Press releases

The Interdepartmental Working Group Virtually Abolished the Law on Conflict of Interest

Press releases ● 04 April 2012

Banja Luka, 4th April 2012. – The Proposal to the framework of the Law on Conflict of Interest in Governmental Institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina to exempt advisers and to narrow the circle of close relatives of elected officials, to whom its provisions refer, is the crudest attempt to destroy legislation making it completely pointless.

Instead of introducing the principles of accountability to the elected officials these solutions want to ensure that in the future they would not be responsible for any violation of the Law , especially when it comes to their close relatives, even though in current practice of the Law has been determined that many officials were penalized because the officials used their close relatives for illegal self-enrichment.

At the same time, the amendment to the definition of the public companies has been proposed, considering by it only those which have more than 50% of the state capital, and the legal limit on contracts for personal services of public officials has been shifted from 5,000 to 20,000 KM per year, is an additional indication that public officials seek to expand opportunities for the acquisition of additional benefits through the abuse of public office in which they are located.

It is evident that the representatives of SNSD, HDZ and SDP BiH joined a coalition that aims at complete collapse of the conflict of interest and state institutions, putting the individual and party interests ahead of the interests of the public and the state, with the sole aim to provide an additional benefit for public officials and complete amnesty for the conflict of interest.

When we add the fact that representatives of SNSD, HDZ BiH, and SDP BiH with the support of the Chairman of  CEC BiH advocate not only the abolition of sanctions prohibiting candidacy, but also any possible idea relating to clear prescription of keeping the mandate of elected officials, and opposition to provisions that clearly define dismissal of appointed officials because of violations of the Law on Conflict in Governmental Institutions of BiH, it is clear that if this amendment is adopted the Law will lose its purpose completely, and on that grounds it could be set aside.

Due to the alarming amendments to the Law on Conflict of Interest in Government Institutions in BiH that Interdepartmental Working Group adopted by the majority of vote of the representatives of political parties and Chairman of the CEC BiH, Transparency International BiH calls public, representatives of the media and civil society, the Delegation of the European Union in Bosnia, the Office of the High Representative (OHR), the OSCE Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Council of Europe, especially Venice Commission and the Group of States against corruption (GRECO), as well as representatives of other international organizations and embassies, to immediately respond  and prevent adoption of controversial legislation in the parliament. If the public does not rebel against such open attempts to misuse and abuse the system of state institutions and budgets, it can expect the domination and complete arbitrariness of public officials causing huge damage to the Institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

By Protecting the Interests of Political Parties Legislators Allow Abuse

Press releases ● 29 March 2012

Banja Luka, 29^th March 2012 – Transparency International Bosnia and Herzegovina (TI BiH), in collaboration with the Open Society Fund, has published the Report on Monitoring the Financing of Political Parties in BiH for 2010 and 2011, which points to a number of deficiencies in the legal framework which regulates this area and its application, and to complete lack of willingness of legislators to improve the accountability and transparency of political parties.

The legal framework itself leaves great opportunities for abuses by political parties:

–        Nothing prevents circulation of unaccounted money flows, because there are no provisions obliging the use of single bank accounts.

–        There is no obligation to publish financial reports of the parties, which reduces access to their financing.

–        The legal framework fails to show the full picture of the financial movements relating to the political parties, because it contains no rules or restrictions related to expenses of political parties.

–        The Central Election Commission has limited capacity and jurisdiction, and it is not responsible for the audit of costs, nor does it have enough human resources to implement effective audit.

–        Low fines do not motivate the enforcement of regulations and, in some cases, such as the financing of campaigns, it ‘’pays off’’ to break the law.

Although, the Interdepartmental Working Group on Amendments to the Law on Financing of Political Parties has been formed, the activities in the field of the amendments to the law have been directed towards its weakening, and providing more opportunities for inappropriate influence on the activities of political parties, to which public has already been warned by TI BiH. On the other side, the lack of consensus within the Interdepartmental Working Group and suggestions of its members, have shown that their top priority is to preserve the interests of political parties, ignoring recommendations submitted by the TI BiH, the OSCE and Group of States against Corruption (GRECO), which would enable stronger supervision and greater transparency in financing of political parties. Even though international institutions have warned that the funding of the political parties must be done more transparently, and that there must be control over the funds received from the budget, the proposals have been ignored by the Working Group while trying to increase the limits on donations to parties, and legalize certain sources of income, which have been illegal until now.

