PRESS RELEASES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

TI BiH presented POPULUS: digital platform for citizens’ participation in public debate

Press releases ● 30 August 2022

Banja Luka, 30/08/2022: The participation of citizens in the process of making decisions concerning their daily lives represents the essence of democracy as a partnership between citizens and authorities. With the idea of promoting a culture of transparency and active citizenship and the goal of developing relations between local authorities and citizens, TI BIH, with the financial support of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, he developed a digital platform that was presented today at the conference ” You are not just a letter on paper – participation in public discussion at the local level through the POPULUS platform” .

The key results of cooperation with the cities of Lukavac, Goražde and Bijeljina, the Brčko District Government, the Municipality of Novi Travnik and the Municipality of Foča were presented at the conference, which in the previous period improved communication with citizens through the digital platform POPULUS and made decision-making processes in local communities more transparent.

Ernest Imamović, the mayor of Goražde, one of the 6 local self-government units that introduced the POPULUS digital platform, pointed out that: ” The POPULUS platform enables discourse and two-way communication about everyday problems – from landscaping to replacing public lighting bulbs in neighborhoods.”

 Igor Ćurčić, representative of the Municipality of Foča, pointed out that such projects are inevitable for the functioning of public authorities, and that the POPULUS platform should be further developed and promoted, precisely for the purpose of solving problems in the community.

The POPULUS platform itself is integrated into the websites of local governments in these 6 local communities and consists of three parts: e-information (with information for citizens about the work of local municipalities ), e-consultation (documents and proposals of municipal and city assemblies/councils, with space for citizens to give comments, proposals and suggestions) and e-voting (special issues related to the work of local authorities of particular importance to citizens).

The Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which supported this project, Jan Waltmans pointed out that the use of digital tools and technologies can improve processes, and enables citizens to ask questions, and that the platform should be a promise that they will receive an answer to them within a reasonable time.

The chairman of the TI BIH Board of Directors, Srđan Blagovčanin , pointed out that: ” The level of Internet penetration in BiH is 90% and citizens expect that local self-government units and other bodies follow the trend of technology development.”

The POPULUS platform is available in all units of local self-governments, and TI BIH called on the authorities in other local communities to adopt it and thus improve the participation of citizens in public debates and decision-making processes.

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TI BiH: Such changes to the Law on Public Procurement will not fundamentally advance the fight against corruption, even though it was a priority of the EU

Press releases ● 30 August 2022

Banja Luka, August 30, 2022 The agreed text of amendments to the Law on Public Procurement of BiH, which was confirmed by the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly in BiH, will not fundamentally improve the fight against corruption in this area, which was a key requirement that the European Union set for Bosnia and Herzegovina through 14 priorities.

Despite certain improvements brought by the Law on Amendments to the Law on Public Procurement, which primarily relate to the segment of conflicts of interest, collusion and transparency, some of the key mechanisms for the prevention and fight against corruption did not find their place in this regulation.

Thus, after five years of work on amendments to this law and international pressures, the mechanisms for sanctioning law breakers, both in the area of misdemeanor and criminal liability, have not been improved, the possibilities of protecting the public interest by the competent bodies were not expanded, political influences on the appointments and work of the members of the Appeals Review Office were not eliminated, and the further development of the e-procurement system and the accompanying transparency were extended for another year by changes in the law.

In addition, capacities and mechanisms of supervision of the public procurement institutions system in BiH have not been strengthened, which is particularly problematic from the point of view of the latest amendments that were adopted in the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH and which will allow contracting authorities to increase their value during the duration of the contract, due to unforeseen circumstances for an additional 30% without conducting a new procedure.

Bearing in mind the numerous abuses that occur in practice in the segment of contract implementation, as the most non-transparent phase of the public procurement cycle, Transparency International in BiH warns that these changes, although under the auspices of reforms, could open up additional space for corruption and extraction of public money through privileged companies . Also, with the agreed amendments, the annual threshold for awarding contracts through direct agreements without public bidding increases from BAM 6,000 to BAM 10,000.

In this way, through the long-term procedure of adopting these changes, and especially through the amendments made by the representatives in the Parliament, under the pretext of implementing reforms and fulfilling the priorities of the EU, which states that BiH will strengthen the prevention and fight against corruption in the field of public procurement and strengthen the capacities for public procurement, there were changes to the Law that open up additional space for corruption.

