Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina held today its 98th plenary session.
At the today's session, the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina decided on a number of requests for review of constitutionality and appeals on the alleged violations of the human rights and fundamental freedoms.
For illustration purposes, we highlight the following:
Dr Bozo Ljubic, the Chairman of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, at the time of submission of request, filed with the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a request for review of the constitutionality of individual provisions of the Subchapter B of the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina and provisions of Article 20.16A under Chapter 20 – Transitional and Final Provisions of the Election Law.
The applicant stated, inter alia, that the challenged provisions of the Election Law are not in conformity with the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina in conjunction with certain provisions of the European Convention for Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Protocol No. 12 to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, the provisions of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination which make an integral part of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Having examined this request, the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina has, pursuant to Article 46 of the Rules of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, decided that the issues raised in regards to the request significant for the decision-making are to be deliberated upon and that the public hearing on these issues is held at the following plenary session of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina decided also in the case U-7/15, the request of Mr. Safet Softic, Second Deputy Chair of the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina for the review of constitutionality of the first sentence of Article 7(1) of the Constitution of the Republika Srpska in the part reading: “the language of the Bosniac people”.
The applicant, inter alia, held that this provision is not in conformity with the Preamble of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina and its principle of constituent status of the Bosniac people. In addition, the applicant emphasized that the challenged provisions is in violation of the provisions of the European Convention, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Framework Convention on Regional or Minority Languages, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, as well as the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities.
Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina dismissed the request as ill-founded as it established that the first sentence of Article 7(1) of the Constitution of the Republika Srpska in the part reading: “the language of the Bosniac people” is in conformity with the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Constitutional Court, inter alia, concluded that the first sentence of Article 7(1) of the Constitution of Republika Srpska, in the part stating “the language of Bosniac peoples” is a neutral provision which does not determine the name of language but contains the right of Bosniac constituent peoples as well as other constituent peoples and Others, who are not declaring themselves as such, to name the language they speak by the name of their choice which is in compliance with the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and any different conduct in practice would lead to the violation of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina but also of the Constitution of the Republika Srpska.
Also, the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, inter alia, concluded that the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina stipulates in no way that the names of the languages spoken by the constituent peoples must be associated with the names of the constituent peoples. The Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina gives the right to the constituent peoples and Others to name the language they speak as they wish. The provision as such does entitle the authorities of the Republika Srpska to determine the name of the language spoken by Bosniacs contrary to their constitutional right to name the language they speak as they wish. The name of the language cannot depend upon linguistic rules because the constitutional right to the name of the language is independent from the content of the language, standards of the language etc. The contested provision does not prevent Bosniacs, nor does it prevent anyone else, from naming the language they speak as they wish. Thus, such a concept of the contested provision is in accordance with the position that the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina gives the right to all constituent peoples, including Bosniacs and Others to name the language they speak as they wish.
All decisions taken at the session are to be delivered to the appellants within a time-limit of one month and posted on the official website of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
