PRESS RELEASES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

Bosnia and Herzegovina at High Risk of Corruption

Press releases ● 04 December 2015

Transparency International calls on NATO members to honour their commitments to defence integrity
(more…)

Lecture on the topic: Open public procurement in the function of economic development

Press releases ● 04 December 2015

Transparency International in Bosnia and Herzegovina (TI BiH) in cooperation with Transparency International Czech Republic, invites you to attend a lecture on Open Public Procurement in the function of economic development. The lecture will be held in the Grand Amphitheater of the University of Business Studies in Banja Luka on Friday, December 4, 2015. year, starting at 4 p.m. (more…)

Presentation of the Municipality of Travnik Integrity System Assessment

Press releases ● 03 December 2015

Transparency International Bosnia and Herzegovina has made, for the first time, a detailed integrity system assessment (LIS assessment) in 10 units of local self-government, including the Municipality of Travnik. The assessment was conducted on the basis of the methodology developed by Transparency International, and globally tested. (more…)

Conference Anti-Corruption Standards in Public Procurement

Announcements ● 02 December 2015

Sarajevo/Banja Luka, 2nd December 2015. – Transparency International Bosnia and Herzegovina (TIBiH), in cooperation with Transparency International Czech Republic, is organizing a conference Anti-Corruption Standards in Public Procurement, which will be held on Thursday, 3rd December 2015, in the Hotel Europe in Sarajevo (Mezanin hall) at 11:00h. 

This will be the opportunity to present the Basic Anti-Corruption Standards in Public Procurement and the Analysis of Public Procurements in the Czech Republic and BiH, examples from the public procurement practice and the irregularities related to it, as well as the analysis of the work of the Procurement Review Body as one of the institutions which monitors the implementation of the Law and bylaws. The conference will also be aimed at providing the presentation of proposals for the amendments to the Law on Public Procurement which the civil society organizations have sent to the Parties of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH and actively supported throughout the year.

The organization of the conference is financially supported by the Ministry od Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic as part of the project „Anti-Corruption Standards in Public Procurement“, as well as by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) within the Civil Society Sustainability Project, that is being implemented in the field of anti-corruption by TIBiH in cooperation with the Center for Investigative Reporting. The agenda is attached below.

Media Advisory – 2 12 2015 doc ENG

TI BiH School of Integrity in Bijeljina

Announcements ● 26 November 2015

Banja Luka, 26th November 2015 – After Travnik and Trebinje, the School of Integrity will be held tomorrow in Bijeljina, where the following topics will be discussed in the form of expert lectures and two-day intensive course: The Effects of Corruption on Economic Development, Good Governance and the Rule of Law and Transparency and Free Access to Information.

A School of Integrity, organized by Transparency International BiH (TI BiH) and supported by the American Embassy in BiH, is a place where young people can learn more about topics focused on the corruption issue through the lectures given by eminent experts and practitioners. Some of the lecturers are experienced experts such as Svetlana Cenic and Srdjan Blagovcanin, a Chairman of the TIBiH Board of Directors, who will give lecture on the corruption issue as related to the economic development an the rule of law.

After this,  the School of Integrity will be held in Bihac as well, and the most active attendees from all four cities will be gathered in the final workshop in Banja Luka when they will be given a chance to exchange opinions and experiences.

The School of Integrity in Bijeljina will start on 27th November 2015, at 09.00h in the premises of the Sinergija University, Rajo Banjicic bb. At the very beginning the students will be addressed by professor Milenko Stanic, PhD, Dean of the Faculty of Business Economy.

A press conference is planned to be held at 08.45h.

Press rls 26 11 2015

28th September, the International Day for the Universal Access to Information

Press releases ● 18 November 2015

Upon the initiative of the international non-governmental organizations, this date has been celebrated as the day of the public’s right to know (“Right to Know Day”) since 2002. UNESCO now adopted special resolution by which it invites all Member States, international, regional and non-governmental organizations, as well as individuals, to properly mark the day which emphasizes the importance of the access to information. Transparency International BiH welcomes the decision brought by UNESCO as this is a way to directly raise the global awareness about the importance of transparency and unobstructed access to information.

Presentation of the City of Mostar Integrity System Assessment

Press releases ● 15 November 2015

Banja Luka, 15^th November 2015. — The main goal of the assessment was the analysis of the efficiency of procedures and mechanisms for the promotion of transparency, liability and integrity in order to fight corruption at local level, offering at the same time recommendations for their further improvement.