TI BiH reminds that the amendments to the Law on Public Procurement should have been adopted a few years ago, and only as a temporary solution until the adoption of a new, complete Law and accompanying by-laws, which would be harmonized to the maximum extent with EU directives, and significantly improve transparency, prevention and fight against corruption. Therefore, after 5 years of work on reforms in this area, these changes can be considered not only cosmetic, but in certain segments encouraging for potential abuses and corruption. In this way, the representatives of the ruling parties in BiH once again showed that they use the so-called reform processes to introduce harmful provisions, while at the same time presenting them as great progress and fulfillment of EU priorities.

TI BiH once again warns that adoption of any solutions under the excuse of fulfilling EU priorities it must not be allowed, but that it must be ensured that they really go in the direction of preventing corruption and meeting international standards.

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Semi-annual report of the TI BiH Legal Assistance Center: Citizens witness corruption more often

Press releases ● 22 August 2022

Banja Luka, 08/22/2022: The Center for Providing Free Legal Aid in the Fight Against Corruption Transparency International in BiH (TI BiH) acted in 154 cases related to corruption reports in the first half of 2022, and recorded 817 toll-free calls at 0800 55555 from citizens reporting corruption.

State administration continues to represent the sector in which the most irregularities were recorded, and in the first 6 months of 2022, 104 reports were recorded in this area, which represents an increase compared to the same period last year (66).

Judiciary (11), education (11) and private sector (14) are the areas in which the Center records a constant number of cases, while in the field of health, a decrease in the number of corruption reports (3) was noticed in the period from January to July 2022, compared to the previous year when the COVID-19 pandemic put negative pressure on this area.

The largest number of cases in this period refers to reports of persons who witness corruption, namely 84, which is an evident increase compared to previous years. Reports of whistleblowers (17) and persons who are victims of corruption (43), although relatively numerous, do not show a significant increase compared to the previous period, which suggests that citizens are more aware of the corruption they witness in their environment, but still lack the necessary institutional and legal protection to encourage them to report situations where they are victims of corruption or when they feel that they can suffer the consequences of reporting.

Based on the actions of the Center, in this period as many as 12 verdicts were passed in favor of TI BiH against public authorities at all levels of government in BiH, namely against: the Banking Agency of the Federation of BiH, Elektroprenos BiH, the Federal Ministry of Displaced Persons and Refugees, Republic Administration for Geodetic and Property-Legal Affairs of RS, Assembly of the Zenica-Doboj Canton, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management of RS, Public Enterprise “Putevi RS”, KJKP “Rad” Sarajevo, Vodovod Kozarska Dubica, City of Trebinje, Municipality of Hadžići, and RTV Velika Kladuša.

In the same period, 3 recommendations of the Institution of Ombudsman for Human Rights of Bosnia and Herzegovina were issued based on the Center’s petitions, and 11 administrative disputes were initiated against public authorities for failure to provide information of public importance.

Through the Center, TI BiH participated as an “intervenor” in proceedings against the Indirect Taxation Authority of BiH due to discrimination against Emir Mešić, a whistleblower who sued this institution for retribution that occurred as a reaction after his reports on corruption. As an interested party in one of the most significant proceedings in the field of whistleblower protection in BiH, TI BiH provided assistance and legal support to Mešić in protecting his rights as a person who reports corruption.

Apart from this case, the Center was also active in cases of appointment to public positions of persons who do not meet the requirements, and after the action of the Center for Providing Free Legal Aid, some of the appointments were annulled. Thus, in one of the cases, the Administrative Inspection of the RS established that Branislav Zeljković was illegally employed as an expert advisor in the Republican Administration of Civil Protection of the RS. He was appointed to this position even though he did not meet the requirements, and after he was dismissed from the position of director of the Institute for Public Health of the RS due to procurement irregularities during the COVID-19 pandemic, as TI BiH also pointed out.

In the same way, TI BiH reported to the Administrative Inspection of RS that acting director Nenad Ćuk, deputy director of the Republic Administration of Civil Protection of the RS, does not meet the requirements to be in that position, which was confirmed by the call to dismiss him from this position.

As a result of the Center’s actions, the BiH Border Police conducted a disciplinary procedure and confirmed the responsibility of a border police officer who demanded a bribe while performing his duties at the Brod border crossing.

TI BiH Center for Providing Legal Aid in the Fight Against Corruption provides advisory legal assistance to citizens, who can contact the Center via the toll-free number 0800 55555 or via the platform prijavikorupciju.org.