This weak legal framework, as well as numerous abuses, which have been pointed out in the Monitoring results, that remained unpunished, suggest that the present legislation, having in mind that it does not motivate at all the political parties to comply by the Law and be liable for funds which are at their disposal, lose their meaning and only exist in order to satisfy the form. Unless we do not adopt international standards to strengthen the supervision of financing of political parties, and do not use opportunity to improve the legal framework, the political parties will have full legitimacy in the evasion of the Law, which would in that case be redundant.

[:bs]Neodgovornost i netransparentnost u izmjenama Izbornog zakona

Press releases ● 27 March 2012

Corruption in employment is still the most common

Press releases ● 20 March 2012

Banja Luka, 20. March 2012 – During 2011 the Advocacy and Legal Advice Centre of Transparency International Bosnia and Herzegovina  (TI BiH) received 1097 calls through an open free line for reporting the cases of corruption (0800 55555), as well as by post or electronically. Based on these reports, TI BiH has initiated 197 cases towards various institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina, seeking to secure citizen rights, and to point on individual cases of corruption.

Comparing the different sectors, the largest number of complaints was related to irregularities in the field of public administration (17%), followed by judiciary (13%), property rights (8%), the field of civil engineering and urban planning (7%) and a large number of complaints (11%) relates to the denial of access to information by public institutions.

Analyzing the nature of cases in these areas, it is evident that most complaints, both in government sector and in other sectors, were related to the employment process, where citizens commonly reported irregularly conducted vacancies for civil servants at all levels of government and also irregular appointments for various functions. This practice escalated in cases of nepotism at the highest levels of government and an open distribution of the most responsible positions in institutions through inter-party agreements, which suggest that nepotism and clientelism are key mechanisms for advancement and the most common way to obtain a position in BiH institutions.

When it comes to judiciary, citizens are most commonly complaining about long processes at courts, but here there were also reports related to corruption in judiciary, and to violation of procedures by judges. On the other hand, TI BiH also received 6 files related to the prosecutors’ offices, mostly complaining that the prosecutor’s offices did not react upon citizens’ reports.

Based on the above mentioned repots, TI BiH acted towards relevant institutions on various levels of government in BiH. However, the prosecution of corruption cases is on a very unsatisfactory level in BiH, and more importantly judiciary is sometimes clearly ignoring corruption cases, while there are increasing pressures on the work of judiciary, which was also shown through the initiative to abolish judiciary institutions at the state level.

On the other hand, public institutions refuse to undertake measures for determining responsibility in their own ranks, and a further obstacle is the slow administration, as well as the trend of ignoring or disrespecting verdicts, even by state institutions. For this reason citizens need sometimes to wait several years in order to see epilogues of their cases.

An encouraging fact is that citizens are more and more willing to report corruption, and that among these reports the number of whistleblowers or persons who reported irregularities in the institutions in which they are themselves employed, is increasing steadily. However, there still remains a lack of mechanisms to protect whistleblowers, which discourages citizens to report corruption, as they fear for possible consequences. At the same time, another encouraging fact is the increased interest of media for corruption, where journalists often turn to TI BiH for legal advice in the field of free access of information. Through this collaboration, TI BiH, in cooperation with the media, managed to obtain and publish very important documents and contracts related to the expenditure of public funds and public – private partnership, which certainly helps in strengthening the oversight of the government.

TI BiH hopes that this practice will continue in the future and once again calls upon all who were witnesses or victims of corruption to report any irregularities to institutions or through the free line 0800 55555.

Glas Srpske demonstrated that they do not care for court decisions, nor for the truth

Press releases ● 16 March 2012

Banja Luka, 16. March 2012 – After the Glas Srpske published in June 2008 a series of articles that directly attempted to discredit the work of Transparency International Bosnia and Herzegovina, accusing the representatives of this organization that they were involved in crime and racketeering businessmen, TI BiH has filed a lawsuit against this newspaper for defamation.
The lawsuit resulted in the first instance judgment of the Municipal Court in Banja Luka, which clearly stated that the allegations of Glas Srpske were untrue and without any evidence. The court also stated that the false allegations of Glas Srpske may affect public opinion and distort the reputation of the employees of TI BiH.

