Global Corruption Barometer: BiH is one of the worst-rated countries in Europe and Central Asia

BiH is among the countries with the most serious problems related to corruption, and it obtained negative ratings in all categories of the research

Sarajevo, 16th November 2016 – Transparency International in Bosnia and Herzegovina presented results of the Global Corruption Barometer 2016, a survey conducted by Transparency International which investigates perception of citizens regarding the corruption worldwide.
The regional report included 42 countries/territories of Europe and Central Asia. BiH is among the countries that face the most serious corruption issues. Along with Armenia, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine, BiH also got negative ratings in all categories. Great majority of citizens in the aforementioned countries believes that members of the parliament are corrupted, that the bribery is at high level and that social environment is unfavourable for the personal engagement in the anti-corruption fight.
Even 82% of BiH citizens negatively evaluated the work of authorities in the fight against corruption, which places BiH among the four worst-rated countries in this category, together with Ukraine, Moldova and Spain.

According to this survey, in the past year 27% of BiH citizens found themselves in a situation to offer a bribe to a civil servant, usually traffic police or medical staff.
Citizens of BiH believe that the most corrupted are the following civil servants, government officials (56%), members of parliaments (54%) and presidents/prime ministers (53%). Religious leaders are considered to be the least corrupted. BiH is one of the top countries in Europe and Central Asia by the perception level of involvement of its political representatives in the corruption.
“The authorities are not doing enough to fight against corruption since the individuals that govern have benefits from it. Simply by being on top of the power pyramid, the corrupt elites and oligarchs are difficult to dethrone. But we are witnesses that this can be done when people join forces and require more responsibility from their leaders and when there is an independent judiciary that would make them take the responsibility“, said at the promotion of the survey Jose Ugaz, Chair of the International Board of Directors of Transparency International.

However, high rates of bribery, social stigma against reporting and the lack of political and civil rights contribute to lethargy and unwillingness of citizens to personally engage in anti-corruption activities. Thus, a great majority believes that citizens cannot do anything to contribute to anti-corruption fight, while more than half of BiH citizens (55%) considers that reporting corruption is not socially acceptable behaviour. As main reasons for not reporting corruption, citizens see the fear of consequences (33%) and belief that their report will not lead to any change (20%).
Therefore, Transparency International emphasizes the empowerment of judicial independence and elimination of the influence of executive power over the judiciary, as well as the adoption of comprehensive and applicable legal framework for the protection of whistleblowers, as the main recommendations.

press-rls-16-11-2016-eng