VII. Recommendations
1. States have a sovereign right to determine procedure and conditions for acquisition and loss of their citizenship. However, certain minimum standards and due process should be observed.
2. Persons with citizenship should not be rendered stateless by the dissolution of states. Specifically, all states should allow for the acquisition of citizenship to all citizens who resided in their territories at the moment of the state¹s creation, notwithstanding their previous citizenship. However, citizenship must not be imposed against the will of individuals.
3. Article 29 of the Bosnian Law on Citizenship confers citizenship on all persons who had the citizenship of the former Yugoslavia and the domicile in the territory of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina on April 6, 1992, including those who did not have the intention of becoming Bosnian citizens, or remaining in Bosnia, but rather were forced to remain there due to the war, and the concurrent restrictions on movement. One solution is to amend the law to allow these persons to obtain citizenship of Bosnia and Herzegovina as an option. Another solution is to provide for a simple renunciation procedure where the individual demonstrates that s/he has another citizenship, and declares s/he was forced to remain in Bosnia because of the restrictions on movement caused by the war.
4. In addition, the states which emerged from the former Yugoslavia should consider the possibility of dual/multiple citizenship for certain categories of people, such as: those of mixed ethnic parentage; those who previously identified themselves as Yugoslavs; those who have not declared their ethnicity; members of minorities which resulted from the dissolution of the former Yugoslavia; those who were victims of ³ethnic cleansing² (refugees and displaced persons).
5. Should dual citizenship be accepted as an option, issues such as conscription to military service of persons who hold dual citizenship would have to be addressed. The fact that one holds another erstwhile enemy citizenship, could be considered as a justifiable ground for conscientious objection. In addition, provisions of the Draft European Convention on Nationality and Military Obligations in Cases of Multiple Nationality (Chapter IV) may be a good set of guidelines for resolving this issue.
6. Provision of Article 9, para. 5 that permits members of the Armed Forces to acquire RBiH citizenship unconditionally should be repealed.