Only seven days after the judgment, Glas Srpske again made the same allegations, clearly not caring for any decision of the Court, nor for the veracity of the information given to the public. Specifically, in the issue from 15.03.2012, in the article “Suicide of the owner of the gas stations Parma trend”, Glas Srpske again makes statement about TI BIH as a group of racketeers who were blackmailing the owner of Parma trend. This time, Glas Srpske went even further, considering that they are unscrupulously using a family tragedy to attack and discredit an organization that invests all its efforts in the fight against corruption.

The editorial policy of Glas Srpske is a clear indicator that in the Republika Srpska there is still no respect of the principles of objective journalism, nor for the Press Codex, while at the same time these reports violate basic human rights through organized campaigns against individuals and organizations. Given the fact that Nezavisne Novine also published the allegations from Glas Srpske, TI BIH is afraid of the same campaign which led in 2008 to a public lynch of this organization, which forced TI BIH to close its office for a while, fearing for the safety of its employees.

In the judgment of the Municipal Court it is stated that by spreading information which have no evidence and which are indicating someone as a criminal group, “mass media cannot take the role of courts”. The management and the editors of Glas Srpske obviously decided to be above courts, and to judge others, without allowing to be judged.

Political parties in power openly violate laws

Press releases ● 13 January 2012

Banja Luka, January 13, 2012- Transparency International Bosnia and Herzegovina (TI BiH) believes that the arrangements and the distribution of positions in state agencies on party lines is illegal, and that institutions should be independent and not to be apportioned between the political parties themselves.

The media published news that political parties have already divided the key functions among themselves in institutions such as the Central Election Commission, the Agency for corruption prevention and the fight against corruption, Agency for Higher Education and Quality Assurance, Audit, Procurement review body etc.

TI BiH reminds that among the above mentioned agencies are institutions which are implementing key anti-corruption laws, which means that they must be totally free from political control, and that their independence is guaranteed by law.

Although it is now clear that many of these institutions are under the political control of parties in power, such public distribution of functions is clearly showing that parties primarily do not want to enable their unobstructed functioning, while on the other side they do not care about the laws that they are making. Such behavior of political parties destroys the democratic system and prevents the supervision of the government, given the fact that the institutions responsible for it are put under party control. What represents a serious issue of concern is that laws are violated publicly and openly, while at the same time there is an absence of reaction by the institutions and the public.

TI BiH, therefore, appeals to the Parliament, as well as to the representatives from the above mentioned institutions to try to prevent this open attack on the institutional system, and to enable a transparent selection of heads of institutions in the manner which is proscribed by law.

Transparency International BiH organized a promotion of the book Anti-Corruption Source Book – Confronting Corruption: The Elements of a National Integrity System

Announcements ● 15 December 2011

Banja Luka, December 15, 2011. – Transparency International Bosnia and Herzegovina (TI BiH) invites you to the promotion of the book Anti-Corruption Source Book – Confronting Corruption: The Elements of a National Integrity System by Jeremy Pope. The Anti-Corruption Source Book  is the first edition of this book published in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Transparency International BiH (TI BiH) translated and published the book with the aim of improving literature in the field of anti-corruption, contributing to the university libraries and to the increased knowledge of anti-corruption mechanisms. Therefore, the organized promotion of the book was also the opportunity for TI BiH to donate books to universities and institutions.

The book was reviewd and presented by the academician Boris Tihi, Miloš Trifković, PhD,  Adnan Huskić, MSc, and Emir Đikić, Chairman of TI BiH presented the book.

The promotion was held on Friday, December 16, 2011. in the premises of Academy of Science and Arts of BiH.

Elektroprivreda BiH is violating the Law on free access to information

Press releases ● 14 December 2011

Banja Luka, 15.12.2011 – After Transparency International Bosnia and Herzegovina (TI BIH) sent a request to Elektroprivreda BiH to deliver their contract made with Rudnap Group a.d. Belgrade, Elektroprivreda BiH answered that the contract is confidential, and that TI BIH should have the approval of Rudnap for submitting the respected contract.

This way, Elektroprivreda violated the Law on free access to informationion several ways, firstly by not delivering the contract which they as a public company are required by law to submit, and by not responding to TI BIH in form of a decision, thus disabling Ti BiH to use the legal means and appeal to relevant institutions.

