''Sejdić and Finci v. Bosnia and Herzegovina'' (27996/06 and 34836/06) was a case (merged from two) decided by the Grand Chamber of the

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR or ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights. The court hears applications alleging that ...

in December 2009, in the first judgment finding a violation of Article 14 of the

European Convention on Human Rights The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR; formally the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms) is an international convention to protect human rights and political freedoms in Europe. Drafted in 1950 by ...

taken in conjunction with Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 thereof, with regard to the arrangements of the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

in respect of the House of Peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and a violation of Article 1 of Protocol No. 12 with regard to the constitutional arrangements on the

Presidency A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified b ...

of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The plaintiffs were two citizens of

, Dervo Sejdić and

Jakob Finci Jakob Finci (born 1 October 1943) is a prominent Bosnian Jew, former ambassador, and the current president of the Jewish Community of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Early life Finci was born to a Sephardic Jewish family on 1 October 1943 in the WWII-er ...

, who are of Roma and

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

ethnicity, respectively.

Facts

The 1995 Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, created as part of the

Dayton Agreement The General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, also known as the Dayton Agreement or the Dayton Accords ( Croatian: ''Daytonski sporazum'', Serbian and Bosnian: ''Dejtonski mirovni sporazum'' / Дејтонски миро ...

which ended the 1992–1995 Bosnian War, included power-sharing provisions which provided that posts in the tripartite

of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the House of Peoples (upper house of the national parliament) were reserved for ethnic Bosniaks, Bosnian Serbs and Bosnian Croats only. The applicants, being a Roma and a Jew, contested these provisions. Finci was represented by Clive Baldwin, formerly of

Minority Rights Group International Minority Rights Group International (MRG) is an international human rights organisation founded with the objective of working to secure rights for ethnic, national, religious, linguistic minorities and indigenous peoples around the world. Thei ...

now with

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...

, and by Sheri Rosenberg of Cardozo Law School, with advice and assistance from Minority Rights Group International throughout. Dervo Sejdić was represented by F. Javier Leon Diaz, a Barrister and established human rights lawyer.

Proceedings

Applications were submitted in 2006 and communicated to the government in 2008. In 2009, the jurisdiction was relinquished to the Grand Chamber. In June 2009, a public hearing was held, and in December 2009 the judgment was published.

Trial

The Court found that applicants' ineligibility to stand for election to the House of Peoples violates Article 14 of ECHR (ban of discrimination in the field of Convention rights) taken in conjunction with Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 (free elections), by 14 votes to 3, and that their ineligibility to stand for election to the Presidency violates Article 1 of Protocol No. 12 (general ban of discrimination), by 16 votes to 1. Judge Mijović (Bosnia and Herzegovina), joined by Judge Hajiyev (Azerbaijan), expressed a partly concurring and partly dissenting opinion, finding no violation in applicants' ineligibility to the House of Peoples. Judge Bonello (Malta) expressed a dissent concerning both access to the presidency and to the House of Peoples.

Aftermath

In October 2011, the

Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina The Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Parlamentarna skupština Bosne i Hercegovine, Парламентарна скупштина Босне и Херцеговине, separator=" / ") is the bicameral legislative ...

set in motion a

constitutional reform A constitutional amendment is a modification of the constitution of a polity, organization or other type of entity. Amendments are often interwoven into the relevant sections of an existing constitution, directly altering the text. Conversely, ...

, including changing the election provisions. In November 2014, the UK and German foreign ministers,

Philip Hammond Philip Hammond, Baron Hammond of Runnymede (born 4 December 1955) is a British politician and life peer who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2016 to 2019, Foreign Secretary from 2014 to 2016, and Defence Secretary from 2011 to 2014. ...

and

Frank-Walter Steinmeier Frank-Walter Steinmeier (; born 5 January 1956) is a German politician serving as President of Germany since 19 March 2017. He was previously Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2005 to 2009 and again from 2013 to 2017, as well as Vice Chan ...

, sent an "open letter" to the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which pledged substantive progress towards Bosnia's EU membership if Bosnia's politicians gave a written commitment to implement a package of reforms, including compliance with the ''Sejdic and Finci'' ruling of the European Court of Human Rights. However, as of 2019, 10 years after the ECHR judgment, no reforms have been implemented.

References

Bibliography

External links

Judgment

Webcast of the hearing

* Milanovic, Mark
Sejdic and Finci v. Bosnia and Herzegovina (September 6, 2010). American Journal of International Law, Vol. 104, 2010.
* Bardutzky, Sam
The Strasbourg Court on the Dayton Constitution: Judgment in the case of Sejdić and Finci v. Bosnia and Herzegovina, 22 December 2009 (October 19, 2010). European Constitutional Law Review, Vol. 6, Issue 2.
* Hodzic, Edin and Nenad Stojanovi
''New/Old Constitutional Engineering? Challenges and Implications of the European Court of Human Rights Decision in the Case of Sejdic and Finci v. BiH''. Sarajevo: Analitika - Center for Social Research, 2011.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sejdic and Finci v. Bosnia and Herzegovina Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights Jewish Bosnian history Romani in Bosnia and Herzegovina European Court of Human Rights cases decided by the Grand Chamber European Court of Human Rights cases involving Bosnia and Herzegovina Elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina Electoral restrictions 2009 in case law 2009 in Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina–European Union relations