International Whistleblower Day: Adopt a law in the FBiH and strengthen the legal protection of all whistleblowers

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, full protection of whistleblowers has not yet been ensured, and since 2014. The Agency for Prevention of Corruption and Coordination of the Fight against Corruption of BiH (APIK) granted the status of protected applicant to only eight persons, out of a total of 24 who requested protection.

Banja Luka, June 23, 2020 – In Bosnia and Herzegovina, full protection of whistleblowers has not yet been ensured, and since 2014. The Agency for Prevention of Corruption and Coordination of the Fight against Corruption of BiH (APIK) granted the status of protected applicant to only eight persons, out of a total of 24 who requested protection. This data best shows how much citizens dare to report corruption, and the biggest problem, in addition to the decline in trust in institutions, is the fact that whistleblowers do not enjoy any legal protection in the Federation of BiH. That is why Transparency International in BiH, on the occasion of the International Whistleblower Day, appealed to the presidents of the clubs of the House of Peoples of the Federation of BiH who have been blocking the adoption of the Law on Protection of Corruption Reporters for two years to finally adopt this law.

In the first six months of this year, seven whistleblowers turned to the TI BiH Center for Free Legal Aid, six of which came from the FBiH, where these individuals do not enjoy special legal protection. TI BiH calls for the law to be adopted as soon as possible, because the Federation of BiH is the only level of government in the country that has not legally protected whistleblowers. Resolving this problem is one of the 14 key priorities in the European Commission’s Opinion on Bosnia and Herzegovina’s application for membership in the European Union.

TI BiH also sent a proposal to the Ministry of Justice of the Republika Srpska to improve the Law on the Protection of Persons Reporting Corruption in the RS, because shortcomings in the protection of whistleblowers were noticed in the application of this law. TI BiH proposed extending the court deadlines for the lawsuit, extending the deadline for the revision and introducing an investigative principle that would strengthen the position of whistleblowers in court proceedings.

The protection of whistleblowers is one of the most important issues, as they have uncovered some of the biggest corruption scandals in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Yet many of these scandals have never received a judicial epilogue, and it is not uncommon for people who report corruption to be tried. One of the most obvious examples witnessed by the public in BiH is the so-called the “Horseshoe” affair, where the whistleblower-businessman Nermin Alešević, who discovered the affair with the recording, is now suspected of bribery and unauthorized recording of the president of the VSTS.

The fact that the number of reports of corruption in the Prosecutor’s Offices throughout BiH is decreasing every year is also worrying, and in four years the number of reports submitted by citizens and competent police agencies has decreased by 20%. The principles of the global TI movement include the establishment of safe and different channels of reporting, but also the adoption of special legal regulations that will guarantee stronger legal protection to all persons who report corruption and therefore suffer harmful consequences.

Press rls – 23.6.2020.