His Excellency Mr. Zeljko Komsic, Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Addresses the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

On Tuesday, October 1, His Excellency Mr. Zeljko Komsic, Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, gave a noontime Presidential Address to a standing-room only crowd at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The event was attended by faculty, staff, students, and distinguished guests, including the First Lady of Bosnia and Herzegovina Mrs. Sabina Komsic, the Bosnian Ambassador to the United States Ms. Jadranka Negodic, the Consul General, and leaders of the Chicago and St. Louis Bosnian communities. President Komsic’s visit came about from REEEC undergraduate student Medina Spiodic’s ambitious vision, and from the growth and greater recognition of South Slavic Studies at the University. Along with REEEC, the European Union Center and the Office of International Programs and Studies co-sponsored the event. President Komsic’s visit highlighted his advocacy of cooperation across ethnic lines and strengthening links to the Bosnian-American community.

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With the help of Mirella Bajric, the interpreter, President Komsic addressed the audience in his native Bosnian. He began by expressing his “pleasure to be here at the second-oldest university in Illinois.” He praised the University Libraries, and the University’s research and teaching, particularly the blossoming interest in Slavic Studies.

President Komsic then remarked on contemporary Bosnia. He observed that the majority of Bosnians are grateful for the help of the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in stopping the war in 1995. He pointed out how Prof. Francis Boyle, of the College of Law and a REEEC faculty affiliate, was a key player in the signing of the Dayton Peace Accords. However, he acknowledged the challenges that Bosnia faces. Politically, there is a weakening of international interest in Bosnia. The international community, which had previously played a large role in ending the war and had a strong presence in the country, is now allowing local communities to lead. As a result, the Dayton Accords appear to be weakening. The country is stalled on its way to the European Union (EU) and NATO. Currently, it has not been able to fulfill the requirements for membership into both organizations. Since Bosnia lacks formal constitutional standards to equalize citizens, many Bosnians are denied basic human rights and face discrimination based on their ethnicity. President Komsic questioned how quickly and effectively Bosnia can make the necessary changes to become part of the EU and NATO.

President Komsic continued his address with a comparison between the United States and Bosnia. Both are multinational countries, but Bosnia has more work to do to repair its social divisions. In contrast, the U.S. had the strength to carry Barack Obama to the the Presidency. There were formal measures in place for him to become President, regardless of his background.  According to President Komsic, Bosnia needs a government and society based on the U.S. model of individualism, not collectivism. His goal is to end discrimination and make Bosnian society comparable to that of the U.S.

In conclusion, President Komsic spoke about the Bosnian diaspora in the U.S. He praised those who became successful in their new home, but also revealed that the majority of the adult generation that escaped the war had not really adjusted to life in the U.S. They still struggle with communicating in English and long for their homeland, despite knowing that they have nothing left there. However, the young people, their children, have adapted well and are fully integrated into U.S. society. Yet, those ethnic divisions that pit Bosnian Croats, Muslims, and Serbs against each other continue to exist even within the diaspora community. President Komsic believes in the need for drawing people to the Bosnian embassy and consulates, regardless of their ethnicity. All in all, President Komsic remains optimistic. He hopes that the media will strengthen connections between Bosnia and the Bosnian diaspora.

The University of Illinois was one of several U.S. destinations following President Komsic’s address to the United Nations in New York on September 24. Prior to his campus visit, he met with the Bosnian community in St. Louis. After his day-long stay at the University, he went to Chicago to meet with the Bosnian community there.

Bosnian Leader Calls for End to Ethnic Divisions

This is a re-posting of an article from the Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette. To see the original article, please click on the following link: http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2013-10-01/bosnian-leader-calls-end-ethnic-divisions.html

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Chairman of the presidency visits campus between two other stops in St. Louis, Chicago

CHAMPAIGN — Dividing citizens, and government, along ethnic lines is not sustainable for Bosnia, the republic’s current president said Tuesday.

Zeljko Komsic, chairman of the presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, visits the University of Illinois Tuesday Oct. 1, 2013.

Zeljko Komsic, the current chairman of the three-person presidency of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, said the ethnic divisions entrenched in his country’s constitution threaten its future and potential membership in the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

“There is no way forward for Bosnia Herzegovina without NATO and the EU,” Komsic said through a translator during an appearance at the University of Illinois.

Komsic visited campus as part of a program on the Bosnian “diaspora,” or the more than 1 million Bosnians who fled a three-year war, discrimination and a poor economy to live in the United States and other countries. The UI is developing a program in Bosnian studies, pulling together scholars in history, music and other fields who study the Balkans.

Komsic, who holds a degree from Georgetown University, is the Croat member of the three-person presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which rotates every eight months and also includes a Serb and a Bosniak (Muslim). He was first elected in 2006 and re-elected in 2010.

Part of the former Yugoslavia, Bosnia and Herzegovina declared independence in March 1992 after a referendum that was boycotted by ethnic Serbs.

Bosnian Serbs, supported by neighboring Serbia and Montenegro, fought to partition the republic along ethnic lines and join Serb-held areas to form a “Greater Serbia.” That plunged the republic, which includes Muslims, Croats and Serbs, into a three-year civil war.

The factions agreed to U.S.-brokered peace accords in November 1995 in Dayton, Ohio, which created a multi-ethnic democratic government that gave each of the three main ethnic groups a share of power based on the size of their populations. It included a second tier of government composed of the Bosniak/Bosnian Croat Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Bosnian Serb-led Republika Srpska, which oversee most government functions.

Komsic expressed gratitude to the United States and other NATO countries for helping end the Bosnian War. But he said the Dayton Accords didn’t resolve the longstanding ethnic tensions in his country, and substantial changes are needed to meet basic human-rights standards.

Under the constitution, not all citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina can be elected, he said, and a human-rights court has ordered changes.

“This is a type of discrimination,” he said.

The country can’t survive divided among Croats, Serbs and Bosniaks, Komsic said, as it has “stalled” Bosnia’s progress and desire to join the EU.

On the day a congressional standoff brought parts of the U.S. government to a halt, Komsic nonetheless praised U.S.-style democracy as something his country should emulate. The U.S. Constitution guarantees individual rights, including the right to vote and be elected, he said, and Bosnia needs to establish a society where people are judged as individuals, not by their ethnicity.

As an example, he pointed to the election of Barack Obama as the first U.S. black president despite the country’s struggles with racial discrimination. It was the “strength of society” and the protections of the Constitution that allowed that historic moment, he said.

“We’re still struggling to get that. We want that moment in Bosnia Herzegovina,” so society will no longer be divided by ethnicity or race or “what God people believe in,” he said. “We need to overcome this so we can move on.”

Despite decades of ethnic conflict, Komsic thinks his country can change, and that almost half of Bosnia’s citizens agree with him.

Bosnia began a new census Tuesday, and thousands of citizens have joined a campaign to reject the ethnic and religious labels that still divide the country, using “ethnically challenged” or “a citizen above all” instead. The government power-sharing arrangement among Serbs, Croats and Bosniaks left out Jews or the children of mixed marriages who refused to pick a side and are excluded from public-sector job quotas.

Komsic called the protest a positive step.

“The biggest question is, who we are. Are we Bosniak, Serb or Croatian, or are we ordinary people? I believe that we are primarily ordinary people,” he said after his talk Wednesday.

Komsic, 49, earned degrees from the University in Sarajevo law school and School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. He received the Bosnian army’s highest honor, the Golden Lily, for his service in the war. He traveled to the United States last week for the U.N. General Assembly and agreed to visit Champaign in between stops in St. Louis and Chicago, which both have large Bosnian-American populations.