On the other hand, Elektroprivreda immediately refused to give an answer and marked the contract as confidential, although they were first obliged to make a test of public interest which would determine whether it is justified to make the contract confidential. At the same time, Elektroprivreda as a signatory to the contract is obliged to ask for the approval of the company with whom they made the contract, and not TI BIH. Elektroprivreda, in this way refused to implement the Law, asking TI BiH to contact a private company, which has no obligations under the Law on free access of information.

It is obvious that the practice of secrecy and lack of transparency in public contracting continues, and past experience has shown that when public institutions are not ready to act according to the Law and make information publicly available, the reason usually lies in the fact that they violated other laws besides the Law on free access of information.

TI BIH will use all legal means and insist on the publication of this contract, in order to determine the legality of the contract itself, and order for the public to be informed about what the contract itself implies.

It is necessary to provide the financing and enable the work of the Anti-Corruption Agency

Press releases ● 12 December 2011

Sarajevo, December 12, 2011. – On the occasion of the International Anti-Corruption Day, celebrated around the world every year on 9^th December, Transparency International Bosnia and Herzegovina (TI BiH) held the conference at the Parliamentary Assembly.

The first panel session was dedicated to the institutional context of anti-corruption in BiH and the region. The issue was discussed by Bozo Mihajlovic, Prosecutor from the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH, Natasa Djurovic, Deputy Director of USKOK ( Croatia ), Branko Petric, President of the BiH Central Election Commission, Rok Praprotnik, Deputy Chief of Anti-Corruption Commission of Slovenia, and Cornelia Abel, Programme Coordinator for South-Eastern Europe, Transparency International.

At the very beginning of the conference, attendees were addressed by Peter Sorensen, the Head of the EU Delegation in BiH, emphasizing the necessity of implementing anti-corruption reforms as an essential condition to join the European Union. Sorensen also mentioned the lack of progress in the fight against corruption due to the lack of political will to take concrete measures, pointing out that political structures must act urgently if they want to catch up with countries in the region.

In the second panel discussion, the analysis of the implementation of BiH anti-corruption strategy was conducted by Sead Lisak, Director of the Agency for Prevention of Corruption and Coordination of the Fight against Corruption of BiH, Vjekoslav Vukovic, Head of BiH Delegation to GRECO, Srdjan Blagovcanin, Executive Director of TI BiH and Brigitte Kuchar, EU Delegation/Programme Manager.

General conclusions of tthe discussion showed that BiH still lacks competencies of the law enforcement institutions, unlike Croatia and Slovenia, and that the legal framework must enable the judiciary and other institutions to freely investigate corruption cases and more effectively sanction perpetrators, and to strengthen the authority of institutions. The focus was on the Agency for Prevention and Coordination of Fight against Corruption, which still does not have capacity to work, and has not benn provided with the necessary resources. Public institutions were invited to urgently provide resources and facilitate the work of the Agency as well as the implementation of Anti-Corruption Strategy.

Participants agreed that BiH authorities have so far only formally dealt with the fight against corruption, while concrete action or results are still missing, and it is necessary to pressure the government to meet all requirements for EU membership since it seems to be the only motivation for action. Otherwise, the institutional system will collapse, and with constant delays in implementing reforms BiH multiplies commitments and efforts that will have to be invested later in order to catch up with the neighbouring countries.

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

Press releases ● 09 December 2011

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.

TI BiH and the University of Banja Luka sign the Memorandum of Cooperation

Press releases ● 08 December 2011

Banja Luka, December 08, 2011. –After establishing cooperation with the universities in Zenica, Tuzla and Sarajevo, Transparency International Bosnia and Herzegovina (TI BiH) will sign the Memorandum of Cooperation with the University of Banja Luka with the aim of establishing the mechanisms and means of cooperation in the filed of prevention and fight against corruption, as well as ensuring integrity and quality in higher education.

The aim of establishing cooperation is the active engagement on the prevention of corruption in higher education through the adoption of anti-corruption plans at the universities and the creation of preconditions for harmonizing the legal framework in this area. Realization of cooperation with BiH universities is the part of the activities of TI BiH aimed at defining the causes of corruption in higher education and their elimination through a strategic approach and application of pre-defined measures and anti-corruption plans.

