Joint Statement

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Country/entity: Bosnia and Herzegovina
Yugoslavia (former)
Region: Europe and Eurasia
Agreement name: Joint Statement
Date: 15 Jun 1992
Agreement status: Multiparty signed/agreed
Interim arrangement: Yes
Agreement/conflict level: Interstate/intrastate conflict(s)
Balkan Conflicts (1991 - 1995) (1998 - 2001)
Former Yugoslavia

The disintegration of former Yugoslavia post cold war saw conflicts which became mediated and produced peace agreements in Slovenia (where the brief independence conflict was mediated by the EC Troika in 1991), Croatia (between Croatian and Serb populations 1991-1995), in Bosnia (between Croatian, Serb and Bosniak populations 1992-1995), in Macedonia (where mediation played a key pre-emptive role in preventing large scale conflict in 2001), in Kosovo (between Kosovar Albanians and Serbian population and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY), but also between FRY and NATO, 1998-1999), and a conflict in the Presevo Valley (between Albanians in South Serbia and FRY, 2000-2001). The continued fall-out of the disintegration of former Yugoslavia also saw mediated agreement and ultimate dissolution of the Union between Serbia and Montenegro.

Bosnia-Herzegovina

In 1991, after nationalist parties won the first multi-party elections in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, a violent process of disintegration commenced. With its mixed population, Bosnia-Herzegovina became the centre of the following civil war that began in 1992 between the newly formed army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (mostly Muslim Bosniacs), and the parastatal forces of self-declared Bosnian Croat (Herzeg-Bosnia) and Bosnian Serb (Republika Srpska) entities within Bosnia-Herzegovina, supported by Croatia and Serbia, with various, often short-lived, coalitions. The General Framework Agreement (Dayton Peace Agreement), signed in 1995, split the country into two ethno-federal entities, the Bosniak-Croat Federation and the Republika Srpska, and included continued peacekeeping and institutional administration by international actors.

Kosovo

The conflict between Serbs and Kosovar Albanians has a long history and always involved territorial disputes as well as ethno-political, cultural and linguistic factors. The most recent phase of the conflict began in November 1997 when the Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA or UCK) began their campaign for the independence of Kosovo from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY – then Serbia and Montenegro). The subsequent war lasted until the NATO intervention, which undertook bombing campaigns of Belgrade and other places in Serbia during spring 1999. The main agreements solving the conflict were internationally driven and, finally, a UNSC resolution imposed a post-conflict arrangement in the wake of what was essentially a NATO military victory. In February 2008, Kosovo’s parliament declared independence, but independence is still internationally disputed.
Stage: Pre-negotiation/process
Conflict nature: Government/territory
Peace process: Bosnia peace process
Parties: President of the Republic of Croatia DR FRANJO TUDJMAN; President of the Presidency of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina ALIJA IZETBEGOVIC
Third parties: -
Description: This short agreement provides for the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Republics of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and endorses the independence of Bosnia. Although it was made before the conflict between Croat and Bosniak forces in Bosnia, it has been included because it has a pre-negotiation function with regard to the Agreement on Friendship and Cooperation between the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Croatia, which outlined a constitutional agreement that became important to post-conflict agreements between Bosnia and Croatia.

Agreement document: BA_920615_Joint Statement.pdf (opens in new tab) | Download PDF

Groups

Children/youth: No specific mention.
Disabled persons: No specific mention.
Elderly/age: No specific mention.
Migrant workers: No specific mention.
Racial/ethnic/national group: No specific mention.
Religious groups: No specific mention.
Indigenous people: No specific mention.
Other groups: No specific mention.
Refugees/displaced persons: Groups→Refugees/displaced persons→Rhetorical
Page 1, 2.
The Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina is grateful to the Republic of Croatia for the humanitarian help and the reception and accommodation of the large number of refugees, citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina who were forced to leave their centuries-old homes, fleeing from the inhuman and savage attacks of military forces of Serbia and Montenegro and the chetnik forces.
Social class: No specific mention.

Gender

Women, girls and gender: No specific mention.
Men and boys: No specific mention.
LGBTI: No specific mention.
Family: No specific mention.

State definition

Nature of state (general): No specific mention.
State configuration: Page 1, 4.
Both Presidents express their full agreement that a political solution for the relations with Bosnia and Herzegovina on the principle of parity of the three constituent nations has to be sought after the cessation of the war.
Self determination: No specific mention.
Referendum: No specific mention.
State symbols: No specific mention.
Independence/secession: Page 1, 3.
The republic of Croatia supports the efforts of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the preservation of independence and its resistance to the aggression and is giving and will continue extending help to the Republic of Bosnia Herzegovina in this respect...
Accession/unification: No specific mention.
Border delimitation: No specific mention.
Cross-border provision: No specific mention.

Governance

Political institutions (new or reformed): No specific mention.
Elections: No specific mention.
Electoral commission: No specific mention.
Political parties reform: No specific mention.
Civil society: No specific mention.
Traditional/religious leaders: No specific mention.
Public administration: No specific mention.
Constitution: No specific mention.

Power sharing

Political power sharing: No specific mention.
Territorial power sharing: No specific mention.
Economic power sharing: No specific mention.
Military power sharing: No specific mention.