TI  BiH and the City of Mostar are organizing a public presentation of the study results which will be attended by the key actors of the City of Mostar (Mayor, officials, representatives of NGOs and the media) who will discuss the results and recommendations for the improvement of transparency, liability and good governance in the City of Mostar.

Presentation will be held on Monday, 16^th November 2015, at 09.30h in the premises of the City Hall of the City of Mostar.

Press rls 15.11.2015.

Progress without any progress?

Press releases ● 12 November 2015

Banja Luka, 12th November 2015. – Despite the fact that the European Commission in its Progress Report Bosnia and Herzegovina 2015, stated some progress, manifested through the adoption of Reform Agenda for BiH, in most areas there was actually no progress at all. This is particularly evident in the areas related to the rule of law, public administration reform and fight against corruption.

Although this Progress Report has been evaluated as the best so far, it is clear that the adoption of the Reform Agenda for BiH is, for now, merely a fictive progress in the form of specified list of wishes, while in all fields the laws are being undermined, the level of their implementation is minimal, institutions are with no efficiency or coordination, the basic human rights are contested, and the political pressures obvious in all spheres.

The Report, for example, clearly indicates that there was no progress in the field of public administration reform – lack of political support to reforms and systematic approach are the main reasons, along with the growing politicization and inefficiency of civil service. The Report has not included the latest amendments to the Law on Civil Service in the Federation of BiH, which certainly deserves to be called the setback in the given field.

The area of the rule of law was emphasized by the political attacks on the judiciary system, and the lack of liability mechanisms of the judges and prosecutors. The inefficiency of the judiciary is still visible, with the proceedings taking up to approximately 7 years, while at the same time, there is a complete lack of processing procedures and convictions of the major corruption acts at the highest levels.

Fight against corruption is inadequate and with no progress in all segments: law enforcement agencies are not mutually coordinated nor effective; statistical data of processing corruption is devastating; there is no effective monitoring over financing political parties; the issue of property records is defined by different legal solutions and has no proper control; the implementation of the Law on Conflict of Interest completely failed at the level of BiH, FBiH and BD; there was no effective prevention of corruption in public procurement.

The Report also noted that there was a setback in protection of human rights, especially in the part referring to the freedom of expression, gathering and associations, in the light of more frequent attacks on media and civil society, but the legal solutions such as the Law on Public Peace and Order of Republic of Srpska as well.

Such assessment has been present in the Progress Reports for years, but the Report for 2015 introduces for the first time clear guidelines and steps that BiH must take in each field in order to be able to measure the progress, through the implementation of the given recommendations. Besides, a new, scaled system of the progress assessment has been introduced (early stage, the initial preparation stage, some progress, good progress and very good progress). Unsurprisingly, BiH is mainly in the early stage of the reform processes in all fields – and it has been in the same stage for 20 years.

Press rls – 12 11 2015

Conclusions of the round table on The Reform of Public Administration in the context of the proposed amendments to the Law on Civil Service (Sarajevo, 03.11.2015.)

Press releases ● 06 November 2015

The general conclusions of the round table is that BiH needs a professional, politically neutral, competent, effective and, most of all, responsible public administration which shall be at the service of citizens and make cost savings. It is concluded that the amendments to the Law on Civil Service of the FBiH, as well as identical solutions prepared at the level of BiH, represent a reason for concern since they are not going in this direction, and that the process of rationalization and reorganization of the civil service is introducing an additional politicization. It was emphasized that the proposed amendments were completely contrary to the principles contained by the Public Administration Reform Strategy, and conclusions insisted on for years by the European Union and SIGMA. Instead of eliminating shortcomings in the functioning of public administration, these amendments actually dismantle the system of public administration. It is necessary to emphasize that the existing system of public administration has provided mechanisms for ensuring the efficiency of the work of civil servants, but they have never been completely used.

Beside the controversial content of this legal solution, it was pointed out that especially worrying is the method used to draft and adopt the proposed legal amendments since this is a very important law. In fact, the same was adopted in an urgent procedure, along with the implementation of the legal violence, violation of procedures, disregard of opinions and attitudes of the experts, the Legislative Office and the relevant commissions of the FBiH Parliament. Although the authorities are trying to present these amendments as rationalization, it is very likely that these legal solutions will be additional financial burden to already expensive public administration, especially when the same solutions are adopted by the lower levels of the government.

