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European Court: Bosnia's Constitution Unfair to Jews, Roma

   VOA News 22 December 2009

   Europe's  top  human  rights court has ruled that Bosnia-Herzegovina's
   constitution  discriminates  against  the  country's Jews and Roma and
   must be reformed.
   The  European  Court  of  Human  Rights in Strasbourg ruled Tuesday in
   favor  of  two  plaintiffs:   Jewish  activist  Jakob  Finci and Dervo
   Sejdic, an ethnic Roma.
   Both  men complained that their bids to run for the presidency and the
   upper  house of parliament were rejected because they were not members
   of Bosnia's main ethnic groups, Muslims, Croats and Serbs.
   The  court's  decision  obliges  the  Balkan  country  to  reform  its
   constitution.
   Bosnia's  constitution  is part of the 1995 Dayton peace accord, which
   ended the long ethnic war among the three groups.
   The  hastily  composed  constitution is aimed at ensuing power-sharing
   among what it calls Bosnia's constituent peoples.

   Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

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