TI BiH and the University of Banja Luka will commit themselves to joint involvement primarily in the creation and adoption of plans of integrity and principles of transparency and accountability at the University. TI BiH hopes that this type of cooperation between NGOs and institutions of higher education will become a common practice and that the anti-corruption plans to be adopted in future will bring the expected results.

Memorandum of Cooperation will be signed by the vice-chancellor of the University of Banja Luka, Prof. Dr, Stanko Stanic and TI BiH’s spokesperson, Ivana Korajlic. The signing will take place on Friday, December 9, 2011. at the Vice-Chancellor Office in Banja Luka at 10:30 a.m. In this way, the University and TI BiH will symbolically mark December 9, the International Anti-Corruption Day.

Republic of Srpska for sale by direct bargaining

Press releases ● 07 December 2011

Banja Luka, December 07, 2011. – Transparency International Bosnia and Herzegovina (TI BiH) calls for prevention of adoption of the legal solutions that would enable the sale of the community land by direct bargaining.

In fact, the Government of the Republic of Srpska announced new legal solutions that allow direct sales of building sites on the grounds, which would be applicable to municipalities “when it is in their interest to achieve certain investments, if it would result in the construction of factory operations, provide additional employment and create direct benefit to municipalities.” In this way, not only could any sale of land be considered an investment, but it could facilitate the sale at much lower price than the real one, bringing losses to municipalities and tremendous opportunity to private companies and individuals to make profit.

On the other part, given the close links between local government and private sector, especially construction companies, this could lead to numerous abuses and the sale of land would be completely transparent.

The Government of the Republic of Srpska is obviously trying to seize the opportunity to provide benefits at low prices to companies and individuals who are close to the government, according to which local-self government employees and citizens themselves would be aggrieved.

TI BiH once again appeals to the single institution to prevent adoption of such regulations and consider the damage of local budgets and citizens being caused by this practice.

For years BiH has been the only country in the region without progress in the fight against corruption

Press releases ● 01 December 2011

Sarajevo, December 01, 2011. – Transparency International launched the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2011 according to which Bosnia and Herzegovina has not achieved significant progress in fighting corruption, which shows the fact that BiH is ranked between 91st to 94th position in an index that covers 182 countries based on the perceived level of public sector corruption. BiH’s score in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index is only 3.2, ranging from 10 – no corruption to 1 – absolute corruption), the same as in 2010. Regarding the previous year, BiH has not made a move towards fighting against corruption, and when compared to the period between 2007 and 2011 it has not achieved significant progress

BiH is ranked lower than all of the former Yugoslavian republics, from which Slovenia with 35th place emerges in the highest position. Croatia is ranked 66th on the scale, Macedonia 69th, Serbia 86th, while UNMIK Kosovo is ranked in the112th place below the BiH rate.

The position of Bi in relation to these countries was no different in previous years, considering the fact that all countries in the region had approximate CPI scale scores five years ago. CPI shows that BiH still lags behind others in the region, needless to say of how much the situation in BiH has deteriorated in relation to developed European countries

In the view of deterioration of BiH, regarding other countries in the region, it has been shown in the Progress Reports of the European Commission, in which the Commission recommends granting EU candidate status to Serbia and the opening of accession negotiations between EU and Montenegro is adopted while Croatia will become a European Union member next year. BiH has received a negative assessment, particularly  referring to efficiency in the fight against corruption.

Therefore, institutions in BiH have to take such findings as a call to awakening and urgent action in order for BiH to keep pace with countries in the region and hope for some progress in implementing multiple reforms, and also to take a step forward for the European Union. Otherwise, BiH will lose the last chance to accede to the region and corruption may lead to the completely collapse of stability and endanger the future of the country.

Please find enclosed:

• CPI chart.
• Media report

TI BiH calls to an urgent prosecution for malversations in the construction of the highway Banja Luka – Gradiska

Press releases ● 30 November 2011

Banja Luka, November 30, 2011 – Transparency International Bosnia and Herzegovina (TI BiH) urges that the working results of determining the liability for malversations of the construction of the highway Banja Luka – Gradiska should be revealed to public, which was launched in 2009 by the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH, and it has recently been passed to the jurisdiction of the Special Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Srpska.