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TIBIH published monitoring results: Huge increase in pre-election public spending, numerous examples of abuse of public resources for electoral purposes

Press releases ● 02 August 2022

Sarajevo, August 2, 2022: Political parties have already started holding pre-election rallies and paid election campaigns, which are prohibited by the Election Law before the official start of the election campaign, which is why TI BIH sent 22 reports to the Central Election Commission. In addition to the premature campaign, abuses of voter list as well as violations of the Law on Financing Political Parties were reported to the Central Election Commission.

However, the key abuses of public resources that take place in the election campaign are not prohibited by law, or even by the imposed amendments to the Election Law by the OHR, which, as it was said, were supposed to improve election integrity. With these changes, among other things, running a campaign at events organized by public institutions is also considered abuse of public resources, and in the past period, a large number of examples of official campaigns and abuse of institutions’ events for the promotion of candidates have been recorded.

Of the 175 public events monitored by TI BiH observers, which were organized by public institutions and companies and financed with public funds, 76% featured candidates in the General Elections, and in many cases, it was about their direct promotion. We highlight the example of the “spectacular concert” on the occasion of the Day of the Municipality of Čelinac , where the concert of five pop artists was paid for with public funds, and before their performance, four SNSD candidates appeared on stage and sang, gave speeches and invited the gathered citizens to vote.

A similar thing happened at the Days of Return event supported by the FBiH Government, where their names were highlighted on the ice billboard behind the podium where Bakir Izetbegović and Edin Ramić were speaking, along with a graphic solution similar to the one under which the SDA had already started the election campaign. Through the monitoring of public events, TI BiH observers also recorded cases of hate speech.

Unfortunately, unlike neighboring countries, BiH did not introduce a limit on public spending in the pre-election period, which is a key resource that is misused to buy votes and promote parties and candidates. TI BiH observers recorded 353 public works that were started or finished in the past month, and their value is 429 million KM. This is about 20 million more than was spent on public works, according to the data of the Public Procurement Agency, in the second and third quarters of last year.

Also, 138 cases of extraordinary and one-time budget payments to certain categories of the population were recorded, where in most cases it is indirect vote buying. For this purpose, just for the recorded examples, 191 million KM was distributed, which includes two large cases where entity governments allocated over 100 million KM for one-time assistance to pensioners, veterans and young people, and everything will be realized before the elections.

In addition, an additional 90 million KM was distributed through other benefits, and among the most significant benefits are the assistance of the Government of Tuzla Canton to pensioners of 100 KM (a total of 3.5 million), the assistance of the Government of Zenica-Doboj Canton to mothers in labor of 1000 KM (a total of 11 million KM) and a one-time assistance to the unemployed persons of 100 KM in the Herzegovina-Neretva canton. This canton also provided payment of health insurance to religious officials, while something similar was announced in the Republic of Srpska.

There were also 11 cases of salary increases or one-time payments to employees in public institutions and companies, as well as 19 cases of increased employment in the public sector. Although it is not in dispute that the salaries and incomes of budget beneficiaries are increased, in a large number of cases, these are one-time benefits and are used to collect electoral support.

In addition, 24 cases of providing special benefits and providing numerous public services that became free before the elections were recorded. We single out examples where UKC RS organized a free trip for retired workers of this institution, where the director, who is also a candidate for parliament, distributed cards offering priority during medical examinations.

The municipality of Jablanica provided free transportation for young people to the Jablanica lake, the municipality of Kozarska Dubica stopped charging for parking, municipality of Zavidovići formed a team for free verification of documents for educators without permanent employment, etc. There were also 19 cases of increased employment of workers in the public sector before the elections.

At the press conference in Sarajevo, TI BiH also presented the mobile application Reflektor: Izbori 22 , with which all citizens can report election irregularities, violations of the law and misuse of public resources in the campaign, and specifically appealed to citizens to report all forms of pressure on voters, vote buying and threats to voters.

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TI BiH strongly condemns the imposition of amendments to the Election Law

Press releases ● 28 July 2022

Banja Luka, 28 July 2022 – TI BiH feels that the imposition of amendments to the Election Law by the High Representative is completely unacceptable, and strongly condemns this step, considering it to be irreconcilable with the principles of democracy.

