Prospect of Abuse of Constitutionalism in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Constitutional Identity and the Constituent Peoples

The Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina is primarily notable for being an annex to the Dayton Peace Treaty that ended the 1992–1995 war. A significant aspect of this constitutional framework is its emphasis on the three main ethnic groups – Bosniaks, Croats, and Serbs – designated as constituent peoples, which play a central role in the state’s governance and institutions. The recent decision of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in the case of Savickis and Others v. Latvia has indirectly highlighted the (in)compatibility of certain constitutional solutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina with the principle of non-discrimination of the European Convention on Human Rights. In this article, the authors explain how the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina did not seek to implement the rulings issued by the ECtHR, but rather interpreted the constitutional identity of the country as being based precisely on the central role given to the constituent peoples. In so doing, the Constitutional Court, now also supported by the case Savickis and Others v. Latvia, created the prospect of abuse of constitutionalism in Bosnia and Herzegovina.