Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2010

It is an honour to address the

General Assembly at its sixty-fifth session. Allow me

to express my gratitude to Mr. Ali Abdussalam Treki

for having ably presided over this body during the past

year and to congratulate Mr. Joseph Deiss on being

elected the new President of the General Assembly.

Fifteen years ago, the Dayton Peace Agreement

ended the aggression in and brought peace to Bosnia

and Herzegovina. My country has come a long way

since then, and I feel obliged to thank the

Governments, organizations and individuals who

assisted us in travelling down this road.

When we asked the General Assembly to support

us in becoming a member of the Security Council, it

honoured us with almost unanimous support, for which

we offer our thanks. That support demonstrated that the

Assembly holds Bosnia and Herzegovina in high

esteem, and we are proud of that. As a member of the

Security Council, we are doing our best to meet the

Assembly’s expectations and honour its trust.

Thanks to the generous assistance of many

Governments represented here, Bosnia and

Herzegovina completed the main process of

reconstruction relatively quickly, particularly in the

light of the level of devastation. But the rebuilding of

our devastated society has proved to be much more

difficult. From 1992 to 1995, an age-old, genuinely

multicultural society in Bosnia and Herzegovina was

brutally and intentionally torn apart by force. Half of

the population of Bosnia and Herzegovina had to leave

their homes in order to save their lives. Some

1,300,000 of them remain outside Bosnia and

Herzegovina. Systematic obstructions were the cause

of failure of return programmes, and they are still an

obstacle to those who want to return. Those who made

it back to their homes are often confronted with

blockade walls or with outright violations of basic

rights. That makes the restoration of our pluralist

society the single most difficult task ahead of us.

But hope remains that the upcoming

constitutional changes will lay a foundation for the

new generation to be able to bridge the divides. No

matter what, we will continue to revive the pluralist

character and tolerant spirit of our society because we

strongly believe that cultural pluralism is humankind’s

most precious treasure.

A healthy economy can be a powerful tool for

achieving that goal. Bosnia and Herzegovina is a

country rich in water and other energy-generating

resources. We have undertaken studies and invited

international investors to participate in developing

these resources. Once completed, these projects will be

the driving engine of our economy, enabling us to

make progress in other areas, such as health care and

social services.

We continue to develop our infrastructure and

agricultural resources, but not at a desirable pace.

Although generally improved, our education system

remains in some aspects hostage to divisive political

influences. On the other hand, our rising trade

activities have resulted in improving our relations with

the countries in the region, and great opportunities can

be unlocked through more intensive and more

confident regional cooperation.

As is the case in other societies, our greatest

resource is our youth, educated in our country and

abroad, and ready to take over once our economy is

able to absorb their skills and talents. I am confident

that, in the coming years, employment opportunities

will grow in proportion to the development of the vast

untapped resources of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Defence reform is commonly seen as one of our

greatest post-Dayton successes because it resulted in

unified, modern armed forces. Here again, we have to

express our appreciation to our friends and allies

whose assistance made this achievement possible. In a

short amount of time, our armed forces have managed

to earn the trust and respect of the United Nations

through their participation in peacekeeping missions.

Like everywhere else, the citizens of Bosnia and

Herzegovina desire peace, stability and prosperity, as

well as a better future for themselves and their

children. There is great potential for development, and

opportunities are there to be seized. Yes, there are

reasons for optimism, but there are reasons for concern

too.

Our progress is hindered by the remnants of those

who still believe in the completion of the political

project that brought catastrophe not only to Bosnia and

Herzegovina, but to the whole region. In short, they

think that the world has forgotten the atrocities

committed against the civilian population, the

concentration camps, the rape camps and the genocide.

After hundreds of thousands of non-Serb civilians were

killed and expelled from one part of Bosnia and

Herzegovina, they are now publicly calling for the

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secession of that part. They hope and dream, as they

say, that the world will somehow recognize that entity

as an independent State. Instead of feeling shame,

these disciples of Miloševic, Karadžic and Ratko

Mladic are now ready to come and ask the international

community to reward the genocide in Srebrenica,

Prijedor, Zvornik, Sarajevo, Mostar and other sites of

horrific crimes for which Karadžic is now being tried

at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former

Yugoslavia in the Hague. What a monument to

inhumanity that would be!

Of course, they will not succeed. They can no

longer count on the mighty armies of Slobodan

Miloševic because those armies were defeated through

our heroic struggle. They do count on, as they say,

favourable geopolitical circumstances. But they fail to

take one thing into account, as Miloševic did. Bosnia

will be defended.

They will, however, continue obstructing

progress in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and they will

continue destabilizing the region. They found

inspiration in the inadequate response of the

international community, whose patience they have

been testing for the past 15 years. So, our collective

resolve to prevent the escalation and opening of fresh

wounds in Bosnia and Herzegovina is being tested

again. We must not fail this time.

This dangerous adventurism aside, I believe and I

know that the train of progress cannot and will not be

stopped. There is no doubt in my mind that Bosnia and

Herzegovina and our entire region will maintain

stability and achieve prosperity in the coming years,

thus fulfilling the dreams and desires of every one of

our citizens.