On the opening day of the highway, where the attendance of public officials from the country and region is being expected, it is necessary to mention the report of the State Investigation and protection Agency (SIPA), including allegations which raise doubts over validity of the award of contract for the highway construction. Mr. Dodik, as a former Prime Minister of the Government of the Republic of Srpska, is suspected of abusing the office and his power for adopting the resolution on conclusion of the annex to the original contract. Unfortunately, during the opening of a new section of the highway, it has been forgotten that its overall construction is disputable and that all limits and costs for its construction have exceeded.

Therefore, on this occasion TI BiH urges the Government of the Republic of Srpska to Srpska to provide the public with information on the current total costs of the highway construction and on additional costs for the future planned works, considering the fact that regardless of the ribbon cutting and the opening of the section, the highway has not been completed yet.

On the other part, TI BiH asks for an urgent prosecution for serious malversations and criminal acts in the construction of the highway and the Government building to which SIPA and audit reports repeatedly have pointed out. Despite the fact that more than 140 million KM have been misused, the judiciary remains silent.

Harsher penalties and stronger supervision over public officials and political parties suspected of violating the law

Press releases ● 29 November 2011

Banja Luka, November 29, 2011. — Transparency International Bosnia and Herzegovina (TI BiH) and Open Society Fund BiH (OSF) sent the Parliamentary Assembly the proposed amendments to the Law on Conflict of Interest, Law on Financing of Political Parties and Election Law BiH. The proposed amendments are primarily related to tightening sanctions for violating the law and narrowing possibilities of law misuse.

Within the Law on Conflict of Interest, the proposed amendments are intended to prevent the inappropriate transfer of public officials from the public sector to the private sector; then to oblige public officials to report changes in the assets during their mandate and what is more important to impose sanctions for incorrect and incomplete assets declarations. Transparency International BiH and OSF have proposed setting a deadline for decision making on conflicts of interest as to speed up the process and facilitate efficiency in identifying conflicts of interest.

Most of all, it has been proposed that penalties for conflicts of interest instead of 1,000 to 10,000 KM should be increased from 10,000 up to a maximum of 50,000 KM, as well as abolishing the mandate of public officials who are identified with a conflict of interest, given that they have remained in their positions so far and at the same time achieved great profit.

Within the Law on Financing of Political parties, the proposed amendments are related to imposing an obligation to publish the names of donors of political parties and removing limits on reported donations. In this way, parties would be obliged to report all donations not only the ones larger than 100KM.  In addition, TI BiH and OSF BiH suggest reducing the limit on donations to parties in order to prevent large donors from wielding improper influence over the work of political parties and their decisions. TI BiH and OSF BiH also recommend stricter sanctions including monetary sanctions of up to 100,000 KM and imposing sanctions on suspension of budgetary resources, given that most of the parties’ income comes precisely from the budgets of different levels of government. All the above mentioned is given to ensure that political parties comply with the law.  Stricter sanctions would enable stricter law enforcement particularly bearing in mind that current sanctions have been minor compared to breaches of political parties.

The proposed amendments of the Election Law relate to the extension of the BiH Central Election Commission’s competence i.e. introducing competences of the BiH Central Election Commission (CEC ) to inspect and control assets declarations of public officials, given that the assets declarations have been submitted so far but no one checked their accuracy, and officials had an opportunity to enter data without any consequences. On the other side, bearing in mind that the CEC BiH has been carrying out the audit of revenues since auditing the finances of political parties up to now, in the proposal of TI BiH and OSF BiH there is an emphasis on expenditures aimed at scrutinizing the flow of taxpayers’ money which parties get from the budget

TI BiH and OSF appeal to the members of the Interdepartmental Working Group and the Parliamentary Assembly to demonstrate trust and openness to suggestions from civil society and to take advantage to improve these harsh anti-corruption laws. What is most important is to establish a strengthened surveillance system for the funding of political parties and assets declaration of public officials through these amendments, and to impose harsher penalties for those who violate the law

Media and NGOs must not make compromises and jeopardize their independence, but institutions also have to give their straight response

Press releases ● 23 November 2011

Sarajevo, November 23, 2011 — On November 22^nd and 23^rd , Transparency International Bosnia and Herzegovina (TI BiH) and the International Civil Rights Defenders held a two-day regional conference “Role of civil society, citizens and media in the Western Balkans: challenges as opportunities.” The conference brought together representatives of civil society and the media from BiH, Croatia, Serbia, Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro and Macedonia, who have distinguished themselves in the fight against corruption and human rights violation.

