World Court Digest

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I.	Substantive International Law - First Part
4.	SUBJECTS OF INTERNATIONAL LAW
4.1.	General Questions

¤ Application of the Convention on the Prevention
and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide
(Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Yugoslavia),
Preliminary Objections, Judgment of 11 July 1996,
I.C.J. Reports 1996, p. 595

[p. 681 D.O. Kreca] 23. In the light of the contents of the Dayton Agreements and in particular in the light of the current state of affairs, Bosnia and Herzegovina may be qualified in terms of international law as a State in statu nascendi. At the time of the entry into force of the Dayton Agreements, the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as a State within the administrative borders of the former Yugoslav federal unit of the same name, possessed literally no relevant attribute of a State in terms of international law.

[p. 684 D.O. Kreca] At present, an absence of the crucial State elements in terms of international law makes Bosnia and Herzegovina within its administrative borders a State sui generis: a combination of a contractual relationship of two entities with a strongly installed element of an international protectorate. This status is expressed at two levels, that is

(a)

the factual level, as reflected in the position of IFOR. These forces are, by definition, a "multinational military Implementation Force"1 deployed to Bosnia and Herzegovina to "help ensure compliance with the provisions of this Agreement"2). IFOR is not only one armed force which shall "have complete and unimpeded freedom of movement by ground, air, and water throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina"3 but is even authorized to "take such actions as required, including the use of necessary force, to ensure compliance with this Annex, and to ensure its own protection"4;

(b)

the legal level, since particularly relevant provisions of Article VI of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Constitutional Court), which is an inherently adjudicative body which has "exclusive jurisdiction to decide any dispute that arises under this Constitution between the Entities or between Bosnia and Herzegovina and an Entity or Entities , or between institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina"5

1	Article 1 of the Agreement on the Military Aspects of the Peace Settlement, doc. A/50/790/S/1995/999, p. 7.
2	Ibid.
3	Ibid., p. 19.
4	Ibid., p. 8.
5	Ibid., p. 71.

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