TOO LITTLE TOO LATE: Implementation of the Sarajevo Declaration (ICG Balkans Report N° 44)
TOO LITTLE TOO LATE: Implementation of the Sarajevo Declaration (ICG Balkans Report N° 44)

Author(s): Author Not Specified
Subject(s): Civil Society, Governance, Inter-Ethnic Relations, Wars in Jugoslavia
Published by: ICG International Crisis Group
Keywords: state-building of Bosnia and Hercegovina;
Summary/Abstract: Sarajevo’s Bosniac authorities were given the opportunity to demonstrate their much-vaunted commitment to multi-ethnicity when, on 3 February 1998, representatives of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosnia), the Federation of Bosnia Herzegovina (Federation), Sarajevo Canton and the international community adopted the Sarajevo Declaration. The Declaration stressed the importance of the Bosnian capital “as a model of coexistence and tolerance for the rest of the country” and made it clear that: “The international community will condition continuation of assistance for Sarajevo on fulfilment of the benchmarks set out in this Declaration and on adequate progress toward meeting the 1998 goal of at least 20,000 minority returns.” Seven months on, the Sarajevo authorities have failed to meet most of the Declaration’s main benchmarks or take adequate, concrete steps to enable the return of anywhere close to 20,000 minorities this year. Indeed, as of early August, only 1,300 minorities -- 7 percent of the target number -- had actually returned. These failures are, in large part, due to stalling, incompetence and general lack of will on the part of Sarajevo authorities and officials of the ruling SDA (Party of Democratic Action).

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