Bojana Šešlija has been living in Canada for eight years, 3.000 kilometers from the capital Ottawa. She is a citizen of Canada and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Until 2017, she lived in East Sarajevo, which was placed in the Republika Srpska, one of the two entities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, by the Dayton Peace Agreement.
In recent days, she has been visiting her homeland - Bosnia and Herzegovina, and as she prepares to go for coffee with a friend, she dismisses with astonishment the possibility that she may soon have to give up one of her citizenships.
"That's not right," Seslija tells the BBC.
This is just one of the novelties of the new Constitution of Republika Srpska, which was adopted in the draft stage by deputies of the National Assembly of Republika Srpska (NARS) on Thursday evening, March 13th.
Related Articles
Bosnia and Herzegovina was divided into two entities by the Dayton Peace Agreement, after the end of the war in 1995 - the Republika Srpska, where the majority Serb population lives, and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, where the majority are Bosniaks and Croats.
- Constitutional Court temporarily repeals controversial laws, BiH Prosecutor's Office orders Dodik's arrest
- Dodik sentenced to one year in prison for disrespecting the High Representative for BiH
- Dodik and the laws: When organizations that help people with developmental disabilities become agents of foreign influence
Compared to the existing supreme legal act in the RS entity, the new one plans to take away many competencies from the state of BiH, such as the army, the appointment of ambassadors, the abolition of the position of vice president, and the manner of passing laws.
"To me, it looks like playing with fire and an attempt by Milorad Dodik and the regime's top brass to oppose perhaps the entire state," says Đorđe Vučinić, a member of parliament from the opposition Justice and Order List in the RS National Assembly.
"As a kind of attempt to save themselves from all the consequences that await them before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina and some possible new trials that are being announced."
Threatening the Dayton Peace Agreement
In recent weeks, the National Assembly of Republika Srpska adopted a series of controversial laws that remove the jurisdiction of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Prosecutor's Office, and the security agency in half of the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which the Constitutional Court of BiH temporarily repealed.
Then the BiH Prosecutor's Office issued an arrest warrant for the President of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, who signed all of those laws, because they suspect him of "attacking the constitutional order."
It all started when Dodik was sentenced to one year in prison in the first instance for disrespecting the decisions of the High Representative of the international community – the supreme authority in the country for the last 30 years.
Dodik calls the entire process "political persecution and hunt."
"BiH was never intended to be superior to Republika Srpska."
"We continue on our path, we do not give up. We are initiating the procedure for amending the Constitution of the RS, because it is time to say clearly and loudly - only its institutions will decide on Republika Srpska, not foreign centers of power," he wrote on X.
There is no blow or pressure that I am not ready to endure for Republika Srpska! I will continue to travel, to do my job, but one thing is certain - I will never leave Republika Srpska! I am not a coward, I do not seek protection, nor do I expect anyone to sacrifice themselves for me. I am here… pic.twitter.com/tnr0VlAQ1X
- Милорад Додик (@MiloradDodik) March 12, 2025
The announcement of the adoption of the new constitution provoked numerous reactions.
The Office of the High Representative in BiH, Christian Schmidt, warned MPs that the process currently underway in the RS National Assembly poses a serious danger.
"The proposed draft Constitution of Republika Srpska clearly violates both the General Framework Agreement for Peace and the Final Arbitration Award for Brcko and fundamentally puts them at risk," the Office said.
The OSCE Mission, whose opinion was cited by the Constitutional Court during the temporary suspension of recently adopted laws in the RS National Assembly, says that the Draft Constitution of Republika Srpska directly violates the constitutional order of BiH.
"And it represents a dangerous attempt to undermine the legal framework of the state, weaken institutional integrity, and deepen political divisions."
Dual citizenship
According to the current Law on Citizenship of BiH, citizens have the possibility of dual citizenship with countries with which BiH has signed a bilateral agreement, but there are no control mechanisms even for those who have passports from countries with which there is no such agreement. agreement.
"It suits us who live in an unstable country to have dual citizenship. It's always unstable here and we like to have that option open," Šešlija is honest.
However, constitutional amendments could limit this.
Article 11 of the draft Constitution states that citizens of "Republika Srpska may also have Serbian citizenship in accordance with the interstate agreement between Republika Srpska and the Republic of Serbia."
For Vučinić, this is one of the more controversial parts of the newly proposed Constitution.
He reminds that BiH currently has an agreement on dual citizenship with Serbia, Croatia and Sweden.
"This is unfeasible within these frameworks, this is just an attempt in the current situation to bring the atmosphere to a boil," says Vučinić, who was expelled from the RS National Assembly session on Wednesday.
He reminds that there are many Serbs in the RS who came from Krajina, from the territory of Croatia, during the war years of the 1990s, so the question arises whether they lose the right to citizenship of Croatia, which is also a member of the European Union.
