Last modified: 2014-03-01 by ivan sache
Keywords: federation of bosnia and herzegovina | fleur-de-lis (yellow) | stars: 10 (white) | star: 6 points (white) |
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![[Federation flag]](../images/b/ba-fed.gif)
Flag of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1996-2007 - Image by Željko Heimer, 18 March 2001
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The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina decided on 31 March 2006 that both Republika Srpska and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina had to adopt new symbols.
Quoting the website of the Constitutional Court:
In case U 4/04, concerning a request of Mr. Sulejman Tihić, who was at the time of filing the request a Chair of Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, for review of constitutionality of Articles 1 and 2 of the Law on Coat of Arms and Flag of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina,[...], the Constitutional Court decided to take a partial decision. [...]
In the partial decision adopted today, it was established that Articles 1 and 2 of the Law on Coat of Arms and Flag of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina [...] are not in conformity with Article II.4 of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina in connection with Article 1.1 and 2 (a) and (c) of the International Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination under Annex I to the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and National Assembly of Republika Srpska are ordered, in accordance with Article 63 para 4 of the Rules of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, to conform these provisions to the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina within time limit of six months, from the date of publishing this Decision in the Official Gazette of Bosnia and Herzegovina. [...]
On 29 January 2007, the B92 news agency reported (text):
The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina reached a verdict to abrogate the coat of arms and the flag of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the coat of arms and the anthem of Republika Srpska.
With this decision enters into force the prohibition on the use of those symbols and new symbols should be adopted that would contain symbols of all constitutional peoples.
This verdict was made since none of the two entities did obey a previous Court decision requiering that within 6 months the symbols be aligned with the determinations of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, that requires the symbols to represent all three constitutional peoples.
A request for the prolongation of that dead line by the Republic of Srpska was rejected, as much as the request to reexamine the Constitutional Court decision.
In the Federation the abrogation produced almost no reactions, since they were not considered real symbols by anyone. [...]
The Decision of the Constitutional Court was eventually issued on 31 May 2007 in the official gazette of Bosnia and Herzegovina Službene novine Bosne i Hercegovine, No. 45. This made the fmag and the coat of arms officially invalid and abandoned.
Željko Heimer & Adi Mirojević, 24 June 2007
The flag of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina was adopted on 5 November 1996.
Before the adoption of the flag, three flags were hoisted in the sessions of the Parlament of the Federation: the flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina of the time (white whith arms), the flag of Bosnian Muslims (green-white-green 1:2:1 with crescent), and the flag of the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia (that is, the flag of Bosnian Croats, red-white-blue with checky arms).
The flag is defined by Law with proportions 3:5, vertically divided red-white-green (1:3:1), with the coat of arms in the middle.
The red stripe stands for the Bosnian Croats, while the green stripe stands for Bosnian Muslims (Bosniaks). White symbolises purity.
Željko Heimer, Mark Sensen & Jos Poels, 8 February 1997
![[Federation arms]](../images/b/ba)fed.gif)
Coat of arms of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1996-2007 - Image by Željko Heimer, 18 March 2001
The coat of arms is in a shield shape, with on its left side a green shield charged with a golden-yellow fleur-de-lis and on its right side the Croatian historical coat of arms, made of with 25 white and red squares. The lower field of the arms is blue 10 white six-pointed stars in circle.
The coat of arms is outlined in gold (yellow) all around, as well as the border between the upper white part and the lower blue part. Similarly, the shield with the fleur-de-lis is outlined in gold, but with a slightly thinner line. The other shield (Croatian checky) is outlined in red. The two shields have a different shape.
The uppermost six-pointed star is tilted, pointing to the left, not upwards. The other stars are rotated accordingly to be in the same position towards the middle of the circle.
The golden fleur-de-lis on a green shield on the arms stand for Bosnian Muslims (Bosniaks, while the checky shield on the arms stand for Bosnian Croats. The ten white stars on blue represent the 10 cantons of the Federation.
Željko Heimer, Mark Sensen & Jos Poels, 8 February 1997
Znamierowski's World Encyclopedia of Flags (1999) [zna99] shows the flag with five-pointed, yellow stars, instead of six-pointed, white stars; the proportions of the flags are correctly illustrated at 3:5 but given in the text as "2:3".
Christopher Southworth, 19 September 2004
In another edition of the same book, the stars are six-pointed, but yellow. The checky shield is erroneous since it should be outlined in red, not in yellow.
Željko Heimer, 19 September 2004
In the 2002 update of the book [zna02], the stars are five-pointed and yellow.
David Kendall, 19 September 2004
![[Federation table flag]](../images/b/ba-fbih!.gif)
Table flag of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina - Image by Željko Heimer, 18 March 2001
In TV reports and interviews with various government oficials, a table flag often appears, usually hoisted with at least one other flag (most often either the flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina or the flag of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina).
The table flag is plain white with the federal coat of arms set in the middle, rotated for vertical hoisting. This flag does not appear in any regulation.
The coat of arms there is much larger here than it would be if the Federation flag was hoisted vertically. The proportions of the white field are 1:2, probably to match the other displayed flags.
Željko Heimer, 18 March 2001
According to Insignia Magazine, the flag of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is carried on the tail fin with the top edge parallel to the fin leading edge (photo).
Dov Gutterman, 14 June 2004