Draft:Ohaerism

Ohaerism (pronounced Okhaerism, which stands for the «Office of the High Representative,» or rule by the holder of that office) is the illegal form of governance of a United Nations member state, in a manner that is contrary to the UN Charter. Its essential feature is that the subject state is governed by an individual, in the case of Bosnia and Herzegovina the High Representative, who is not a citizen of the  state which he illegally governs. The subject state is thus converted into a territory deprived of sovereignty, tantamount to a protectorate. It has the features of an authoritarian, total, and totalitarian system which maintains under its supervision and strict control all significant social processes. As a result, the population, state institutions, and all other political actors are denied the possibility of freely debating political matters and taking their own decisions. This form of governance over a UN member nation is found only in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and nowhere else in the world.

It was engendered and developed in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a UN member state, shortly after the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement, on 14 December 1995.

In order to properly understand the illegal nature of Ohaerism it is necessary to take note of what the Charter of the United Nations, as the paramount document of international law, prescribes. Article 2, section 1, clause 1 of the Charter, with the effect of an imperative prescription of international law, provides that the UN and all its member states are bound by the principle of the sovereign equality of their members. Sovereign equality of all member states of the United Nations is specifically enshrined in Article 2, section 1, clause 7 of the UN Charter, which holds that there is nothing that entitles the United Nations, and by extension any of their member states, to interfere in matters which by their nature pertain to the domestic affairs of individual states. The UN Charter accordingly forbids UN organs, member states, organizations, and individuals, using any pretext whatsoever, to act in a manner that would amount to the imposition of their will, in the form of mandates or laws, acting as a substitute for a member state's own competent institutions. For the same reasons, in Article 78, the UN Charter forbids the institutionalization of a protectorate over any UN member state because, pursuant to Article 78 of the Charter, relations between states must be grounded in respect for the principle of sovereign equality.

Bosnia and Herzegovina was granted the status of a member state of the United Nations in May of 1992. In spite of that fact, and regardless of what the Charter of the United Nations prescribes, several other states, led by Great Britain and the US, acting in contravention of the UN Charter and the Dayton Peace Agreement, created a so-called Peace Implementation Council for Bosnia and Herzegovina. At a session of that Council held in Bonn, Germany, in December 1997, the states comprising that Council decided, regardless of that being prohibited to them by the UN Charter and the Dayton Peace Agreement, that they shall appoint a High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina and invest him, as an individual, with authority to interfere in affairs that by their essence pertain to the domestic competences of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a UN member state. In the conclusions reached by the Peace Implementation Council for BH in December 1997 it was decided that the members of that Council authorize  the High Representative in BH to make decisions binding on Bosnia and Hercegovina, as the High Representative considers them fit and necessary.

In this manner, state members comprising the said Peace Implementation Council for BH created conditions allowing them, through the agency of the individual that they themselves selected as the High Representative, to interfere in affairs that by their essense are the exclusive prerogative of the domestic institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The UN Security Council acquiesced in that illegal practice, which is contrary to the UN Charter and the Dayton Peace Agreement, whereby the principle of sovereign equality of UN member states was violated in the most flagrant and theretofore unseen manner.

By invoking that illegal practice, the various High Representatives, acting since 1997 to the present day, have imposed upon Bosnia and Herzegovina hundreds of decrees of a constitutional and legal character, among others those dismissing dozens of individuals from their positions in BH institutions, banning them from performing their duties in those institutions, while denying them the right of redress over said decisions before any court, domestic or foreign.

In the aforementioned manner the authoritarian, total, and totalitarian political Ohaerism regime was created and continues to function in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The regime's authoritarian nature inheres in the fact that it allows for a semblance of democracy in Bosnia and Herzegovina by tolerating the formal existence of domestic institutions such as the parliament, cabinet, courts, and periodic elections in which numerous political paerties are allowed to take part. However, the political environment of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as in any other authoritarian regime, is characterized by the fact that state institutions, the population, and other political actors are deprived of a genuine possibility of engaging in free political deate and unfettered decison-making, all such endeavors being stymied by the political system of authoritarian Ohaerism.

Ohaerism is a total and totalitarian system whose inherent nature is reflected in the fact that it has subsumed under its control and direction every significant aspect of social life in Bosnia and Heregovina. The system's totality and totalitarianism have been expressed through numerous constitutional amendments, laws, decisions, and decrees, by means of which it illegally (by imposing the will of the High Representative) it implanted a variety of instituions of its own design (BH Office of the Prosecutor, State Court, State Border Service, Public Broadcasting Regulatory Agency, as well as others). But beyond such impositions, Ohaerism also became involved in regulating the most important areas of social life. Examples of that are numerous changes in the Constitution of the Federation of BH and Constitution of the Republic of Srpska decreed by the High Representative, the creation of a BH Criminal Code, private property restituion laws, BH citizenship law (1997), Law prohibiting the disposition of state property, public broadcasting law (1998), decision on the design and printing of currency (1998), General statute on the privatiation of enterprises and banks in BH (1998), as well as numerous other illegal actions undertaken by the High Representatives.

All these operations are linked by a common essence which consists of the arrogation on the part of Ohaerism of the power to determine and direct the course of social life in Bosnia and Herzegovina in its totality. Ohaerism maintains strict control over the implementation of every one of its decrees and dispositions. Failure to implement the will of the High Representative is subject to criminal prosecution because the Ohaerism system imposes non-compliance as a criminal act in itself, prescribing a prison sentence of between six months and five years for not implementing, refusing to execute, or in any manner disrespecting the decisions of the High Representative in Bosnia and Hercegovina.

Such a manner of governance over a member state of the United Nations does not exist anywhere else in the world, except in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

(autor: Phd. Milan Blagojević)

References:

•·Milan Blagojević: (2004), Tehnologija ohaerizma, „Štampa“ Doboj, ISBN 99938-743-1-0.

•    Milan Blagojević: (2018), Hrestomatija tehnologije ohaerizma, „JU Službeni glasnik Republike Srpske“, ISBN 978-99938-22-57-8.

•    Milan Blagojević: (2021), Kriminal ohaerizma, „Filip Višnjić“ Beograd, ISBN 978-86-6309-255-6.

•    Andrićev institut, Andrićgrad: (2023), Kraj novog svetskog poretka (1989 – 2022), Zbornik radova sa naučnog skupa održanog u Andrićgradu od 25. do 28. 6. 2022. godine, str. 295-349, ISBN, 978-99976-89-15-3.

•    Milan Blagojević: (2023), Ubiće nas neznanje i pohlepa, „Besjeda“ Banja Luka, ISBN 978-99938-1-499-3.