International Anti-Corruption Day: Another year with no results

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.