The imposition of amendments to the Election Law, even if they are only “technical”, a mere two months prior to election day, is a breach of the fundamental principle that legislation impacting the holding of elections should not be changed after the call for elections has been issued, and is instead a total suspension of democratic procedures, public debate and participation of relevant institutions which are normally involved when devising solutions so pertinent to the integrity of the election process. In addition, if the imposed amendments are expected to be implemented during the current election cycle, they can seriously jeopardize the ability of the election administration to hold the elections, which can cause legislative uncertainty and bring about additional issues in holding the elections.

Unfortunately, this practice is just a continuation of electoral reform processes previously set in motion by the international community in BiH, which have proven to be highly non-transparent and exclusive, leaving room for manipulation and raising tensions.

Furthermore, the imposed amendments, except in the segment on penal provisions, do not bring any essential improvements to the election process, but instead represent merely superficial and partial solutions, not even including proposals already made by the relevant institutions and organizations. For example, the imposed amendments cover the issue of trading in seats on election boards, but do not in any way address the manner of selection of members to the election boards and to municipal election committees.

Provisions on preventing the misappropriation of public resources do not cover key forms of misuse through employment and public expenditure, nor do they address other issues relevant to monitoring the behaviour of political subjects, independence of the election administration, and transparency and objectivity of the election process. Having in mind the nature of the imposed amendments, which do not essentially resolve key issues, it even less clear that why such amendments should be imposed by a decision from the High Representative.

In addition, announcements of impositions and other amendments to the Election Law and FBiH Constitution, which would endanger the core rights of BiH citizens and work towards ethnic nationalist policies, have only served to needlessly open up room for destabilization and raising tensions in the already strained political situation in BiH. This is contrary to the very role originally assigned to the institution of the High Representative, and seriously endangers the credibility and justifiability of the continued existence of the Office of the High Representative as an institution, since it is becoming part of the problem, instead of the solution, for issues of the utmost importance to the citizens of BiH.

TI BiH would like to reiterate that as far back as in 2004, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe warned that the fact that the High Representative has a broad mandate and yet is not accountable to the citizens of BiH is contrary to basic democratic principles, while the 2005 Opinion of the Venetian Commission warned that the longer such mandate remains in place, the more problematic it becomes, because it leaves long-lasting effects on the development of democracy, i.e. it fosters a situation in which local institutions and political parties shy away from assuming responsibility for reforms, let alone making compromises.

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TI BIH has started monitoring the pre-election process: Invitation to citizens to report election irregularities

Press releases ● 07 July 2022

The focus of the monitoring will be the behavior of parties and candidates, misuse of public resources for party promotion, assessment of election campaign costs, as well as the behavior of public institutions and companies in the pre-election process. Also, all violations of the rules of conduct in the pre-election period, as well as threats to voters and all forms of pressure on voters, will be monitored.

TI BiH will report all observed irregularities to the competent institutions, and based on the first reports from the field, the Central Election Commission has already been sent the first reports about potential irregularities regarding voter lists as well as premature campaigns by parties and candidates. In addition to field observation, this year special attention will be paid to monitoring the digital and online space, and in order to determine violations of the rules of conduct in the pre-election period, the costs of online advertising will be calculated and all examples of premature or inappropriate paid advertising will be recorded.

During the monitoring of the pre-election process in 2020, Ti BiH recorded over 2,400 examples of abuse of public resources for the election campaign, and during the monitoring of only two forms of advertising, it was determined that the parties concealed at least 1.6 million KM of election campaign costs. In that period, TI BiH sent more than 120 reports to the institutions, and based on numerous reports, the CEC imposed penalties on political entities under its jurisdiction.

That is why TI BIH calls on citizens to report all cases of irregularities, which includes buying votes and offering public services in exchange for votes, manipulation of voter lists and election engineering, threats to voters, misuse of public funds for party promotion, paid advertising before the start of the election campaign and all other election irregularities.

TI BIH has also developed the free application “Reflektor: Elections 22” for easier registration, with which citizens can quickly, easily and

anonymously report all irregularities and abuses during the election process. The application is adapted for all Android and Apple smart devices, it can be downloaded from this link as well as from the website reflektor.ba.

TI BiH hereby appeals to all participants in the election process to adhere to the rules and laws that define the behavior of political subjects in the period from the day of the announcement to the holding of the election itself, in order to enable the elections to be held in a just and fair atmosphere.

