DECLARATION CALLING FOR OHR CLOSURE PASSED

BANJA LUKA, MAY 26 /SRNA/ – Deputies in the National Assembly of Republika Srpska today adopted a Declaration on the Closure of the Office of the High Representative /OHR/, calling for the position of High Representative in BiH to be terminated and the OHR shut down.

The Declaration, which contains eight conclusions, was supported by 57 of the 60 deputies present. The adopted document states that the National Assembly, as the highest authority of Republika Srpska - a signatory party to Annex 10 of the Dayton Peace Accords, demands that the UN Security Council urgently adopt a resolution ending the mandate of the High Representative in BiH and closing the OHR. The National Assembly of Republika Srpska reminded that Annex 10 is an international agreement under which the signatory parties temporarily entrusted certain functions of domestic authorities to the international community, specifically its High Representative in BiH, under strictly defined conditions and with a clearly defined purpose. The Declaration states that during the implementation of that annex, its provisions were materially violated through disregard for the will and consent of the signatory parties in the process of appointing the High Representative, as well as through the unlawful expansion of his powers via the so-called Bonn powers. The institutions of Republika Srpska actively oppose this and demand that all signatory parties urgently eliminate the consequences of legally null and void acts resulting from the use of such powers. The Declaration states that the final and complete breakdown of the contractual framework established by Annex 10, which had granted legitimacy to the OHR for the temporary and limited exercise of powers belonging to domestic institutions, occurred in 2021 with the appointment of Christian Schmidt, contrary to the clearly expressed will of Republika Srpska and without explicit confirmation by the UN Security Council. The adopted document emphasizes that Schmidt does not represent the international community in BiH and has no right to exercise functions belonging to domestic authorities. "All acts, especially legislative acts adopted by Schmidt, have no legal force within the legal order of BiH and constitute absolutely null and void acts of foreign interventionism," the Declaration states. The National Assembly of Republika Srpska concluded that the previous actions of the OHR, particularly the use of the so-called Bonn powers and the imposition of decisions contrary to the democratic will of the peoples in BiH, have deepened political divisions, undermined trust among the constituent peoples and weakened the development of domestic democratic institutions. The National Assembly demands a complete end to the practice of imposing decisions, passing laws and exercising any executive or legislative functions by unelected foreign representatives, the closure of the OHR and the full return of all competencies to domestic institutions in accordance with the Dayton Peace Accords. Any future international presence in BiH may have only an advisory and coordinating role, without the possibility of imposing decisions, while the final goal is the complete abolition of protectorate mechanisms and the assumption of full responsibility by democratically elected representatives and domestic institutions for managing political processes in BiH, the Declaration emphasizes.