High Representative For Bosnia and Herzegovina - The Bonn Powers of The OHR

The Bonn Powers of The OHR

At its December 1997 meeting in Bonn, the Peace Implementation Council agreed in granting further substantial powers to the OHR, in order to avoid the implementation of the Dayton agreement being delayed or obstructed by local nationalist politicians. The OHR was requested to:

1. adopt binding decisions when local parties seem unable or unwilling to act;
2. remove from office public officials who violate legal commitments or, in general, the DPA.

The Bonn powers were extensively used by the OHR in the following decade. Some examples include the adoption of the Defence reform in April 2003, with the suppression of the Supreme Defence Council of the Republika Srpska, and the amendment of Entity Constitutional Laws

Until 2004, the OHR had dismissed a total of 139 officials, including judges, ministers, civil servants and members of parliaments or ministers, sometimes along with freezing their bank accounts. After the 2002 elections, the OHR scrutinised all political candidates for major ministerial positions at Entity and State level.

Criticisms of the action of the OHR through its Bonn powers include:

• the lack of accountability of his position, which is only responsible to the Peace Implementation Council;
• the lack of appeal of his decisions, which are not bound on a preliminary hearing of the concerned persons, and which have immediate effect. Removals may in some cases also impose a life-ban on public offices.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which Bosnia and Herzegovina had joined in 2002, has voiced complaints against the actions of the OHR, requiring it to transfer his powers to the Bosnian authorities as soon as possible.

The OHR's prolonged interference in the politics of Bosnia and Herzegovina is also considered to be one of the causes of the low commitment of citizens towards the state (shown by low voter turnout) and of low accountability of politicians (whose actions are finally subject to external review).