Monitoring of pre-election activities is carried out by TI BiH within the framework of the project “Support to citizens in the fight against corruption”, which is financially supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which is carried out together with partner organizations, the Centers for Civil Initiatives (CCI) and the Center for Media Development and Analysis (CRMA).

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After reporting to TI BiH, the inspection found: Zeljković does not meet the requirements to be an adviser to the director of Civil Protection of the RS

Press releases ● 01 July 2022

The former director of the Institute of Public Health of the RS, who was arrested due to an affair related to the procurement of equipment during the pandemic, got a job without a competition as an expert advisor after being released from custody.

However, Zeljković did not meet the requirements regarding professional education for this position, because the Faculty of Pharmacy he graduated from is not intended for the position of expert advisor according to the Rulebook on Internal Organization and Systematization of Workplaces. TI BiH informed the Administrative Inspection about this, which then ordered the Director of Civil Protection to hand Zeljković a decision on termination of employment within 15 days.

Zeljković, as claimed by Civil Protection in the response to TI BiH, was employed in a specific position “due to the increased workload” for a certain period of time, and was previously dismissed from the position of director of the RS Public Health Institute due to his detention. Against him, and due to the conclusion of disputed contracts with the companies “Procontrol” and “Travel for fun”, TI BiH is still in 2020. filed a criminal complaint for illegal procurement of medical equipment during the pandemic. In that case, the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of RS is still conducting the investigation, and Zeljković was released from custody on the 16th. in February of this year after spending five months.

Already in April, the media announced that he was employed as an adviser to his party colleague Milan Novitović, who is the director of the Republican Administration of Civil Protection of the RS, and TI BiH sent the application to the inspection in May, because Zeljković did not meet the requirements for that position according to the regulations. A position in an administrative body can be filled only if it is provided for in the rulebook on internal organization and systematization of positions and if its filling corresponds to the personnel plan of the republican administrative body for the current year.

Furthermore, according to the same rulebook, the acting deputy director of Civil Protection, Nenad Ćuk, does not meet the requirements to be in that position, because he is a graduate economist. TI BiH also requested inspection supervision in this case, and the Administrative Inspection found that the Government of the RS appointed Nenad Ćuk to this position more than three times for a period of 90 days, which violated the Law on Civil Servants. In the notification of the inspection that was delivered to TI BiH, it is stated that the inspection informed the Government of RS about the irregularities found and called on it to act according to the law, that is, to dismiss Nenad Ćuk from this position. TI BiH calls on the RS Government to comply with the inspection order because this provision of the law is often not respected during the successive appointments of numerous heads of republican administrative bodies in Republika Srpska.

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Message from the EU-Western Balkans conference: Credibility needs to be restored to European integration, decisions from last summit will have negative consequences for region

Press releases ● 25 June 2022

The decision of the European Union not to grant candidate status to any new country from the Western Balkans at the last summit did not give a positive signal to the region and further undermined the credibility of the accession process, it was said at the conference Banja Luka organized Transparency International in BiH. International experts, former diplomats, decision-makers from BiH and the surrounding area, representatives of academia and civil society spoke at the conference, and the common conclusion is that the region needs stronger EU engagement, new impetus for integration and support in key reforms such as the rule of law.

The complete halt in the process of European integration in the region came due to the increasingly pronounced authoritarian tendencies of domestic leaders, accompanied by the violation of the rule of law, civil and media freedoms. The desire of the political elites in the countries of the Western Balkans is obviously to maintain the current situation, and the previous approach of the Brussels administration has many times led to rewarding those who violated the European path, the rule of law and fundamental civil liberties.

On the other hand, internal problems in the EU itself have led to a blockade of the European path and those countries that have met difficult conditions, and the result is a decline in public support for the European integration process, which will certainly be an aggravating factor in the future.

In the case of Bosnia and Herzegovina, only one of the 14 key priorities met the technical condition of setting up a Parliamentary Committee on European Integration, while authorities blocked all key reforms to enable the rule of law and the fight against corruption. Despite the fact that the vast majority of political actors are committed to European integration, everything that has happened in recent years clearly shows that the key goal of the ruling elites is to obstruct these reforms, preserve the levers of power and the current state of widespread corruption. The participants in the conference also criticized the EU’s approach so far, which has spent huge funds on judicial reform and other reforms that have not yielded results because solutions that are not adapted to the situation in the region have been forced.

Therefore, the message is that the EU should insist more strongly on fulfilling the key conditions in the area of the rule of law, democratic transition and the fight against corruption, because the latest developments among domestic leaders are understood as a message that candidate status can be obtained without fulfilling these conditions.

