AGENDA FOR CLOSING OHR IMPOSSIBLE TO FULFILL, PIC HAS NO POWERS

BANJA LUKA, OCTOBER 30 /SRNA/ - The so-called "5+2 agenda" for closing the OHR has no legal basis or legitimacy, as it was drawn up by the OHR in 2008 and backed by members of a self-proclaimed group of states calling itself the Steering Board of the Peace Implementation Council /PIC/, the Republika Srpska Government said in its report to the UN Security Council.
"The PIC, whose existence the Dayton Agreement neither provides for nor even mentions, has no legal authority to set conditions for closing the OHR. In fact, the PIC has no legal authority whatsoever," the Government said.

The report noted that in practice the agenda has proved impossible to fulfill in full, which effectively guarantees the OHR and its bureaucratic apparatus an eternal existence.

"Bosniak political parties in BiH, which see the OHR as a powerful political ally, will never allow the '5+2 agenda' to be fulfilled, because they hope the OHR will remain in BiH indefinitely. Even former High Representatives support closing the OHR without making it conditional on fulfilling that agenda," the Report says.

It was stressed that the OHR, as an administrative structure, has no founding act of its own, no legal competences and no legitimate role whatsoever, but exists solely as an office providing administrative support to the High Representative, whose legal mandate is entirely defined by Annex 10 of the Dayton Agreement.

The UN Security Council will discuss the situation in BiH today, with the reports of the Republika Srpska Government and the OHR before its members.