Topic: Ensuring Stability in Kyrgyzstan
Country: Bosnia and Herzegovina
Delegate Name: Savannah Kounelis
School: Mattawan High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Bosnia and Herzegovina position papers GLIMUN 2010 committees
Bosnia is a country of about 4.6 million people, located in Southeastern Europe. There are three prevailing ethnic groups in the country, the Bosniaks making up 48% of the population, the Serbs making 37%, and the Croats making up about 14%. Bosnia recently gained its independence from former Yugoslavia in 1992, and upon its independence, soon became a member of the United Nations. Bosnia’s government can be described as a parliamentary democracy, consisting of two separate entities: The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republika Srpska. The presidency in Bosnia is a three-member unit, each person rotating every eight months during their four-year elected term. The Bosnian government also has a bicameral, or two house, assembly; it consists of a fifteen person House of Peoples and a forty-two seat National House of Representatives. There is also a Council of Ministers and a Chairman that are elected by the House of Representatives. After gaining its independence, Bosnia had a brief time period of civil war (1992-1995) due to the split in opinions on whether to seek independence from Yugoslavia (Bosniaks and Croats wanted this) or stay under the federation (mostly Serbs supported this). Once Bosnia gained its independence, the Serbs revolted in a series of killings of non-Serb civilians; as the Croats and Bosniaks fought back and the Serbs continued the killings, the death toll climbed to 200,000 people until a peace treaty, the Dayton Agreement, were signed by the three ethnic groups. Almost 2.2 million people were forced to leave their homes, and the killings were seen as genocide. The UN helped Bosnia gain stability, and now the country is a fairly strong contributor to the United Nations. Bosnia is still going through a period of reconstruction, with many countries providing aid to do so.
Kyrgyzstan, a country just west of China, went through a crisis beginning in April of ethnic conflict between the Uzbek and Kyrgyz groups due to riots against former President Bakiyev. The riots included Kyrgyz members killing more than 2,000 Uzbeks; it has been called “genocide” and “ethnic cleansing.” About 400,000 more Uzbeks had to flee the country, many of the refugees being women, children, and the elderly. Roza Otunbaya has taken over as the temporary president of Kyrgyzstan, after Bakiyev imposed a state of emergency and then was forced to leave the country because of the opposition facing him.
So far, the Kyrgyzstan crisis has not directly affected Bosnia. What will affect Bosnia in the future, though, is whether Bosnia gets involved in aid or whether countries that are still giving aid to Bosnia decide to divert their funds elsewhere.
Kyrgyzstan, like Bosnia, went through genocide due to rising tensions between different ethnic groups residing in the country due to a political mishap. As of now, Bosnia’s current foreign policy dictates that Bosnia is to establish relations through “interstate agreements of mutual interest, especially in the field of economy and foreign investments.” Bosnia also seeks to make “friends” with countries of which Bosnia is not yet involved with politically, Kyrgyzstan falling under this category. Bosnia has not yet taken direct action to aid Kyrgyzstan, but this could change in the future based on the decisions to follow Bosnia’s foreign policy as stated above. Thus, Bosnia would like to see the genocide of the Uzbeks addressed, and for a resolution on how to prevent further killings to be created.
Bosnia supports the termination of the genocide that is happening in Kyrgyzstan, but so far has not promoted any action being taken to aid the country other than ending the killings. Bosnia’s position may change due to other countries aiding Kyrgyzstan; Bosnia is receiving money from many countries to reconstruct its economy and the country itself. If funds are pulled from Bosnia for the Kyrgyzstan crisis, Bosnia may be unable or unwilling to assist Kyrgyzstan. Bosnia’s foreign policy dictates that Bosnia must first protect its “independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity” and keep its economy growing and have “lasting stability.” Bosnia sees Canada, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Malaysia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, the US, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Romania to be allies.
