The document that advocates the improvement of the status of the Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina was unanimously endorsed by over 400 participants in the Congress. The sixth conference of the HNS BiH brought together almost all Croat parties in Bosnia and Herzegovina, led by the HDZ BiH and the HDZ 1990.
The declaration reads that today, 20 years since the conclusion of the Dayton peace accords, Bosnia and Herzegovina is still a nonfunctional country that cannot meet the needs and interests of its constituent peoples and citizens, and it also discriminates against the Croats.
Therefore HNS BiH finds it necessary that a new Constitution be adopted at a conference engaging international stakeholders.
The document also proposes the reorganisation of the country's current two-entity makeup into several federal units, in compliance with the expectations of the three constituent peoples: the Bosniaks, the Croats and the Serbs.
The declaration underscores the membership in the European Union and NATO as Bosnia and Herzegovina's strategic priorities.
The Bosnian tripartite Presidency's Croat member Dragan Covic said that the constitutional amendments that would facilitate the implementation of the declaration should be made during this and next year.
He said that the election legislation should be amended in 2015 in order to make sure that the Croats enjoy the same status as the other two constituent peoples.
Croatia's Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina Ivan Del Vechio, who addressed the Mostar event, said that the authorities in Zagreb supported demands by representatives of the Croat community in that country that it be given the same status as the other two constituent peoples, as advocated in the declaration.
Del Vechio said that such messages were also expected from Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, who is to visit Bosnia and Herzegovina on Tuesday.
The Croatian ambassador said the Mostar conference was historically important because it coincided with Bosnia and Herzegovina's Independence Day, March 1, when that country separated from Yugoslavia owing mostly to the votes of the Croat and Bosniak peoples.
At the end of the gathering, the HNS BiH adopted a joint statement on the Homeland Defence War reading that the Croats, who participated in the Croat Defence Council (HVO) and HercegBosna, defended Bosnia and Herzegovina in the 1992-1995 war.
The Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) leader Tomislav Karamarko sent a letter of support to the HNS BiH, underlining that Croatia's strategic interest was Bosnia and Herzegovina's admission to the EU and NATO
The Opposition leader in Croatia also backed the declaration on the federalisation.