Opposition: New Constitution Unenforceable
Many of the announced changes in the new Constitution are impossible, says Nurko Pobrić, a professor of constitutional law from Mostar.
"Their implementation is impossible," says Pobrić.
Opposition MPs who voted against the draft new Constitution say that attempts to enact a new Constitution are unworkable, unrealistic and hasty.
The ruling party MPs think the opposite. They say that they can fix what is wrong on the fly - in public debates.
"There is nothing that cannot be implemented," Danijel Jošić, an MP from Dodik's ruling SNSD party, tells the BBC.
Many of the novelties in the new Constitution are contrary to state-level laws, believes the MP and student of the Faculty of Law in Novi Sad.
He considers the very initiation of the constitutional amendment procedure to be reckless and unnecessary because now is "not the time for it."
"We're going on an adventure that's been prepared frivolously. We're somehow trying to finish it all in five minutes without any serious discussion," Vučinić said.
A day later, at the parliamentary rostrum, Dodik said that "the Constitution is never adventurism."
The right to self-determination
The new Constitution also provides for the right to self-determination and withdrawal from the Framework Agreement for Peace that ended the bloody war of the 1990s.
The draft constitution also mentions that the Republika Srpska is "the state of the Serbian people and all the peoples who live in it."
For Vučinić, this is a familiar story about an independent Republika Srpska.
"We received the draft maybe two hours before the session, so it's very frivolous to discuss such an important topic in this way, if they even seriously intend to deal with this."
The deputies of the opposition Serbian Democratic Party, whose founder Radovan Karadžić was sentenced to life imprisonment by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, also did not vote for the new Constitution.
He was found guilty of genocide, crimes against humanity, and violations of the laws and customs of war.
Today, his SDS is a party that calls for peace and rational political conduct, accusing the president of Republika Srpska of working against the interests of the entity.
At the end of February, Milorad Dodik was sentenced to a year in prison and a six-year ban from holding the office of President of the Republika Srpska for failing to respect the decisions of the High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
On the same day, he announced changes to the law prohibiting the work of the state judiciary in the RS.
Under constitutional changes, the president cannot be held criminally liable for actions taken in office.
The opposition believes that the trial against Dodik, for whom the Prosecutor's Office issued an arrest warrant because he failed to appear at the hearing, is the real reason for the proposal for a new Constitution.
"This can only be proposed by a person, or rather a group of people, who, above all, do not pursue a responsible national policy towards their people, and therefore towards Republika Srpska and BiH," SDS MP Ognjen Bodiroga, who was at one point removed from the assembly hall, told the newspaper.
He believes that the proposed constitutional changes create an atmosphere of fear and threaten the position of Republika Srpska.
"This is an adventurism that would never occur to a rational person," he told the BBC during a break in the parliamentary session.
How is a new Constitution adopted in the RS?
A general majority is required to adopt the Draft of the new Constitution, and a two-thirds majority of the 83 deputies is required to adopt the Constitution in the form of a proposal.
What procedure is necessary for adoption depends on whether it is a matter of amending the constitution or adopting a new constitution, says Dejan Lučka, a lawyer and director of the Banja Luka Center for Human Rights.
The Constitution of Republika Srpska was adopted before the war in BiH, in 1992, and has since been amended with a total of 122 amendments.
"The Constitution of the Republika Srpska defines that only the National Assembly has constitutional power, while the Council of Peoples has legislative power and decides on amendments to the existing constitution, together with the National Assembly, while the constitution itself defines 'amendment of the constitution'," explains Lučka.
Currently, due to constitutional gaps, there are different views on the adoption of a new constitution for Republika Srpska.
"Perhaps the biggest point of contention relates to the need to confirm the constitution in the Council of Peoples."
"One side believes that this body should participate in the adoption of a new constitution, while the other believes that the Council of Peoples does not have that authority."
The Council of Peoples is a special body that decides whether a vital national interest has been violated, but also whether to change the Constitution of Republika Srpska.
Bodiroga, however, believes that the decision to initiate the drafting of a new constitution had to be confirmed by the Council of Peoples.
"Because if the Council of Peoples raises a vital interest, it can reject this decision," Bodiroga said.
Professor Pobrić believes that if a new constitution were adopted, it would not be in accordance with the state Constitution, which could be verified before the Constitutional Court of BiH.
"There is no doubt that this constitution would be declared unconstitutional," Pobrić is convinced.
If the process of adopting the Constitution continues, it will take months.
That gives Bojana enough time to think.
"I don't know yet whether I would give up my Canadian or Bosnian citizenship."
BBC is in Serbian from now on and on YouTube, follow us HERE.
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram i Viber. If you have a topic suggestion for us, please contact bbcnasrpskom@bbc.co.uk
Bonus video:
