Institution of the high representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina

[N. D. Vojinović]

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Visoki predstavnik međunarodne zajednice u BiH, odnosno njegova kancelarija, predstavlja jedan poseban međunarodni politički organ, koji, s jedne strane, ima izuzetno široka ovlašćenja a, s druge strane, dosta neprecizne i uopšteno definisane nadležnosti, bez mogućnosti da snosi bilo kakvu odgovornost za svoj rad i donošenje (vrlo često i nametanje) jednostranih, ponekad nerazumljivih i vrlo diskutabilnih odluka. Zbog toga slobodno možemo reći da je u ove skoro tri decenije (1995–2023) svog postojanja on prerastao u jednu posebnu, suverenu instituciju ove bivše jugoslovenske republike, iako je njemu prvobitno dodijeljena uloga organa međunarodne zajednice, koja se sastojala u olakšavanju primjene civilnog dijela Dejtonskog mirovnog sporazuma u Bosni i Hercegovini. Otuda se, upoređujući Ustav BiH i akte Visokog predstavnika, moramo složiti sa konstatacijom da postoji velika razlika između one države predviđene Aneksom IV Opšteg okvirnog sporazuma za mir u Bosni i Hercegovini i države koja danas funkcioniše na osnovu akata ovog međunarodnog političkog organa. Za prvu se može reći da je ona „nestvarna”, tj. zamišljena Ustavom BiH, dok je realnost sasvim drugačija i da se, kada govorimo o suverenosti Bosne i Hercegovine, može konstatovati da nam stvarnost ukazuje na to da se ovdje radi o jednom „protektoratu”, kome se ne zna rok trajanja i u tom pogledu vlada potpuna neizvjesnost. Iako se u ovoj bivšoj jugoslovenskoj republici primjenjuje Ustav Bosne i Hercegovine kao najviši opšti pravni akt države, konferencijom u Bonu i ovlašćenjima datim Visokom predstavniku (otuda naziv bonska ovlašćenja) omogućeno mu je da vrlo brzo postane najznačajniji zakonodavac. On je otuda dobio i mogućnost da stvara i oblikuje državno uređenje Bosne i Hercegovine, jer je mogao da donosi nove i mijenja postojeće zakone, pa je tako uticao i na načelo podjele vlasti, na kome je organizovana raspodjela nadležnosti predviđena Ustavom BiH. Posebno su osjetljiva pitanja prenošenja nadležnosti sa institucija Republike Srpske i Federacije BiH na institucije Bosne i Hercegovine, tj. sa entiteta na državu, jer su oni tako, svaki put, sve više i više gubili svoje izvorne nadležnosti. Zato se može konstatovati da je dolaskom Visokog predstavnika u Bosnu i Hercegovinu, ona postala država sa dosta ograničenim suverenitetom i nad kojom se vrši i sprovodi jedan specifičan oblik „međunarodnog starateljstva”, bolje reći „protektorata”, u kome se istovremeno krše brojna ljudska prava i slobode građana, zagarantovana Ustavom BiH i Evropskom poveljom o ljudskim i građanskim pravima. S obzirom na to da je Visoki predstavnik djelovao kao nosilac brojnih ovlašćenja koja mu nisu pripadala i da se time miješao u vršenje, kako ustavotvorne i zakonodavne, tako i izvršne i sudske vlasti, on je svojim djelovanjem narušavao jedan od osnovnih principa vladavine prava – podjelu vlasti. Bez nje nema demokratije i vladavine objektivnog prava koje važi za sve, tj. za nosioce najviših državnih vlasti i samih građana na koje se ta vlast odnosi. Vršenjem revizije Ustava BiH, on je poremetio i jasno predviđenu ravnotežu koja je Ustavom određena između Republike Srpske i Federacije BiH (entiteta) i Bosne i Hercegovine (države), a sve je to činjeno radi jačanja centralne vlasti i unitarizovanja ove bivše jugoslovenske republike. Prenos nadležnosti sa organa entiteta na institucije višeg nivoa, tj. na institucije Bosne i Hercegovine, izvršio je Visoki predstavnik bez saglasnosti samih entiteta, a osnivanjem novih institucija u državi izvršena je značajna revizija samog Ustava BiH. Nesporno, takve njegove odluke su narušile ovlašćenja entiteta i njihove nadležnosti, s jedne strane, a jačala Bosnu i Hercegovinu (kao državu), s druge strane. U radu će se lako uočiti da je Visoki predstavnik tokom proteklih godina donosio brojne zakone kojima je došlo do uspostavljanja Državne granične službe, Suda i Tužilaštva BiH, Visokog sudskog i tužilačkog savjeta, Ministarstva pravde, Ministarstva bezbjednosti, Savjeta ministara, raznih agencija i slično. Ovakvim njegovim djelovanjem je, očigledno, narušena Ustavom utvrđena ravnoteža između entiteta, tj. Republike Srpske i Federacije BiH, s jedne strane i države, tj. Bosne i Hercegovine, s druge strane. Dejtonski mirovni sporazum nastojao je da obuhvati što širu materiju i predvidi obrazovanje organa koji bi bili osposobljeni da uspješno sprovode Sporazum i očuvaju trajni mir na ovim prostorima. Međutim, odredbama člana 3 tačke 5 Ustava predviđeno je da će „Bosna i Hercegovina preuzeti nadležnost za takva pitanja o kojima se entiteti slože: koje su u skladu sa aneksima 5–8 Opšteg okvirnog sporazuma ili koje su potrebne da se očuva suverenitet, teritorijalni integritet, politička nezavisnost i međunarodni subjektivitet Bosne i Hercegovine, u skladu sa raspodjelom odgovornosti među institucijama Bosne i Hercegovine. Dodatne institucije mogu biti uspostavljene prema potrebi kako bi vršile ove nadležnosti”. Ustavnopravna i politička stabilizacija na ovim prostorima može se postići samo ukoliko postoji garancija funkcionisanja i sprovođenja cjelokupnog pravnog i političkog sistema. Tome posebno može da doprinese poštovanje ustavnog prava entiteta da se oni, umjesto Visokog predstavnika, uvijek izjašnjavaju o tome da li je potrebno obrazovanje određenih organa i donošenje određenih akata odgovarajućeg sadržaja. Sve to zahtijeva duboku i stalnu analizu samih nadležnosti koje su prenijete i aktivnosti Visokog predstavnika, pa se otuda može reći i da ocjena ustavnosti i zakonitosti djelovanja ovog međunarodnog političkog organa u BiH, kao i mogućnost vraćanja prenijetih nadležnosti sa državnog na entitetski nivo (kao što je to ranije bilo), imaju svoj osnov, kako u ustavnopravnom, tako i u političkom smislu. Promjene Ustava BiH na način koji se razlikuje od onog koji je propisan odredbama samog ustava i narušavanje principa ustavnosti i zakonitosti imaju za posljedicu da je došlo do razlike između stvarnog i normativnog, tj. da se faktičko (realno) razlikuje od propisanog u najvažnijem opštem pravnom aktu – Ustavu. Ukoliko postoje pokušaji promjene (revizije) važećeg ustava, onda to treba izvršiti saglasno proceduri koja je predviđena Ustavom. Zato ne treba da iznenadi činjenica da će ustavnopravna priroda akata Visokog predstavnika predstavljati jedno vrlo značajno pitanje i da će u vremenu koje je ispred nas, stalno dobijati na svojoj važnosti i aktuelizaciji.

