BiH is far from fulfilling its international obligations in the fight against corruption

Transparency International BiH (TI BiH) and the Open Society Fund within the project “ Monitoring of the implementation of the Anti-Corruption Strategy (2009-2014) and anti-corruption reforms in Bosnia and Herzegovina”, held a presentation of the report “ Monitoring the fulfillment of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s international and European obligations in the fight against corruption.”

In the presence of institutions and the media, international obligations of BiH in the fight against corruptions were presented, as well as the results achieved in the most important areas of anti-corruptive activities: establishing the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption and Coordination of the Fight Against Corruption, implementation of Anti-Corruption Strategy, prosecution of corruption and confiscation of illegal assets, financing of political parties, implementation of the Law on Conflict of Interest , public procurement, implementation of the Law on Free Access to Information and protection of “whistleblowers”.

On this occasion it was pointed out not only to the lack of progress in implementation of anti-corruptive reforms, but also on blocking the fulfillment of obligations undertaken by BiH through signing international documents and agreements, and it represents a major obstacle which blocks further progress in the process of BiH membership to the European Union. This blockage is particularly noticed in the process of establishing the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption and Coordination of the Fight against Corruption, which resulted in stopping of implementation of the Strategy for fight against corruption. It was also appointed to the constant danger of ruling parties’ insisting to set back the existing legal framework in order to provide additional opportunities for abuse, both in the area of party financing and the conflict of interest.

Based on the monitoring results, it is clear that BiH is nowhere neaar the fulfillment of its obligations and far from the international standards in the area of the fight against corruption, which is mainly caused by the absence of political will for serious efforts in the fight against corruption, as well as pressures on the work of law-enforcement institutions.