Europe's top human rights court ruled on Tuesday that the constitution of Bosnia, created as part of the country's post-civil war settlement, discriminated against citizens who were not Serb, Croat or Muslim. The ruling by the European Court of Human Rights, which in theory obliges Bosnia to reform its constitution, was issued following complaints by the head of a Roma association and the former head of the Jewish community of Sarajevo.
Both argued that their status prevented them from standing for election as president of the republic or as members of the upper house of parliament. Under the constitution agreed under the 1995 Dayton accord, which ended the four year-long civil war in the multi-ethnic former Yugoslav republic, Bosnia and Herzegovina is composed of two entities: the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Serb Republic.