The discussion on the Law on Civil Service adopted at the level of FBiH, and prepared at the level of BiH institutions, resulted in the following conclusions:

• The current trend in the amendments to the Law on Civil Service is harmful, and it opens door to the irresponsible individuals to improperly influence public administration. The question is what will be the consequences of the disputed decision on the system of public administration and society in general, since the public administration should be predictable in their work;
• Professional, unbiased and politically neutral public administration are the key principles which should be amended through: the personnel policy, employment process, selection procedure of candidates, and development of units for human resources management, in accordance with the provisions of the Strategy for public administration reform;
• It is necessary to examine the constitutionality and legality of the law adoption at all levels of government, and to use the current mechanisms to review the constitutionality and legality at all levels of government;
• Public debate and discussion on the legal amendments between the government and civil society, academia and experts on the identification of reform priorities must be performed with the aim of finding the most optimal solutions;
• It is necessary to ensure that the efficiency of civil servants is given enough attention and that the question of efficiency should be resolved through better management performed by the head of the institution.

Considering the defined conclusions, TI BiH will continue its work in the monitoring of public administration reform.

TI BiH organized the round table within the project Monitoring of Public Administration Reform – PARM, which is being implemented in cooperation with the Center for Investigative Reporting, supported by the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) and the Government of Denmark.

Press rls 06 11 2015

A round table on the reform of public administration

Announcements ● 02 November 2015

Banja Luka/Sarajevo, 2nd November 2015. –

Considering that the public administration reform was in particular singled out in the Reform Agenda for Bosnia and Herzegovina 2015-2018, the aim of the round table is to obtain the opinions of different actors on measures which are to be taken, while a special focus will be placed on the proposed amendments to the Law on Civil Service of FBiH, and the consequences of its adoption related to the system of civil service.

The round table will be attended by representatives of all relevant institutions included into the reform process, such as representatives of the civil service agencies/state administration of all governmental levels, legislative and executive authorities, and representatives of trade unions of civil servants, civil society organizations and the media, as well as the international institutions.

The round table is being organized within the project Monitoring of the public administration reform – PARM, supported by the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) and the Government of Denmark, and implemented by Transparency International  BiH in cooperation with the Center for Investigative Reporting (CIN).

The round table will be held on Tuesday, 3rd November 2015, at the Hotel Europe in Sarajevo, at 11.00h. Please find attached the agenda. The press release will take place prior to the beginning of the round table, at 10.45h.

Presss rls 02.11.2015. ENG

Conclusions of the Conference Conflict of Interest and Property Records – long-term solutions for institutional and legal framework

Press releases ● 29 October 2015

The general conclusion made by all participants is that an immeasurable damage has been done to the integrity system by the Amendments to the Law on Conflict of Interest in Governmental Institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina of 2013, which prescribed the establishment of the Commission for determining the conflict of interest, mainly consisting of the representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH, i.e. the authorities and representatives of the political parties. The additional damage has been done by a two-year blockade of the implementation of the Law, resulting from the obstruction of the process of establishing the Commission and the Office of the Commission, i.e. the Agency for Prevention of Corruption and Coordination of the Fight against the Corruption. The same blockade has emerged at the level of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which has not amended the Law on Conflict of Interest in a way to establish the body for determining the conflict of interest. Therefore, the most important message of the Conference is that such politicized and fractured system of preventing and determining the conflict of interest is unsustainable, and the fact that the members of the Commission are in a potential conflict of interest from the very beginning, does not help the citizens believe in the objectivity and independence of of the process of determining the conflict of interest of their party colleagues.

Discussion about the solutions for the improvement of the legal framework regarding the conflict of interest and property records, as well as the establishment of the effective supervision over the implementation of the Law, resulted in the following conclusions and recommendations:

• Laws on conflict of interest need to be harmonized mutually, in order to eliminate differences in the range of persons to whom the same are applied and situations which are defined as conflict of interest; at the same time it is necessary to expand the range of persons to whom these laws are applied so to include as many officials in decision-making positions as possible, and to tighten sanctions.
• It is necessary to ensure effective and objective implementation of the Laws on conflict of interest – depoliticize law enforcement authorities, and instead of the commission comprised of the representatives of the Parliament, ensure the extension of powers, and therefore the capacity of the Agency for prevention of corruption and coordination of the fight against corruption which emerges as a logical choice of institution which should be responsible for the implementation of the Law on conflict of interest.
• It is necessary to unify regulations governing the conflict of interest with the regulations governing the property records, since they are basically related, and they should be applied by the same institution and to the same persons.
• It is necessary to urgently eliminate barriers to the disclosure of property records, in order to provide the citizens with the access to information contained in the records on the property status of the public officials.
• The existence of property records is meaningless unless they are regularly checked, which is why it is necessary to adopt the provisions on the establishment of supervision and verification of the accuracy of information inserted into property records, as well as sanctions for providing false information.

