Press releases

TI BiH is organizing a regional conference related to the governance of public enterprises

Announcements ● 24 March 2018

Transparency International in Bosnia and Herzegovina (TI BiH) is organizing a regional conference entitled How to strengthen good governance of public enterprises?, which will be the opportunity for TI BiH to present the results of a survey related to the good governance of public enterprises in BiH, conducted on a sample composed of 100 public enterprises. (more…)

Disputable Decision of the City of Banja Luka Assembly is in interest of Eko-toplana?

Press releases ● 14 March 2018

According to the opinion of TI BiH, disputable provisions of this Decision unlawfully and contrary to the Constitution of RS prescribe requirements for exclusion from the heat transfer network thus questioning the legal certainty

(more…)

Dragan Covic case shows all defects of the Law on Conflict of Interest

Press releases ● 13 March 2018

Transparency International in BiH believes that the inability of the Commission for Deciding on Conflict of Interest to act in case of Dragan Covic shows that it is illusory to expect a body, consisting of the MPs or party colleagues of the persons who are believed to be in conflict of interest, make unbiased decisions about this conflict. (more…)

Citizens are mostly faced with corruption in employment

Press releases ● 05 March 2018

Citizens mostly complain about irregularities in employment procedures related to hiring of civil servants, and employees in public enterprises. In their reports citizens usually indicate the fact that it is known in advance who will be elected for the position, and complain about the lack of transparency in competition procedures.

(more…)

TI BiH is going to present the results of the Center for providing free-of-charge legal advice in the anti-corruption fight

Announcements ● 03 March 2018

Transparency International in Bosnia and Herzegovina (TI BiH) is organizing a press conference at which it will present the results of its Center for providing free-of-charge legal advice to the citizens in order to support their fight against corruption in 2017. (more…)

Corruption Perception Index: Escalation of corruption, devastating consequences

Press releases ● 22 February 2018

According to Transparency International Corruption Perception Index, BiH is placed at 91^st position, out of 180 countries, with a score of 38 on a scale of 0 to 100. The results show that it deteriorated compared to the last year. (more…)

How to Increase Transparency and Openness of Public Administration?

Press releases ● 21 February 2018

A training program for the representatives of federal and cantonal institutions, organized with the aim of strengthening transparency, openness and accountability in the work of public administration, as well as creating mechanisms enabling citizens to participate in the decision-making process. (more…)

TI BiH presents the publication prepared by the attendees of the TI BiH Academy for Women Empowerment in Politics

Announcements ● 21 February 2018

The attendees of the Academy for Women Empowerment in Politics will present their essays on corruption phenomena, participation of women in politics in our country, but will also be given a chance to participate in a panel discussion organized in regard to this topic (more…)

TI BiH will present Corruption Perception Index (CPI) for 2017

Announcements ● 21 February 2018

Transparency International in Bosnia and Herzegovina (TI BiH) is organizing a press conference in order to present the results of Corruption Perception Index (CPI) for 2017. (more…)

Joint Committee on Defence and Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina submitted an unlawful proposal of candidates to be appointed as Parliamentary Military Commissioner of BiH

Press releases ● 19 February 2018

Transparency International in BiH warns that the appointment of the same person to the position of

Parliamentary Military Commissioner of BiH in third mandate would represent the worst violation

of the Law on Parliamentary Military Commissioner of BiH (more…)

TI BiH Academy for Women Empowerment in Politics in Bihac

Announcements ● 21 January 2018

Political female activists will have the opportunity to learn more about the practical skills in the field of leadership, participation and representation of women in BiH politics, while the special emphasis will be put on the topics related to the importance of transparency, integrity and accountability in politics. (more…)

TI BiH has proposed measures for greater transparency in the financing of political parties

Press releases ● 22 December 2017

Transparency International in BiH (TI BiH) presented its proposals for amending the Law on Financing of Political Parties at a conference organized on that occasion . Srdjan Blagovcanin , Chairman of the Board of Directors of TI BiH, emphasized on that occasion that, according to all civil society research, citizens have the least faith in political parties.

“TI BiH sees the improvement of the way of financing political parties as an extremely important aspect for strengthening the trust of citizens in the work of political parties,” Blagovcanin pointed out.

The proposals of TI BiH are tailored with the aim of ensuring transparency in the financing of political parties, but also to eliminate all possible abuses in election campaigns. Among other things, it is suggested:

• clearer CEC responsibilities for auditing party costs;
• obligation to use single bank accounts, ie. one account for regular financing and the other for financing the election campaign;
• operations exclusively through bank accounts, which also applies to payments of donations and all other transactions;
• introduction of provisions banning the use of public resources for the purpose of promoting parties;
• anticipating the obligation to publish complete financial statements, including expenditures;
• more detailed analysis of violations in the segment of prescribed sanctions and tightening their range;
• suspension of payment of budget funds as one of the sanctions for violating the provisions on prohibited activities.

The Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) regularly points out in its reports and recommendations that Bosnia and Herzegovina has not complied with all requirements regarding transparency in party financing. The European Commission also warns in its reports that effective control over the financing of political parties and election campaigns has not been established. The conference organized by TI BiH gathered all relevant international and domestic actors in this field who gave their support to the proposals presented here, the adoption of which they will insist on in the coming period.

Address by the Chairman of the Board of Directors, Mr. Srdjan Blagovcanin, on the occasion of celebrating the International Anti-Corruption Day

Press releases ● 13 December 2017

“Your Excellencies, representatives of the national institutions, civic society and media, ladies and gentlemen.

It is my pleasure to welcome you and address you at this traditional conference on the occasion of celebrating the International Anti-Corruption Day.

The International Anti-Corruption Day is marked ever since December 9^th 2003, when the UN Convention against Corruption has been opened for signing.

The inevitable question is how much BiH managed to achieve in the fight against corruption and the rule of law until now?

Today, BiH has, at different levels, 13 bodies dedicated to the prevention and suppression of corruption, 11 anti-corruption strategies and 12 action plans, and a lot of integrity plans developed by the individual institutions.

Yet, according to the findings of the Global Corruption Barometer of Transparency International, 82% of citizens are not pleased with the efforts made by the authorities to fight corruption, considering that they are doing nothing or almost nothing in this regard.

According to the data of the Global Competitiveness Index of the World Economic Forum 2017-2018 there are two key problems in BiH that prevent business development – inefficient administration and corruption.

The findings of the Corruption Perceptions Index of Transparency International, have been placing BiH at the very top of the list of the most corrupt European countries. According to the last Index, BiH has been placed in the 83^rd position of the global list, having scored 39 index points measured on the scale 0 – 100.

For years now, the Center for legal advice of Transparency International BiH receives daily reports of the citizens referring to the corruption in employment procedures, public procurement and many other areas. What most worries those who dare to report corruption is the fact that they are usually confronted with threats and vengeance.

All this undoubtedly suggests that the corruption today and here, as it was at the time the International Anti-Corruption day started to be marked, is the main problem.

Particularly dangerous is the presence of the most difficult form of corruption – political corruption and the capture of the country and institutions by the narrow interests of the highest political power holders.

Unfortunately, in the past period, instead of reforming the judiciary, we witnessed a complete devastation of the judicial system. If a key criterion of the judicial independence is to prosecute the political corruption, then we can conclude that the BiH judiciary is under political control and completely captured by the interests of the holders of the highest political functions.

Therefore, the budgetary funds and public enterprises are easy targets for the political elites that use these as the ATM machines to gain the personal wealth.

Public sector has become its own purpose and it keeps developing as the paradise oasis for the political personnel, while providing basic services to the citizens, such as water supply and securing travel documents is performed with a lot of problems and delays.

Numerous abuses of the public funds, written about by the media and asked for the responsibility by the civil society organizations, remained without institutional reply.

It is therefore no wonder that in the past few years the country faces an epic exodus of citizens, with no sign it will decrease.

In such situation it is important to identify the key source of the problem. No doubt, political parties that keep the citizens, institutions and the entire country captured, are most to be blamed for such condition. Nowadays political parties, that is, narrow groups at their top, with no elementary, internal democracy, based on clientelism and nepotism, have unlimited control over all the resources and institutions in the country that they use for their own enrichment. Their only interest is to maintain the existing situation, which is quite understandable. Political parties today and here are everything except what political parties in modern democracies should be. They act as employment services, intermediary agencies that ensure winning of tenders, donor of budgetary funds to the obedient and the like.

Although they support reforms declaratively, in practice they will do everything to make sure they will never be implemented. They cause continuous crisis, use hate speech and ethnic homogenization with one goal only – to keep the main problem, corruption, out of the agenda.

That is why we need to be aware that political corruption, captured country and institutions represent political problems, and as such, request political solutions.

To expect political will for anti-corruption fight from the corrupt political leaderships would be the same as to expect a pyromaniac to put out the fire.

Still, giving up has never been and can never be an option. It is clear that reforms cannot be implemented in any single sector without successful anti-corruption fight.

Therefore, there is a big and important task ahead of us. This is not about changing the rules of game within the political system.

A successful anti-corruption fight implies the society democratization, specifically democratization of political parties. Only in this way it would be possible to make the first step towards the breakup of the clientelism structures that keep this country captured. Political parties must be deprived of the control over public enterprises, judiciary, law enforcement agencies and independent regulatory bodies.

A huge dissatisfaction of the citizens is almost tangible, but in order to use it to make positive changes it has to be articulated first.

Articulation of dissatisfaction with the general corruption must be turned into specific actions. Laws, strategies and plans make an important first step, but they are nothing more valuable than the paper they are written on unless they are implemented.

Establishing a unique front of civil society, institutions, business community, international institutions and organizations is the most important task for all of us participating in the anti-corruption fight.

