09/15/2000 OHR Sarajevo

Again No Progress on the Single National Passport

The Office of the High Representative is stunned by the inability of the BiH Parliament to make any progress on the basic issue of travel documents. Certain members of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH have failed to rise above narrow party political interests by preventing discussion on the long awaited law for a single national passport.

The SDS, with the support of SPRS, PDP, SRS and RS RS, willfully undermined the parliamentary process of this country to avoid democratic debate on the issue. The Chairman of the House compounded the problem by displaying astonishing levels of incompetence by failing to enforce basic Parliamentary Rules of Procedure.

Furthermore, the total failure of support from the Council of Ministers for a Law it approved in July is incomprehensible. The single national passport is a requirement of the New York Declaration and of the Brussels PIC Conference of May this year, yet the BiH Parliament has obstructed and delayed this important piece of legislation since August.

The House of Representatives’ inability to address this issue with the best interests of their own electorate at heart is a sad indictment of the work of this institution. The BiH Common Institutions inability to deliver this long promised piece of legislation only makes international travel for ordinary citizens more difficult.