Human rights and equality

Human rights/RoL general: No specific mention.
Bill of rights/similar: No specific mention.
Treaty incorporation: No specific mention.
Civil and political rights: No specific mention.
Socio-economic rights: No specific mention.

Rights related issues

Citizenship: No specific mention.
Democracy: No specific mention.
Detention procedures: No specific mention.
Media and communication: No specific mention.
Mobility/access: No specific mention.
Protection measures: No specific mention.
Other: No specific mention.

Rights institutions

NHRI: No specific mention.
Regional or international human rights institutions: No specific mention.

Justice sector reform

Criminal justice and emergency law: No specific mention.
State of emergency provisions: No specific mention.
Judiciary and courts: No specific mention.
Prisons and detention: No specific mention.
Traditional Laws: No specific mention.

Socio-economic reconstruction

Development or socio-economic reconstruction: Socio-economic reconstruction→Development or socio-economic reconstruction→Humanitarian assistance
Page 1, 2.
The Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina is grateful to the Republic of Croatia for the humanitarian help and the reception and accommodation of the large number of refugees, citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina who were forced to leave their centuries-old homes, fleeing from the inhuman and savage attacks of military forces of Serbia and Montenegro and the chetnik forces.
National economic plan: No specific mention.
Natural resources: No specific mention.
International funds: No specific mention.
Business: No specific mention.
Taxation: No specific mention.
Banks: No specific mention.

Land, property and environment

Land reform/rights: No specific mention.
Pastoralist/nomadism rights: No specific mention.
Cultural heritage: No specific mention.
Environment: No specific mention.
Water or riparian rights or access: No specific mention.

Security sector

Security Guarantees: No specific mention.
Ceasefire: No specific mention.
Police: No specific mention.
Armed forces: Page 1, 3.
...The Republic of Croatia also endorses the efforts of the legal Government and the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina in consolidating the defence of the Republic by joining forms and components of armed resistance into the united armed forces under the command of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, constituted in the spirit of paragraph 4 below.
DDR: No specific mention.
Intelligence services: No specific mention.
Parastatal/rebel and opposition group forces: No specific mention.
Withdrawal of foreign forces: No specific mention.
Corruption: No specific mention.
Crime/organised crime: No specific mention.
Drugs: No specific mention.
Terrorism: No specific mention.

Transitional justice

Transitional justice general: No specific mention.
Amnesty/pardon: No specific mention.
Courts: No specific mention.
Mechanism: No specific mention.
Prisoner release: No specific mention.
Vetting: No specific mention.
Victims: No specific mention.
Missing persons: No specific mention.
Reparations: No specific mention.
Reconciliation: No specific mention.

Implementation

UN signatory: No specific mention.
Other international signatory: No specific mention.
Referendum for agreement: No specific mention.
International mission/force/similar: No specific mention.
Enforcement mechanism: No specific mention.
Related cases: No specific mention.
Source: Snezana Trifunovska (ed.) Yugoslavia Through Documents: From Its Creation to Its Dissolution (Dordrecht: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1994), pp. 615-616.

JOINT STATEMENT MADE BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA AND THE PRESIDENT OF THE PRESIDENCY OF THE REPUBLIC OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

Sarajevo and Zagreb, 15 June 1992

The President of the Republic of Croatia, Dr Franjo Tudjman, and the President of the Presidency of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mr Alija Izetbegovic, hereby express their wish to meet at the earliest convenience in order to talk about the current problems and future relations between the two sovereign and independent States.

Both sides regret that the current circumstances when the brutal aggression is being continued especially in the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, President Izetbegovic is unable to leave Sarajevo.

Hoping that they will be able to meet soon, the two Presidents have decided to issue the following statement.

Joint Statement

1. Since the Republic of Croatia has recognized the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina has recognized the Republic of Croatia, both Presidents state that the diplomatic relations at the level of embassies should immediately be established.

2. The Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina is grateful to the Republic of Croatia for the humanitarian help and the reception and accommodation of the large number of refugees, citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina who were forced to leave their centuries-old homes, fleeing from the inhuman and savage attacks of military forces of Serbia and Montenegro and the chetnik forces.

3. The republic of Croatia supports the efforts of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the preservation of independence and its resistance to the aggression and is giving and will continue extending help to the Republic of Bosnia Herzegovina in this respect.

The Republic of Croatia also endorses the efforts of the legal Government and the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina in consolidating the defence of the Republic by joining forms and components of armed resistance into the united armed forces under the command of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, constituted in the spirit of paragraph 4 below.

4. Both Presidents express their full agreement that a political solution for the relations with Bosnia and Herzegovina on the principle of parity of the three constituent nations has to be sought after the cessation of the war.

5. The President of the Republic of Croatia, Dr Franjo Tudjman, endorses the efforts of the international community aimed at the cessation of aggression in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the request the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina has directed to the international community for help and efficient action in order to prevent further aggression and bring the war operations to an end.

6. Both Presidents agree that the diplomatic-consular representations of both countries will extend, within their competence, all necessary help and services to the citizens of both countries in cases when their respective representations cannot offer that help.

Acts committed within the framework of such mutual help will be recognized as valid by both countries.

President of the Republic of Croatia DR FRANJO TUDJMAN

President of the Presidency of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina ALIJA IZETBEGOVIC