The High Representative of the International Community in BiH, i.e. his Office, represents a specific international political body, which has, on the one hand, extremely broad powers and, on the other hand, rather imprecise and generally defined competences, without the possibility of bearing any responsibility for its work and making (and, very often, imposing) unilateral, sometimes incomprehensible and highly debatable decisions. Therefore, we can freely say that in these almost three decades (1995‒2023) of its existence, it has grown into a specific, sovereign institution of this former Yugoslav republic, although it was originally assigned the role of an organ of the international community, which was to facilitate the implementation of the civilian part of the Dayton Peace Agreement in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Hence, comparing the Constitution of BiH and the acts of the High Representative, we must agree with the statement that there is a big difference between the imaginary state established by Annex IV of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the state that functions today on the basis of the acts of this international political body. The first one can be said to be "unreal", i.e. imagined by the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, while the reality is completely different and that, when we talk about the sovereignty of Bosnia and Herzegovina, it can be stated that the reality indicates (confirms) that this is a "protectorate", the duration of which is unknown and, in this regard, there is complete uncertainty. Although the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina is applied in this former Yugoslav republic as the highest general legal act of the state, the Bonn Conference and the powers given to the High Representative (hence, the name "Bonn Powers" is used) enabled the High Representative to very quickly become the most important legislator. He, therefore, also got the opportunity to create and shape the state regulation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, because he was able to pass new and change current laws, thus influencing the principle of separation of powers, on which the distribution of competences provided for by the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina is organized. The issues of transfer of competences from the institutions of Republika Srpska and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina are particularly sensitive here, i.e. from the entity to the state, because in this way, each time, more and more, they lost their original competences, which were thus transferred to the state institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Therefore, it can be concluded that with the arrival of the High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, it has become a country with very limited sovereignty and over which a specific form of "international guardianship", or rather "protectorate", is exercised and implemented, and in which numerous human rights and freedoms of citizens guaranteed by the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the European Charter on Human and Civil Rights are violated at the same time. Given that the High Representative acted as the bearer of numerous powers, which did not belong to him, and thus interfered in the exercise of both constitutional and legislative, as well as executive and judicial powers, violating one of the basic principles of the rule of law ‒ the separation of powers. Without it, there is no democracy and rule of objective law that applies to everyone, i.e. to the holders of the highest state authorities and the citizens themselves to whom that authority refers to. By revising the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, he disturbed the clearly foreseen balance established by the Constitution between the Republika Srpska and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (the entity) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (the state), and all this was done in order to strengthen the central government and unitize this former Yugoslav republic. The transfer of competences from entity bodies to higher level institutions, i.e. to the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, were carried out by the High Representative without the consent of the entities themselves, and with the establishment of new institutions in the state, a significant revision of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina was carried out. Undeniably, such decisions of the High Representative have violated the powers of the entities and their competences, on the one hand, and strengthened Bosnia and Herzegovina (as a state), on the other d. In the text that follows, it is easy to notice that the High Representative passed, during the past years, numerous laws that led to the establishment of the State Border Service, the Court and Prosecutor's Office of BiH, the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Security, the Council of Ministers, various agency and the like. His such actions obviously violated the balance established by the Constitution between the entities, i.e. the Republika Srpska and the Federation of BiH, on the one hand and the state, i.e. Bosnia and Herzegovina, on the other. The Dayton Peace Agreement sought to cover as wide a matter as possible and provide for the formation of authorities that would be able to successfully implement the Agreement and preserve lasting peace in these areas. However, the provisions of Article 3, Point 5 of the Constitution provide that "Bosnia and Herzegovina will assume jurisdiction over such issues on which the Entities agree: which are in accordance with Annexes 5‒8 of the General framework agreement or which are necessary to preserve the sovereignty, territorial integrity, political independence and international subjectivity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in accordance with the distribution of responsibilities among the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Additional institutions may be established as necessary to exercise these powers". Constitutional-legal and political stabilization in these areas can only be achieved if there is a guarantee of the functioning and implementation of the entire legal and political system. Respect for the constitutional right of the entities can especially contribute to this in a way that they, instead of the High Representative, always declare whether the formation of certain bodies and the adoption of certain acts of appropriate content are necessary. All this requires a deep and constant analysis of the competences that have been transferred and the activities of the High Representative, so it can be said that the evaluation of the constitutionality and legality of the activities of this international political body in BiH, as well as the possibility of returning the transferred competences from the state to the entity level (as it was before), have their basis, both in the constitutional and legal sense, as well as in the political sense. Changes to the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina in a way that differs from the one prescribed by the provisions of the Constitution itself and the violation of the principles of constitutionality and legality have as a consequence that there has been a difference between the real and the normative, i.e. that it is factually (realistically) different from what is prescribed in the most important general legal act ‒ the Constitution. If there are attempts to change (revise) the current Constitution, then it should be done in accordance with the procedure provided by the Constitution. Therefore, the fact that the constitutional-legal nature of the acts of the High Representative will represent a very important issue and that, in the time ahead of us, it will constantly gain in importance and actualization should not be surprising.

Kancelarija visokog predstavnika, Bosna i Hercegovina, Republika Srpska, Federacija BiH, bonska ovlašćenja, entiteti, nadležnosti, revizija Ustava BiH, Evropska unija, Organizacija ujedinjenih nacija

Office of the High Representative, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republika Srpska, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bonn powers, entities, competences, revision of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, European Union, United Nations Organization

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