Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520

Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr.
The Foreign Relations Committee
201 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510

Congressman Chris Smith
Vice Chairman of the House Committee on International Relations
2373 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Secretary Rice,

Dear Senator,

Dear Congressman.

The U.S Department of State document “Country Report on Human Rights Practices, 2005″ starts with:”The 1995 peace agreement for Bosnia and Herzegovina (Dayton Accords) created the independent state of Bosnia and Herzegovina”.

That assertion is inaccurate.

The electoral majority of Bosnia and Herzegovina created the independent state of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The electorate of Bosnia and Herzegovina first voted in electing their government. Then they voted in the Referendum of Independence. That vote was beyond question and it was a majority vote. The United States and other countries had their observers present. We know that the result of the vote of the electoral majority was then submitted to a vote, in 1992, in the Parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the highest legislative body, which body was based upon elected representation. The Parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina passed a majority vote, in support of the will of the people, to create an independent state. Records to that effect exist. Bosnia and Herzegovina was then accepted, by acclamation, into the United Nations Organization.

The Congress of North American Bosniaks, which speaks on behalf of the 350,000 Bosniaks living in the United States and Canada, politely requests that the U.S. Department of State implement correction to its official communication to reflect that Bosnia and Herzegovina was established, as an independent state, by the freely expressed will of its electoral majority, in a popular vote, in 1992.

With respect,

Emir Ramic, President
Congress of North American Bosniaks