall be secured without discrimination on any ground such as sex, race, colour, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, association with a national minority, property, birth or other status.
  2. No one shall be discriminated against by any public authority on any ground such as those mentioned in paragraph 1.

Sejdić and Finci v. Bosnia and Herzegovina

• Dervo Sejdić (of Roma origin) and Jakob Finci (of Jewish origin) sued Bosnia & Herzegovina due to their ineligibility to run for presidency or the upper house of the parliament (House of Peoples).
• Verdict :
  • Their ineligibility to stand for elections to the House of People's violated Article 14 of ECHR (ban of discrimination in the field of Convention rights) in conjunction with the Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 by 13 votes to 3.
  • Their ineligibility to stand for elections for the Presidency position violates Article 1 of Protocol No. 12 by 16 votes to 1.
• The verdict was published in December 2009.
• Note: The cases were filed separately and were united into one.

Zornić v. Bosnia and Herzegovina

• Azra Zornić (declaring herself as a citizen of Bosnia & Herzegovina, not identifying herself as a member of one of the constituent peoples) sued the country due to her ineligibility to run for a member of House of Peoples or the Presidency.
• Verdict :
  • Her ineligibility to stand for elections to the House of People's violated Article 14 of Protocol No. 1 in conjunction with the Article 3 of Protocol No. 1.
  • Her ineligibility to stand for elections for the Presidency position violates Article 1 of Protocol No. 12.
• The verdict was published in July 2014.

Šlaku v. Bosnia and Herzegovina

• Samir Šlaku (of Albanian origin) appealed to ECHR due to his inability to run for the Presidency or the House of People's.
• Verdict :
  • His ineligibility to stand for elections to the House of People's violated Article 14 of ECHR in conjunction with the Article 3 of Protocol No. 1.
  • His ineligibility to stand for elections for the Presidency position violates Article 1 of Protocol No. 12 (general ban of discrimination).
• The verdict was published in May 2016.

Pilav v. Bosnia and Herzegovina

• Ilijaz Pilav (of Bosniak origin) submitted his candidacy for the 2006 Presidential elections. His application was rejected on the basis of him living in Republika Srpska, an entity from which only those who self-identify as Serb are allowed to run for candidacy.
• Verdict :
  • ECHR recognized this is a violation of the Article 1 of Protocol No. 12.
• The verdict was published in June 2016.

Pudarić v. Bosnia and Herzegovina

• Svetozar Pudarić (of Serb origin) submitted his candidacy for the 2018 Presidential elections. His application was rejected by the Central Election Commission on the basis of his residency in the Federation of Bosnia & Herzegovina entity.
• Verdict :
  • ECHR recognized this is a violation of the Article 1 of Protocol No. 12.
• The verdict was published in December 2020. Pudarić didn't live to see the verdict, he died of cancer in March 2020.

Kovačević v. Bosnia and Herzegovina

• Slaven Kovačević (of Serb origin), based in the Federation of Bosnia & Herzegovina, sued for his inability to vote for the Serbian member of the presidency nor be able to vote for a delegate of Serbian origin in the House of Peoples.
• The key difference between this verdict and the previous ones is that this lawsuit was from a perspective of a voter, not an (ineligible) candidate.
• Verdict (yet to be released):
  • ECHR recognized this as a violation of the Article 1 of Protocol No 12.
• The verdict should be released by the end of Aug 2023.