Minorities to force Bosnia to change constitution

By Daria Sito-Sucic

SARAJEVO (Reuters) - Dervo Sejdic has served his country as a policeman but the Bosnian citizen does not have the right to stand for president because he is an ethnic Roma, an exclusion that also applies to Jews.

Bosnia's constitution, drafted to end Europe's worst fighting since World War Two, allows only Muslims, Serbs and Croats -- former Yugoslavs who had fought each other in a 1992-95 war -- to run for the country's highest office.

Sejdic complained to the European Court of Human Rights and won, a decision that could force the still divided Balkan state to look beyond its ethnic matrix in a year when important national elections are scheduled.

"This ruling is of decisive importance for the development of Bosnia's democracy," said Sarajevo University professor Enver Kazaz. "This is the first example of civic action that will force authorities to react."

If and when constitutional changes are implemented, analysts say it extend full civil rights to close to 500,000 Bosnians known as 'others', citizens who have largely abstained from voting for nationalist Serb, Muslim and Croat leaders in the country of 3.85 million.

In its December decision, sparked by a complaint from Sejdic and Bosnian Jewish community ex-leader Jakob Finci, the European Court of Human Rights ruled the constitution was discriminatory and must allow minorities to run for high office.

"With this suit, I started an avalanche aimed at correcting the inequality of citizens in Bosnia-Herzegovina," said Sejdic, who added he will never run for president himself.

Failure to implement the ruling could set Bosnia back even further behind its neighbours in its bid to join the European Union. But if Bosnian leaders do comply, they could open the door to constitutional change long sought by Western officials.