Day of Statehood of Bosnia and Herzegovina

76 years ago, on 25th November 1943, in heroic time during the WWII when multiethnic resistance movement, led by the Communist Party, was confronting fascist occupiers and their local allies in small mountainous town Mrkonjic Grad previously known as Varcar Vakuf gathered at the Founding Assembly of the State Anti-Fascist Council of the People’s Liberation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ZAVNOBiH) to express the will of the overwhelming majority and re-confirmed statehood of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

On that occasion, it was stated that peoples in Bosnia and Herzegovina “wanted their country, which is neither Serb, nor Croat, nor Bosniak but rather Serb and Croat and Bosniak country, to be free and unified in which the full equality of Serbs, Bosniak, and Croats will be secured”, and that peoples in Bosnia and Herzegovina will equally participate with other peoples of Yugoslavia in building of the common future.

The Founding Assembly of ZAVNOBiH was attended by 247 delegates from all parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina who elected the Presidency comprised of 31 members with Vojislav Kecmanović, medical doctor from Bijeljina, as the President. The Presidency of ZAVNOBiH carried out its functions between the sessions, as the highest political authority in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

ZAVNOBiH and its activity, from 1943 to April 1945, is one of the most important events in the history of Bosnia and Herzegovina. With its Resolution at the Founding Assembly and the Proclamation to Peoples in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the night 25/26 November 1943, ZAVNOBiH, restored the statehood of Bosnia and Herzegovina, confirmed its historic and political and state-legal individuality and it established the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina which is the most relevant legacy of the antifascist war.

The Assembly of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina at its session on 28th February 1995 passed a law designating the 25th November as the Day of Statehood, while the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina at its session of 6th March 1995 decreed the proclamation of the Act to designate the 25th November as the Day of Statehood. The new constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina dated November 1995 inherited all previous legislation of Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina that is not contrary to it including the law on Day of Statehood.