Bosnien und Herzegowina

The four-day mission marked the first visit by a UN human rights High Commissioner in more than two decades, and she noted that some of the same rights challenges from that era persist today.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has apologized formally for the Netherlands' treatment of hundreds of its troops who served the Dutchbat III peacekeeping unit that failed to protect thousands of lives in the Bosniak enclave of Srebrenica 27 years ago.

The Serbian member of Bosnia’s tripartite presidency, Milorad Dodik, on Monday said that Bosnian Serbs will respect Sunday’s agreement signed in Brussels on building a peaceful and stable Bosnia. Although the agreement is not signed or legally binding, “it will be respected on the political and moral level”, he said.

Bosnia and Herzegovina’s High Representative Christian Schmidt used his powers to break a political deadlock and impose a decision to allocate finances from state reserves to hold October’s general elections.

The war in Ukraine has forced Bosnian Serb nationalists to delay plans to pull their region out of Bosnia-Herzegovina's national institutions, Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik said.

High Representative Christian Schmidt said that more than 26 years after the signing of the General Framework Agreement for Peace – known as the Dayton Accords – citizens are once again talking about the possibility of another conflict, posing the risk of inflammatory incidents.

Germany will work for an extension of the EU's peacekeeping mission in Bosnia as concerns mount about instability spilling over from the Ukraine war, but has not yet decided whether to provide troops, Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht said.

The law would have allowed for the Serb-majority Republika Srpska to take over property owned by the central government. Serb leader Milorad Dodik said he does not accept the decision.

The German government has warned of Russia’s destabilisation strategies, possibly challenging peace and stability in the Western Balkan region, most notably in the already dysfunctional Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH).

Thirty years after the siege of Sarajevo, the UN team in Bosnia and Herzegovina reiterated the importance on Wednesday of pursuing justice and reparation for victims, survivors and their family members.