Strengthening institutions is key to effectively fighting corruption

10 December 2014

Sarajevo, 10. December 2014 – The Agency for Prevention of Corruption and Coordination of the Fight against Corruption (APIK), in cooperation with Transparency International Bosnia and Herzegovina (TI BiH), and with the support of the Government of Great Britain, held a Conference on December 9, International Anti-Corruption Day. Yesterday’s Conference emphasized the need to strengthen law enforcement institutions, especially the Agency for Prevention of Corruption and Coordination of the Fight against Corruption (APIK), whose competencies and capacities must be strengthened in order to be able to implement concrete measures in the prevention of corruption. The Deputy Director of the Agency, Dragan Slipac, pointed out that, despite the lack of true will of all segments of society in the fight against corruption, especially political, led to the lack of better results, the Agency managed to impose itself as an unavoidable factor in fighting corruption in BiH. The Agency has started drafting the Anti-Corruption Strategy for the period 2015-2019. The Ambassador of the United Kingdom to BiH, Edward Ferguson, emphasized that the fight against corruption is being talked about more and more in BiH, but that the fight does not correspond to reality and that it is still being discussed. they do not see enough concrete results, because according to the Gallup survey, BiH is the second country in the world according to the perception of corruption in governments. “However, there is still hope, as about 60% of citizens believe they can make a difference, and we hope that new anti-corruption strategies at the state and entity levels will yield results,” said Ambassador Ferguson. Representatives of the EU Delegation to BiH who participated in the Conference further stressed the importance of anti-corruption reforms in the process of European integration, but also the fact that in the previous period BiH has achieved very little in this area. ” This conference officially marks the International Anti-Corruption Day and it is positive that it is taking the initiative, but the key responsibility of the authorities is to enable the smooth operation of the Agency and other law enforcement institutions, with adequate resources and specific competencies, for which Transparency International BiH Emir Đikić, Chairman of the Board of Directors of TI BiH, said that the conference also presented experiences from the region in monitoring compliance with international obligations in the field of anti-corruption reforms, as well as the results of the Agency and other organizations and institutions in the fight against corruption. Conclusion of most speakers However, despite some successes of individual civil society initiatives and institutions, a key obstacle to a more effective fight against corruption in BiH is the lack of commitment and lack of will of the authorities to more aggressive reforms and strengthen the independence of institutions to enforce laws effectively.

Press rls – December 10, 2014

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