Based on these conclusions, TI BiH will perform additional consultations with the relevant institutions, and then submit proposals for the amendments to the laws on which it will insist in the future period trying to ensure the support by the legislators.

TI BiH organized this Conference as a part of the Project of sustainability of civil society (CSSP), on whose implementations TI BiH is working together with the Center for Investigative Reporting, with the support of USAID.

Conclusions of the Conference Conflict of Interest and Property Records – long-term solutions for institutional and legal framework

New Chairman of the Board of Directors of TI BiH elected

Press releases ● 29 October 2015

At the XII regular session of the Assembly of Transparency International BiH, held on October 24, 2015. in Banja Luka, Srdjan Blagovcanin was elected the new Chairman of the Board of Directors. The term of office of the Chairman of the Board of Directors is four years, and the members of the Board of Directors are Fatima Hajdarević, Aleksandra Martinović, Boris Divjak and Siniša Marković.

Presentation of the Municipality of the Old City of Sarajevo Integrity System Assessment

Press releases ● 29 October 2015

Sarajevo, 29^th October 2015. — The aim of the assessment was to conduct the analysis of the efficiency of procedures and mechanisms for promotion of transparency, accountability and integrity in order to suppress the corruption at the local level, offering at the same time the recommendations for their further improvement.

TI BiH and the Municipality of the Old City of Sarajevo are organizing the public presentation of the study results, which will be attended by the key actors of the Municipality of the Old City of Sarajevo (Mayor and the Chairman of the Municipal Council, representatives of NGOs and the media) who will discuss the results and recommendations for the improvement of transparency, accountability and good governance in the Municipality of the Old City of Sarajevo.

Presentation will be held on Friday, 30th October 2015, at 10.00h in the official premises of the Municipality of the Old City of Sarajevo.

Press rls – 29.10.2015.

Presentation of the City of Bijeljina Integrity System Assessment

Press releases ● 28 October 2015

Banja Luka, 28^th October 2015 — The aim of the assessment was to conduct the analysis of the efficiency of procedures and mechanisms for promotion of transparency, accountability and integrity in order to suppress the corruption at the local level, offering at the same time the recommendations for their further improvement.

TI BiH and the City of Bijeljina are organizing the public presentation of the study results, which shall be attended by the key actors in the City of Bijeljina (Mayor and the representatives of the Parliament, representatives of NGOs and the media) and they will discuss the results and recommendations for the improvement of transparency, accountability and good governance in the City of Bijeljina.

Presentation will be held on Thursday, 29th October 2015, at 12.00h in the official premises of the City of Bijeljina.

Press rls 28 10 2015 eng

Conference on the conflict of interest and property records

Announcements ● 26 October 2015

Banja Luka/Sarajevo, 26^th October 2015 – The discussion at the conference will include the existing problems and obstacles to ensuring the effective supervision over the implementation of the law, putting special emphasis on the need to strengthen the independence of institutions, in order to provide objective and unbiased implementation of the law.

The conference is organized within the Project of sustainability of civil society, which is financially supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and implemented within anti-corruption sector by TI BiH and the Center for investigative reporting. On this occasion, the participants of the conference will also be addressed by the mission director of USAID in BiH, Mr Peter Duffy.

The conference will be attended by the representatives of the competent institutions, such as the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption and Coordination of the Fight against Corruption, Commission for Deciding in Cases of Conflict of Interest, Central Election Commission, Personal Data Protection Agency, and representatives of the parliamentary committees and the executive authorities. It is also expected that the representatives of civil society, media and international institutions and organizations will also attend the conference.

The conference will be held on Tuesday, 27^th October 2015, at the Hotel Europe in Sarajevo, at 11.00h. Please find attached the agenda. Press conference is planned to be held at 10.45h.

Press rls 26.10.2015. ENG

Presentation of the Municipality of Gracanica Integrity System Assessment

Press releases ● 25 October 2015

Banja Luka, 25^th October 2015 – The aim of the assessment was to analyze the efficiency of procedures and mechanisms for promotion of transparency, accountability and integrity in order to suppress corruption at local level, offering at the same time recommendations for their further improvement.

TI BiH and the Municipality of Gracanica are organizing the public presentation of the study results, which will be attended by the key actors in the Municipality of Gracanica (the Mayor and representatives of the Municipal Council, officials, representatives of non-governmental organizations and the media) who will discuss the results and recommendations for the improvement of transparency, accountability and good governance in the Municipality of Gracanica.

Presentation will be held on Monday, 26^th October 2015, at 12.30h in the official premises of the Municipality of Gracanica.

Press rls 25.10.2015. ENG