May 15, 2024
The representative of Serbia, underscoring the importance of stability and prosperity in Bosnia and Herzegovina, said that common will and efforts are required to create the conditions for better life and less insecurity in the region.
“Serbia is ready to do it,” he emphasized, adding that his country respects the Dayton Peace Agreement and supports Bosnia and Herzegovina “as one State with two entities”. That Agreement “is of special and lasting importance”, he said, as it provided for equality between representatives of the two entities and the three peoples and — above all — “the principle of decision-making by consensus”. Underscoring that his country opposes solutions imposed outside of the process of consensus — “as they prevent implementation, risk stability and undermine mutual trust” — he said that Serbia is committed to solving all open questions through dialogue. “Unilateral actions and faits accomplis cannot, and will not, do any good,” he stressed.
He then recalled the Permanent Representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s recent submission of a draft resolution regarding an International Day of Reflection and Commemoration of the 1995 Genocide in Srebrenica to the General Assembly. Underscoring that “such unilateral initiatives” are contrary to the process of reconciliation and confidence-building, he stressed:
“We have to talk, even when not in agreement.” In that context, he noted that, “when individuals in Bosnia and Herzegovina moved to initiate the resolution, they seemed to have overlooked the fact that Belgrade is closer than Berlin or Kigali”. Stressing that officials in Bosnia and Herzegovina — if they have no desire to talk to Serbia — are obliged by the constitution to talk to Serbs in the country, he asked: “How will reconciliation come to pass if it is to pass without Serbs?” While underscoring that Serbia condemns all crimes committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the 1992-1995 war — as well as the denial thereof — he stated that the resolution, if passed, will “deepen the gap among peoples and threaten the reconciliation process”.