International Anti-Corruption Day – BiH has no reason to celebrate

Banja Luka, December 09, 2011. – International Anti-Corruption Day, December 9^th, is marked with the aim of pointing out the problems and consequences of corruption, and promoting mechanisms to combat these harmful phenomena. International Anti-Corruption Day was established by the UN on October 31, 2003 when the United Nation Convention against Corruption (UNCA) was signed and it has been celebrated each year on December 9.

Unfortunately, celebrating this important day eight times already, BiH can‘t be praised for significant progress in the fight against corruption. Looking back, the past year has been marked by the lack of accountability and seriousness of government in fighting corruption particularly considering the lack of implementation of Strategy to combat corruption, inefficient use of anti-corruption laws as well as the lack of progress in prosecuting corruption cases. The incompetence of the judicial system to prosecute cases that have involved high-ranking public officials and to reduce these cases to the lowest level instances, clearly shows a reluctance of institutions to deal with the most dangerous forms of corruption.

Institutions are still trapped by political parties that are taking advantage of their positions to gain some profit and enter into harmful and non-transparent contracts while at the same time the auditor’s report constantly point to the misuse of budgetary resources, but without any results.

There was no visible progress in the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) for 2011. where BiH is ranked between 91st and 94th position together with Liberia, Trinidad and Tobago and Zambia with the score of 3,2, ranging from 10 – no corruption to 1 – absolute corruption as well as in the last year

Although International Anti-Corruption Day is solemnly celebrated worldwide, BiH has no reason to celebrate, only to concern. Therefore, TI BiH hopes that representatives of government and institutions will take this opportunity to analyze the state of corruption that has been held BiH captive for years, hindering its progress in every aspect

Concerning this, TI BiH is organizing a conference on the occasion of the International Anti-Corruption Day which will be held on December 12, 2011. in the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH in Sarajevo, beginning at 11:00. The conference will bring together representatives of anti-corruption institutions from both BiH and the region, hoping that the representatives of BiH institutions will compile successful examples in the fight against corruption and apply them to BiH cases.