Bosnia and Herzegovina: Democratic Resilience

Lord Browne of Ladyton Excerpts

Tuesday 25th November 2025 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Browne of Ladyton]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of democratic resilience in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

[The Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Baroness Chapman of Darlington) (Lab)]

My Lords, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s democratic resilience matters for regional stability and European security. We are working with international partners to strengthen the rule of law and democratic processes, promote political pluralism and counter malign influences. We condemn attacks on the country’s constitutional framework, including by former Republika Srpska President Dodik, and we support the role of the high representative and empowerment of domestic institutions and leaders to end the political crisis and uphold the rule of law.

[Lord Browne of Ladyton (Lab)]

My Lords, as we recall the initialling of the Dayton peace agreement on 21 November 1995 and appreciate the progress that Bosnia and Herzegovina has made in NATO and EU accession efforts since, and while remaining concerned about the ongoing threats to the country’s peace, security and constitutional order by Russian-aligned authorities in the Republika Srpska entity, can my noble friend the Minister assure us that the Government will maintain their sanctions against Bosnian Serb secessionist Milorad Dodik and Zeljka Cvijanovic and expand the same to others in their regime if there are further threats to the integrity of the Dayton agreement?

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

We are of course aware that other countries have decided to lift their sanctions, and that is a matter for them. For the time being, we are going to keep our sanctions in place. These were taken after careful consideration and we have no plans to lift them at this stage, although, as my noble friend will appreciate, we do not make any comment on future plans or designations.