The Director of Human Rights and the Execution Department carried out this week four-day long online consultations with national authorities and representatives of the international community in Bosnia and Herzegovina on the long-pending execution of the Sejdić and Finci group of ECHR judgments concerning ethnic-based discrimination in one’s right to free elections.
It was recalled that in October 2020, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (see decisions) highlighted the importance to ensure that the necessary steps are taken rapidly by the authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina to adopt the necessary constitutional and other reforms before the end of 2021.
The Director of Human Rights underlined that these judgments remain a high-level priority for the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. The authorities were urged to seize the positive momentum created by the Mostar elections last December and the establishment of an inter-agency working group to introduce the necessary changes to the Constitution and the electoral law in time for the 2022 general elections. The availability of the Council of Europe to provide all necessary assistance to the authorities in order to ensure the timely adoption of these reforms was reiterated.
The Committee of Ministers will re-examine these cases at its Human Rights meeting on 9-11 March 2021.
