High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina explained

Post:High Representative for
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Insignia:Emblem of OHR.svg
Insigniasize:100px
Incumbent:Christian Schmidt
Incumbentsince:1 August 2021
Style:Mr. High Representative (informal)
His Excellency (diplomatic)
Residence:Grbavica, Sarajevo
Formation:Dayton Agreement
14 December 1995
Inaugural:Carl Bildt
Salary:24,000 EUR per month

The High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, together with the Office of the High Representative (OHR) in Bosnia and Herzegovina, were created in 1995 immediately after the signing of the Dayton Agreement which ended the 1992–1995 Bosnian War. The purpose of the High Representative and the OHR is to oversee the civilian implementation of the Dayton agreement. They also serve to represent the countries involved in the implementation of the Dayton Agreement through the Peace Implementation Council (PIC), which chooses the High Representative.

So far, all of the High Representatives named have been from European Union countries, and their principal deputies have typically been from the United States. The Principal Deputy High Representative serves as International Supervisor for Brčko, representing the international community in the Brčko District.

Due to the vast powers of the High Representative over Bosnian politics and essential veto powers, the position has been compared to that of a viceroy[1] [2] [3] or of a colonial governor.[4] [5]

Legal basis in the Dayton Peace Agreements

The Dayton Agreement created the legal basis for the OHR. Its Annex 10 provides for the institution of the Office of the High Representative (OHR) in Bosnia and Herzegovina to oversee the civilian implementation of the agreement, representing the countries involved in the Dayton Accords through the Peace Implementation Council.

The "Bonn Powers" of the OHR

At its December 1997 meeting in Bonn, the Peace Implementation Council agreed in granting further substantial powers to the OHR, in order to avoid the implementation of the Dayton Agreement being delayed or obstructed by local nationalist politicians. The OHR was requested to:

  1. Adopt binding decisions when local parties seem unable or unwilling to act;
  2. Remove from office public officials who violate legal commitments or, in general, the DPA.[6]

The Bonn powers were extensively used by the OHR in the following decade. Some examples include the adoption of the Defence reform in April 2003, with the suppression of the Supreme Defence Council of the Republika Srpska, and the amendment of Entity Constitutional Laws.

Until 2004, the OHR had dismissed a total of 139 officials, including judges, ministers, civil servants and members of parliaments, sometimes along with freezing their bank accounts. After the 2002 elections, the OHR scrutinised all political candidates for major ministerial positions at entity and state level.

Fusion with the EUSR post

Between 2002 and 2011, the High Representative also served as the European Union Special Representative to Bosnia and Herzegovina.[7] [8]

Under Christian Schwarz-Schilling, the OHR seemed to soften its invasiveness, thanks to pressures from the Council of Europe and a growing EU involvement. The number of OHR legislative initiatives and of dismissed officials lowered.

On 27 February 2008, the PIC decided to end the High Representative's mandate on 30 June 2008. The EU decision to shut down the OHR by June 2007 unexpectedly aroused disappointment and concern in the Bosnian population, NGOs, and politicians.[9] However, since the PIC February 2008 review, it was decided to extend that mandate indefinitely until a set of positive benchmarks have been fulfilled.[10]

The "double hatting" between EUSR and OHR was discontinued in 2011, when the EU representative post was fused between the EUSR and the head of the EU delegation.

Conditions for closure of the Office of the High Representative

In February 2008, the Peace Implementation Council set the conditions for closure of the OHR. The most critical issues will be considered objectives to be achieved by the BiH authorities before transition from OHR to a European Union presence can take place. From a long list of known priorities the PIC selected the key ones for transition, for closure of OHR:[10]

In addition to these objectives there are also two conditions:

An additional non-written condition to be enforced through the "assessment by the PIC Steering Board" final condition, was adopted later by the US and some EU countries:

The closure of the OHR is considered by the Steering Board of the Peace Implementation Council to be a pre-condition for EU membership.[12] [13]

Criticisms

In the many years attempting to facilitate the integration of a stable federal Bosnian state, it has been argued that the OHR posed challenges in accomplishing its principal task.[14] The OHR's prolonged intervention in the politics of Bosnia and Herzegovina has been considered by some as a potential cause of the allegedly low commitment of citizens towards the state, as perceived by the low voter turnout, and of the purported low accountability of politicians, whose actions may be subject to the OHR's review.[9]