The conference also stressed the need to strengthen regional cooperation in order to build mutual trust and strengthen the civil society sector, which is a prerequisite for creating the preconditions that will enable a deep democratic transition. The tendency to violate media freedoms is present both in the countries waiting for accession and in the EU member states from the region, which requires a special approach in resistance to authoritarian tendencies.

Goran Svilanovic – former Minister of Foreign Affairs of FR Yugoslavia and former Secretary General of the Regional Cooperation Council, Kori Udovicki – former Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia and Chief Economist of the Center for Advanced Economic Studies in Belgrade spoke at the conference organized by TI BiH with the support of the Embassy of Sweden in BiH , Emir Đikić – CEFTA Director, Maja Sever – President of the European Federation of Journalists, Neven Anđelić – Professor Regent of the University of London, Katarina Peović – Member of the Croatian Parliament, Drago Kos – Chair of the OECD Anti-Corruption Working Group.

International Whistleblower Day! TI BiH published devastating data on the protection of whistleblowers in BiH

Press releases ● 23 June 2022

BiH citizens rarely choose to report corruption because they fear the consequences, and official data show devastating results when it comes to the protection provided to whistleblowers by official institutions.. In the Federation of BiH, there is no law at all that protects those who report corruption, while the application of such laws that exist at the state level and in the Republika Srpska has had very bad effects. The figures presented by Transparency International in BiH (TI BIH) today in Sarajevo at a conference on the occasion of the 23rd. June, International Whistleblower Day show that the Agency for Prevention of Corruption and Coordination of the Fight against Corruption of BiH (APIK) since 2014. received only 32 applications.

The majority was rejected because, among other things, it was suspected that corruption was reported in “good faith” and only in 10 cases the applicants were granted protection. One of them is the well-known whistleblower from the ITA BiH, Emir Mešić, who was fired after speaking about corruption, and APIK refused to use his authority and protect him from disciplinary prosecution. He said at today’s conference in Sarajevo that the authorities do not aim to protect the whistleblowers because they are afraid of chain reactions.

– Because whistleblowers open internal problems related to government structures, and then if one whistleblower succeeds, the whole structure falls, from the prosecutor’s office and courts to heads of institutions suspected of corruption , said Emir Mesic, who is trying to get his rights in court after his dismissal.

The situation is no better in the Republika Srpska either, where only two requests for judicial protection of whistleblowers have been submitted in the five years of application of this law. Regardless of the fact that the law in RS has a better model of protection, the distrust of citizens in the judiciary and the overall atmosphere where the highest officials even publicly threaten anyone who speaks about corruption, have led to devastating results that show that no applicant sought protection last year.

In the Brcko District, the law was adopted in 2018. but its application has only recently begun and four applications have already been received. The adoption of this law in the Federation of BiH has been blocked in the House of Peoples since 2018. year when it was adopted in the form of a draft in the House of Representatives. Members of the FBiH Parliament who were present at the conference today stated that the opportunity to resolve this issue was repeatedly missed due to political obstructions.

At the conference, TI BIH also presented a comparative analysis of the situation in this area in BiH and Serbia, where it is evident that the neighboring country with 842 resolved cases of whistleblower protection has more efficient mechanisms, but some scandals such as the “Krushik” case show that whistleblowers have no guarantee persecuted.

Also, the conference concluded that whistleblowers in BiH need greater support from institutions through legal assistance currently provided only by NGOs, and that there are currently no positive examples that have received a judicial epilogue and that would encourage citizens to report corruption.

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Zaštita zviždača u BiH i Srbiji: Uporedna analiza

“Let’s heal health care”: Prevention of corruption in health care – better patient health care

Press releases ● 31 May 2022

Sarajevo, 31. May, 2022: Zenica Cantonal Hospital is the first health institution in BiH that accepted and implemented innovative software/program for automatic creation and public publication of patient waiting lists. Patients of this hospital, as well as citizens, non-governmental organizations, the media and anyone interested, have been able to follow up-to-date waiting lists on the website of the Zenica Cantonal Hospital for two years.