Sarajevo, 12^th December, 2017

TI BiH is organizing a conference entitled Transparency and accountability of financing political parties

Announcements ● 13 December 2017

Sarajevo 13th December 2017 – Transparency International in Bosnia and Herzegovina (TI BiH) is organizing a conference entitled Transparency and accountability of financing political parties, as one of the activities related to the celebration of the International Anti-Corruption Day.

A special emphasis of the conference will be put on presenting the proposal for improvement of the Law on financing political parties, with reference to the international standards in the field of financing political parties and campaigns, and the level of following those standards in BiH.

The conference will be attended by the representatives of the relevant institutions in BiH, political parties, Central Election Commission, civil society organizations and the media in order to present the existing situation and the best practice standards. Also, the experts from the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) of the Council of Europe and from the OSCE/ODIHR will participate as panelists.

The conference will be held on Thursday, 14th December 2017 at the Hotel Europe (Atrium hall) in Sarajevo, at 10.30h. Please find the agenda attached.

Press rls with agenda 13.12.2017.

Regional conference due to the International Anti-Corruption Day

Press releases ● 11 December 2017

Agency for the Prevention of Corruption and Coordination of the Fight against Corruption (APIK), Transparency International in Bosnia and Herzegovina (TI BiH) and the Anti-Corruption Civic Organizations’ Unified Network (ACCOUNT) are organizing a regional conference on the occasion of the International Anti-Corruption Day.

Sarajevo, 11th December 2017 – The aim of the conference is to bring together the representatives of relevant institutions from the region, and to present the key activities which are being conducted to prevent and fight corruption. Special emphasis will be put on the issues related to the rule of law and conflict of interest, as well as the exchange of experiences and positive practices in the countries of the Western Balkans.

In addition to the representatives of institution from Bosnia and Herzegovina, the representatives from international institutions, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro and Albania will participate as well.

The conference will be attended by the officials from relevant institutions of all government levels in BiH, representatives of international institutions in BiH, and civil society organizations, media and academia in order to present the current state and the best practices in the region and beyond.

The conference will be held on Tuesday, 12th December 2017, at the Hotel Holiday (Zmaja od Bosne, no. 4) at 9.30h. Please find the draft agenda below.

Press rls _Agenda 11.12.2017.

International Anti-Corruption Day: Another year with no results

Press releases ● 09 December 2017

Analysis performed by TI BiH this year shows that BiH has not made any significant improvements regarding the implementation of legal and institutional reforms yet, and that anti-corruption fight in BiH is not efficient.

Sarajevo, 9th December 2017 – The International Anti-Corruption Day has been celebrated on 9th December since the adoption of the United Nations Convention against Corruption in 2003. Transparency International in Bosnia and Herzegovina (TI BiH) uses this opportunity ever year to analyze the efficiency level of the anti-corruption fight in BiH, and organizes various events to indicate the key problems and steps necessary to be undertaken in order to reduce the level of corruption in BiH.

Unfortunately, the analysis performed by TI BiH this year shows that BiH has not made any significant improvements regarding the implementation of legal and institutional reforms yet, and that anti-corruption fight in BiH is not efficient.

Although the anti-corruption fight has been set as a priority in all strategic documents, such as the Reform Agenda, that has been declaratively supported by all parties involved in BiH, the specific steps for the improvement of anti-corruption laws and strengthening the independence and efficiency of institutions that implement them, are still lacking.

The BiH authorities have not done anything to improve the laws referring to the key areas, such as public procurement, reform of judiciary, financing of political parties, conflict of interest, all of which request an urgent improvement of the transparency, accountability and integrity mechanisms, strengthening the monitoring over public expenditures, as well as the independence of institutions whose role is to process the corruption and apply anti-corruption laws. Yet, the key prerequisite for a more efficient anti-corruption fight is the elimination of all kinds of undue influence and pressure on institutions from which it is expected to implement the laws in an objective and unbiased way, and instead of eliminating such pressures they have become even more prominent.

Transparency International in BiH will mark the International Anti-Corruption Day through the following activities:

• Presentation of the findings of Monitoring implementation of the Anti-Corruption Strategy 2015-2019 – on 11th December 2017, at the Hotel Europe (Sarajevo) at 11.00h.
• Regional conference due tot he International Anti-Corruption Day, organized by TI BiH, ACCOUNT and Agency for the Prevention of Corruption and Coordination of the Fight against Corruption – on 12th December 2017, at the Hotel Holiday (Sarajevo), at 9.30h.
• What we asked for and what we got: Presentation of the findings of monitoring public procurement in BiH 2017, in the organization of TI BiH, FOD BiH, CIN, EDA and U.G. Tender – on 13th December 2017, at the Hotel Europe (Sarajevo), at 11.00h.
• Conference Transparency and accountability of financing the political parties – on 14th December 2017 at the Hotel Europe (Sarajevo), at 10.30h.

press rls. 09.12.2017.