Last modified: 2001-09-14 by dov gutterman
Keywords: herzeg-bosnia | bosnia and herzegovina | checquy | federation of bosnia and herzegovina | west bosnia |
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by Zeljko Heimer, 14 May 2000
See also:
Municipalities:
It is of important that the Herzeg-Bosnia canton is not
confused with the Croatian Republic of
Herzeg-Bosnia 1993-1995, even if they both use the same
symbols and similar names.
The Herzeg-Bosnia Canton, in Croatian 'Hercegbosanska
z<upanija', being the Canton 10 of the Dayton Agreement, was
formed in the mentioned agreement in 1995 as one of the ten
cantons of the Federaion of Bosnia and
Herzegovina. The Canton is situated in along wstern borders
of B&H, including the cities of Kupres, Livno and Tomislavgrad
(the latter also formerly known as Duvno). The three also
function as the seats of administration and cantonal capital
(Kupres), seat of the governmment (Livno )
and seat of the parliament (Tomislavgrad).
As it is easy to conclude, the canton is predominantly settled by
Croats.
Zeljko Heimer, 14 May 2000
According to governmental web pages of the Federation of
Bosnia and Herzegovina, the present canton name is: 10. West
Bosnia (former Herzeg-Bosnia).
Jan Zrzavy, 17 July 2001
The flag and the coat of arms has been adopted by articles 8
and 9 of the Constitution of the Canton, adopted on 26-MAR-1996:
Ustav Hercegbosanske Zupanije, 26. ozujka 1996, Narodne novine
Hercegbosanske zupanije nr. 3/96 [nr. 1/96, 10. travnja 1996, p.
6] (my source is not quite clear and must contain a typo
somewhere, as the headerof the constitution have nr.1/96, while
the next document I'll mention clearly states it is in nr. 3/96.
Hopefull, we'll manage to settle that some time latter on)
The coat of arms and the flag adopted there are virtually the
same as the CoA and the flag of the Croatian Republic of
Herzeg-Bosnia used since around 1993 until her disbanding,
officiall in 1995, but in practice much latter in 1990's.
The CoA is Croatian chequy shield of red and white, set in a
german shaped shield bordered golden and with a golden outlined
white pannel above containing the "tripple-wattle". The
art. 8 of the Constitution deterines the ratio of the
"wattle" height and the height of a sqaure in the shied
as 1:1, while the length is 3:1.
The flag is red over white over blue tricolour, ratio 1:2. The
CoA is set in the middle, so that the "wattle" enters
the red stripe and base of the shield enters the blue stripe. The
height of the shield is not proscribed directly, but based on the
request that the center is in the middle of the flag, and that
the "depth" of the shield in the blue field is one
height of the squares in the shield, it is seen that it is just
about 1/2 of the hoist.
At some point I might have reported that the flag of
Herzeg-Bosnia Canton is "simplified" Croatian tricolor,
as I have pictured it on my pages for some time, too. That is now
found incorrect, even if that flag is certainly popular among
Croats and probably in frequent use "by civilians".
That is the same flag seen, as mentioned by Ivan Sache
at Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia
1993-1995 , on [asp] chart which
is clearly wrong here,
The flag of the Herzeg-Bosnia Canton as well as some other
provisions of the aforementioned constitution are found
unconstitutional by the Contitutional court of the Federation of
B&H. (Presuda Ustavnog suda F BiH, 20. studenog 1997. i 19.
veljace 1998., Sluzbene novine F BiH nr. 24/98, 17. lipnja 1998,
pp. 712-714) . The ruling of the Court found that some articles
are to be invalidated, including those on the flag and CoA as
well as the one regarding the name. The name is not accepted,
since no part of the Canton include any territoy of Herzegovina,
and the federal contitution request that the coantons be named
after the cities of their seats of government or the regions they
cover. Terefore, in some official listings the canton is named
nowdays (still) simply as Canton 10.
The CoA and the flag are invalidated since they do not represent
both of the ethnical communities, but only and exclusivly one of
them. Since the date of the publication of the official gazette,
the flag and teh CoA are not official any more, but they remained
in "de facto" use ever since. The cantonal government
deems the self ruling of the Contitutional court to be
unconstitutional - and do not want of follow it. That is
supported by the "opinion apart" of one of the judges
of the Constitutional court, published in the same official
gazette right after the ruling, stating basically, that the
symbols are not unconstitutional, since the Consitution of the
Federation have no provision regarding the design of those. They
are, supposedly, adopted by a regular proceidure and thus quite
valid. The judge understand that some people of the canton can
object to the design, but the proceidure for the cange or
invalidation of those symbols should be made by other means and
not through the Constitutional court.
Well, in any case, until May 2000 the local authorities made no
atempt on changing the symbols because of the ruling, and
continue to use them.
Zeljko Heimer, 14 May 2000
hbz.gif)
by Zeljko Heimer, 14 May 2000
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