EU Court of Human Rights Rules Rules Bosnia-Herzegovina's Consitution Discriminatory Toward Roma and Jews

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg (France) reportedly ruled on Tuesday that Bosnia’s constitution discriminated against Roma and Jews because it prohibited them to run for parliament or presidency.

The Hindu community has also urged Bosnia-Herzegovina to urgently modify its constitution to reflect that all its citizens are treated equally. Acclaimed Hindu statesman and president of Universal Society of Hinduism, Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) on the 23rd of December, said that it was moral duty of Europe (which prided itself for its human rights record) and Bosnia-Herzegovina (a country of age-old cultures and fabulous mountain vistas) to take care of their minorities who had participated together with the majority in continent building. Europeans should leave the ethnicities behind and build a better Europe working together, Zed added.

Structuring European and world societies on the principles of pluralism would be a step in the right direction, Rajan Zed also argued.

According to an ECHR press release: The Bosnian Constitution, in its Preamble, makes a distinction between two categories of citizens: the so-called “constituent peoples” (Bosniacs, Croats and Serbs) and “others” (Jews, Roma and other national minorities together with those who do not declare affiliation with any ethnic group). The House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly (the second chamber) and the Presidency are composed only of persons belonging to the three constituent peoples.

Tuesday’s judgment was given by the Grand Chamber of 17 judges, with Jean-Paul Costa (France) as President. ECHR, an international court to deal with violations of civil and political rights established in 1959, has delivered more than 10, 000 judgements.

*Article courtesy of Rajan Zed

I understand that Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Balkans in general has recently been through much dividing and reassembling. The ethnic and political conflicts in much of the Balkans is still electric. For those of you interested in the history of the area, refer to Black Lamb and Grey Falcon by Rebecca West and Balkan Ghosts by Robert D. Kaplan, probably the 2 best books on the region and truly well-written to boot. I think it is wonderful that the problems in Bosnia-Herzegovina's constitution have been brought to light, and hopefully this will spark political change, which in turn may begin to heal the enormous and dangerous rift between the different ethnic groups in the region. These people have been through so much, and embracing each other as fellow people in peace and goodwill can only help.