Former HR Paddy Ashdown noted the High Representative has "powers that ought to make any liberal blush."[15] Criticisms of the action of the OHR through its Bonn powers include:[9] [16]

In addition to the potential consideration of imposing legislation on contentious issues, the OHR "developed the practice of dismissing public officials from their offices and banning them from holding any public employment again ... often without even admitting the dismissed persons to confront the charges brought against them, let alone granting them a fair hearing or a right to appeal."[18] In June 2004, for example, Paddy Ashdown dismissed 58 public officials in a single day.[19] Politicians and judges have been subject to potential removal. Some of those dismissed were allegedly banned for life from holding public office and their bank accounts been frozen as well.[20] Doubts about the legality of both the OHR's interpretation of its mandate and particular actions have been expressed by the Council of Europe and others.[18]

In 2004, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which Bosnia and Herzegovina had joined in 2002, voiced complaints against OHR's actions, and expressed the need "to define a clear strategy for transferring responsibilities from the High Representative to domestic authorities."[21] Russia and China have rejected the continuation of the office and have tried at the UN to have it terminated.[22] They argue that it violates BiH's sovereignty, and they claim that the West persists with the setup so it can remain the "guardian" of the country.[23] Valentin Inzko, during his tenure as high representative, declared: "We have to wait for the moment that Bosnia–Herzegovina is irreversibly on its way to Euro-Atlantic integration, then we should shut down the Office."[24]

List of High Representatives

width=80px rowspan=2 colspan=2Portraitwidth=30% rowspan=2Name
width=35% colspan=3Term of officewidth=28% rowspan=2Country
Took officeLeft officeSpan
1Carl Bildt
14 December 199517 June 1997 Sweden
2Carlos Westendorp
18 June 199717 August 1999 Spain
3Wolfgang Petritsch
18 August 199926 May 2002 Austria
4Paddy Ashdown

27 May 200231 January 2006 United Kingdom
5Christian Schwarz-Schilling
1 February 200630 June 2007 Germany
6Miroslav Lajčák
1 July 200728 February 2009 Slovakia
7Valentin Inzko
1 March 200931 July 2021 Austria
8Christian Schmidt
1 August 2021Incumbent Germany

List of Principal Deputy High Representatives

The second-ranking official at the Office of the High Representative carries the title of "Principal Deputy High Representative (PDHR)", who also serves as the International Supervisor for Brčko since 2007. For many years, the individual filling that role has been an official of the United States Government, in most cases a career Foreign Service Officer of the U.S. Department of State. Throughout much of OHR's earlier history, there were also individuals who held the title of "Deputy High Representative," a rank just below that of the PDHR.

Term of Office[25] !Country
1Michael Steiner1949January 1996July 1997Germany
2Jacques Paul Klein1939July 1997July 1999United States
3Ralph Johnson[26] 17 July 199917 July 2001
4Donald S. Hays[27] July 2001March 2005
5Lawrence E. Butler1953March 2005January 2007
6Raffi Gregorian1964January 200731 July 2010
7Roderick W. Moore[28] [29] 196420 September 2010October 2013
8Tamir G. WaserOctober 2013August 2014
9David M. Robinson1955September 2014September 2015
10Bruce G. Berton1961September 2015October 2017
11Dennis Walter HearneOctober 2017November 2018
12Michael Scanlan1961February 2019June 2022
13Jonathan MennutiJune 2022Incumbent

