Bosnia and Herzegovina


Constitutional Background

The Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina was adopted as Annex 4 of the Dayton Peace Accords, initiated in Dayton, Ohio on 21 Nov 1995. It came into force with the signing in Paris on 14 Dec 1995. The ICL-edition is based on the original text released by the Office of the Spokesman on 1 Dec 1995. The American influence is clear even from the structure; both constitutions feature large articles with many paragraphs.

Bosnia consists of Serbs, Muslims, and Croats. The 35% Serbs now (1995) hold 70% of the land. The Contact Group (U.S., Russia, France, Britain, and Germany) suggested a plan that would give Bosnian Serbs 49% for their own country and 51% for a federation of Muslims and Bosnian Croats. The plan has been accepted by Serbia. Military commander Ratko Mladic gets support of Serbia's President Slobodan Milosevic to depose Bosnia's de-facto President Radovan Karadzic.

Karadzic faces war crime charges in The Hague. Under the constitution, an indicted war criminal such as Karadzic may neither stand for elections nor remain in public office.

History and News

  • 14 Sep 1996: Elections controlled by the OSCE were won by Alija Izetbegovic who is now one of the three leaders of ethnic groups in the presidency. (Votes: Izetbegovic 729,034; Krajisnik 690,373; Zubak 342,077).

For methodology see: Comparing Constitutions and International Constitutional Law.
© 1994 - 27.6.2020 / For corrections please contact A. Tschentscher.