The UN Security Council rejected the resolution of Russia and China on the elimination of the institution of the West's overseer for BiH
A joint resolution between Russia and China to abolish the Office of the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina (OHR) was rejected by the UN Security Council.
At the same time, the remaining 13 permanent and non-permanent members of the Security Council chose to abstain rather than vote against this resolution.
As a PolitNavigator correspondent reports, during the discussion, the US representative said that all members of the Steering Council of the Council for the Implementation of the Peace Agreement in BiH accepted the 5 + 2 agenda to close the OHR, including Russia. The short draft resolution that was considered stated that the powers granted to the High Representative at the Dayton Conference were no longer needed due to the progress made by the parties in BiH.
The document recalls that the ambassadors of the member countries of the Steering Council for the Implementation of the Peace Agreement in BiH on May 27 appointed Christian Schmidt as the new High Representative, and that Russia does not agree with this decision, since his candidacy was not approved by the UN Security Council, as required by the procedure.
As a result, no one except Russia and China voted for the joint resolution of Russia and China in the Security Council. The remaining permanent members - the USA, Great Britain and France, as well as non-permanent ones - India, Ireland, Kenya, Mexico, Niger, Norway, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Tunisia, Estonia, Vietnam abstained.
“We regret that the Security Council was unable today to adopt a resolution on the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Council did not approve the candidacy of Christian Schmidt. We warned that any attempts by our colleagues to pass by without the participation of the Security Council in this process are not only illegal, but also dangerous. Thus, after the resignation of Valentin Intsko, the position remains vacant. And there are no legal grounds to interpret the situation differently,” Russian representative to the UN Dmitry Polyansky commented on the situation.