The main objective of the conference was primarily to compare the state of civil society and their efficiency in supervising the work of authorities and protecting the civil rights in the region, and to reconsider roles of civil society organizations in situations where their power decreases. However, in their opening remarks at the conference, Goran Miletic, regional director of CRD for the Western Balkans and Emir Djikic, Chair of the Board of Directors of TI BiH, gave their general assessment that despite the efforts of civil society and pressures on governmental institutions their effect weakens. When it comes to BiH, there is a conclusion that civil society was more active and stronger 15 years ago than today.

Therefore, the focus of the panel discussion was on the accountability of NGOs and obstacles they put before them in the struggle for civil rights rather than on the criticism of authorities that exert pressure on civil society. Concerns facing the civil society do not come from attacks, pressures and lack of cooperation with governmental institutions but also in compromises made by the organizations, lack of objectivity and independence of the organizations, which often serve as the right hand of authorities. Their action or inaction affects the reputation of the entire NGO sector and public confidence that NGO will truly represent their interests. Munir Podumljak, director of Partnership for Social Development, the organization which is actively fighting against corruption in Croatia,  has given a cross-section of non-governmental organizations which, in order to meet the project objectives, often establish partnerships with authorities that have already been set out as the reason for corruption, while at the same time there is no coalition building with citizens whose interests these organizations should represent.

The first day of the conference was dedicated to the analysis of the state of freedom and media independence, and its role in representing civil rights by the civil society according to the fact that there is no successful fight against corruption without a free media. The legal framework, which restricts the work of journalists and their media ownership, has largely jeopardized the independence and media objectivity. Media ownership changes, which resulted in shutting down a significant number of media that had represented a major criticism of the government, seem to be as the main problem in the region.  On the other hand, media owners are often associated with political parties, what proves that the full editorial policy of some media is changing after a change of ownership. Traditional media such as television and the press are becoming greatly worried with the ownership and political interests, while the biggest opportunity for freedom of the media, as well as reporting on issues related to all citizens, has become recognized in new media, web sites which are taking an increasing role of sources of information, and encouraging online activism through social networks.

It was highlighted that maintaining integrity and absolute independence are the most important way to gain legitimacy, regardless of the pressures of government and donors, which requires a great deal of courage for confrontation with those who are involved in corruption or violate human rights. Only such example can actuate the citizens to fight themselves for their rights and to realize that something might be able to change

The second day of the conference was dedicated to the protection of individuals who dare to report corruption and human rights violation. Vesna Balenovic, president of the association “Zvizdac” (Whistleblower) from Croatia, shared her experiences and pressures she had suffered after reporting corrupt activities in INA where she worked and got the sack for that. Regardless of difficulties and attacks, she has managed to uncover the corruption scandal and to obtain the judgment of the court, giving an example to others how a single person can still counteract the system. A web portal “Pistaljka” (Whistle), whose aim is to receive allegations of corruption within different institutions, was also presented at the conference, but the information they have gained from Serbia are devastating – only 2.5% of employees are willing to report corruption within the institution. The main reason for that seems to be fear of consequences, because majority of those who dare to report corruption are mostly fired, neglected or marginalized in the workplace, and endure threats by their employers, instead of being rewarded for such an act.  However, it has been noticed that there is a positive trend when it comes to the awareness of the media about whistleblower-related issues and that media is in fact the greatest guarantor of safety for whistleblowers, which may generate public pressure on authorities to punish those involved in corruption scandals

Such examples, regardless of the evident lack of whistleblower protection and protection of civil society organizations in the fight against corruption, can certainly instill courage to further efforts indicating corruption. However, we cannot expect only media and civil society organizations to endure most of the fight against corruption if there is no functioning of all segments of democratic system and the possibility for undisturbed work in the fight against corruption. On the other hand, the state’s responsibility is to provide protection for whistleblowers within the legal framework and through its consistent implementation, which does not include only protection of those who report corruption but also effective prosecution of criminal offences to which they point.

If there are no adequate responses from institutions, judiciary in the first place, to the cases media and organizations are speaking about, those who point to corruption are usually the ones who pay its price –  starting from journalists who lose their lawsuits in court and pay large libel damages due to connection between judiciary and government, through civil society organizations who have to make double efforts to prove their credibility as a result of authority attacks, up to individuals who are destined to fight alone against the whole state system.