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Interview: Christian Schwarz-Schilling, High Representative for BiH: 'The Last Bosnian Viceroy'. 31 March 2006.
  2. News: Carlos Westendorp, Bosnia's Euro-Spanish viceroy. The Economist. 3 September 1998.
  3. News: Two visions for Bosnia. The Economist. 13 April 2011.
  4. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2002/jul/09/comment Bosnia's new colonial governor - The Guardian
  5. https://press.un.org/en/2024/sc15688.doc.htm
  6. Web site: PIC Bonn 1997 conclusions . https://web.archive.org/web/20230914132611/www.ohr.int/?p=54137&print=pdf . 2023-09-14 . live.
  7. Web site: EU Special Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina. European Union External Action. 2012-11-23.
  8. News: Cypriot threats could affect role of top envoy in Bosnia. Toby. Vogel. European Voice. 9 July 2009. 2 October 2010.
  9. https://web.archive.org/web/20110718163454/http://www.cceia-old.unic.ac.cy/pdf_files/Giulio%20Venneri%20Critical%20Assessment%20of%20the%20EU%20-Driven%20%20Statebuilding%20%202007-07%20(December).pdf Giulio Venneri
  10. http://www.ohr.int/?p=37718 Press conference by the High Representative Miroslav Lajčák following the Peace Implementation Council Steering Board session in Brussels on 26–27 February 2008
  11. http://www.ohr.int/other-doc/hr-reports/default.asp?content_id=44970 37th Report of the High Representative for Implementation of the Peace Agreement on Bosnia and Herzegovina to the Secretary-General of the United Nations
  12. https://web.archive.org/web/20100916041445/http://waz.euobserver.com/887/30781 EU to end visa regime for Bosnia in November
  13. Web site: Communiqué of the Steering Board of the Peace Implementation Council ]. https://web.archive.org/web/20130208082809/http://www.ohr.int/pic/default.asp?content_id=44119 . 2013-02-08 . 2013-02-08 . dead.
  14. Dijkstra . G. . Raadschelders . J. . 2022 . The High Representative in Bosnia–Herzegovina: The Unusual Institutional Arrangement of a Non-Authoritarian, Yet Controlled, Democracy . . 185 . 2 . 285–311 . 10.1177/00438200221087971 .
  15. Web site: Paddy Ashdown: Why the World will never be the same again . . 22 August 2012 . 12 September 2023 .
  16. http://www.matthewparish.com/pdf/JISB%20BOS%203%20-%20Parish.pdf Matthew Parish, Demise of the Dayton Protectorate, J.Intervention and Statebuilding, Vol. 1 Special Supplement
  17. Web site: Honouring of obligations and commitments by Bosnia and Herzegovina . 4 June 2004 . Council of Europe . See: Section III, paragraph 99.
  18. Banning . Tim . 2014 . The 'Bonn Powers' of the High Representative in Bosnia Herzegovina: Tracing a Legal Figment . . 6 . 2 . 259–302 . 10.3249/1868-1581-6-2-banning .
  19. Banning 2014, p. 268.
  20. Third Report of the 2004–5 Session . House of Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee . 1 February 2005 . UK Government . See David Chandler's remarks at Section VI, paragraph 166: "For every other country the EU is very keen to have democracy, human rights and rule of law, but in Bosnia there is a Special Representative with the power to sack elected officials, to take away people's bank accounts, to dismiss them without any court of appeal and to impose legislation. You can see there is a slight element of double standards there."
  21. Web site: Honouring of obligations and commitments by Bosnia and Herzegovina . 4 June 2004 . Council of Europe . See: Section II, paragraphs 101, 102.
  22. News: Russia, China fail at U.N. in bid to shut down Bosnia peace envoy . 22 July 2021 . Reuters . 12 September 2023 .
  23. News: U.N. extends EU-force in Bosnia after Russia, China appeased . 4 November 2021 . Reuters . 12 September 2023 .
  24. Web site: Is another conflict looming in the Balkans? . . 6 January 2013 . 18:18 . 12 September 2023 .


    See also an interview several years later with Nezavisne novine: "[T]he goal remains the same: a stable and prosperous BiH, irreversibly on its way to the EU"; Web site: Dejan Šajinović . 6 October 2017 . Interview with HR Valentin Inzko . ohr.int . 27 September 2023 .

  25. Web site: HR and his deputies . High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina . . 2023-10-26.
  26. Web site: Ralph Johnson - Curriculum Vitae . High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina . . 17 July 1999 – 17 July 2001...Principal Deputy High Representative, Ralph Johnson, a US diplomat, took up his duties with the OHR in July 1999 . 2023-10-26.
  27. Web site: High Representative welcomes new PDHR, Donald S. Hays . High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina . . Hays has been a US diplomat for almost three decades . 2001-07-16 . 2023-10-26.
  28. Web site: Roderick W. Moore - Curriculum Vitae . High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina . . Principal Deputy High Representative and Brcko Supervisor, 20 September 2010 – October 2013 . 2010-09-20 . 2023-10-26.
  29. Web site: High Representative Welcomes PDHR Roderick Moore . High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina . . 2010-09-22 . 2023-10-26.