This is just one of the results of the “Cure Health” project funded by the European Union and implemented by Transparency International (TI BiH) and Centers for Civil Initiatives (CCI). The project brought together 15 health care institutions, health workers, civil society organizations and institutions, in order to fight against corruption in the health sector and thereby ensure more efficient and accessible health services for citizens in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

This and other key results of the project, for the implementation of which the European Union provided 490,000 euros, were presented at the final conference held in Sarajevo under the title “ Prevention of corruption in the health sector – presentation of good practices. ”

“The fight against corruption is at the top of the priorities of the Opinion of the European Commission on the membership of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the EU. And this project is a direct response to that. During the period of the COVID-19 epidemic, we learned how important the functioning of the health system is and the provision of equal access to health services for all patients. Equal access to health is not only the provision of services, but also TRANSPARENCY, and the equality of citizens, which requires changes in policy and legislation, in order to ensure the ultimate goal – more efficient patient care. This project has shown how it can be done, and we hope that many will join the initiatives launched during its realization”, said Enrico Visentin, program manager for Justice and anti-corruption, Delegation of the European Union in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The project is part of a broader EU strategy in the rule of law sector, which aims to improve the fight against corruption through greater participation of relevant CSOs.

Memorandum on cooperation with the project was signed by: Bihać Cantonal Hospital; Health Center Travnik; Health Center Lopare; Health Center Banja Luka; General Hospital “Abdullah Nakaš” Sarajevo; UCC Tuzla; Health Center Bijeljina; Health center Doboj; Gradiška Hospital; Foča University Hospital; Health Center Brčko; Health center Tomislavgrad; Health Center “Isak Samokovlija” Goražde; Konjic General Hospital; Zenica Cantonal Hospital.

“As a result of this partnership, the systematic introduction of new anti-corruption internal acts in the segments of public procurement, conflict of interest, human resources management and financial management was initiated. So far, 15 new Regulations and other internal acts have been adopted, and about 30 are in the process of being adopted. This will significantly improve the corruption prevention system in the mentioned areas, which can result in financial savings, better trained medical workers and better health care for patients,” said Emsad Dizdarević, project manager of TI BiH.

The “Cure Health” project contributed to a large extent to the adoption of entity strategies for the development of the system of internal financial controls in the public sector. Also, as one of the long-term results, the Coalition for Monitoring and Advocating the Fight Against Corruption in Health Care was highlighted and formed, which, in the coming period, will try to respond to challenges in this area and continue to work especially at the local level.

The project of prevention and fight against corruption in healthcare (Let’s heal healthcare), financed by the European Union in the amount of 490,000 euros, aims to contribute to reducing the risk of corruption in the health sector in BiH by improving transparency, accountability and integrity in 15 public health institutions in BiH and to establish systemic preventive solutions in areas of risk of corruption. More information about the project is available at https://www.euresurs.ba/projekat/izlijecimo-zdravstvo-(2018.)/9

Announcement Conference 31.5.2022.

BiH has never been further from the European path, only one of the 14 EU priorities has been met in three years

Press releases ● 30 May 2022

Exactly three years ago, the European Union set 14 priorities for Bosnia and Herzegovina to meet candidate status, and to date only one has been fully met while the government continues to block the adoption of key laws to fight corruption. Last year, Transparency International in BiH published an analysis of the implementation of these reforms , which shows that BiH has only managed to form a Parliamentary Stabilization and Association Committee, and that is the only fulfilled priority on the European path.

No progress has been made in a year, and the House of Peoples of the BiH PA prevented the adoption of several important laws at a recent session that would ensure the prevention of corruption and the fight against organized crime, for which there is no justification.

Among the most important attempts to implement these reforms is that the House of Representatives of the BiH PA twice managed to adopt a law regulating conflicts of interest in line with international standards, but this important reform was stopped both times in the House of Peoples. public procurement and amendments to the Law on the HJPC, which are a precondition for systemic judicial reform. Instead of reform, the Republika Srpska has entered the process of passing its own law on the HJPC, which is a step towards the complete collapse of the legal order.

In the past year, in which BiH did not implement any of these reforms, there were millions of scandals in public procurement that were not processed by the judiciary, and TI BiH identified over 300 important officials who are directly or indirectly in conflict of interest. Due to the complete blockade in the Federation of BiH, the Law on the Protection of Corruption Reporters was not adopted, while the catastrophic application of these laws at other levels did not stop the persecution of people who decide to report corruption.

Also, instead of fulfilling the EU’s priorities related to ensuring electoral integrity, in BiH the holding of elections has been called into question, so that the actors of the latest blockades are slowly entering the sphere of criminal responsibility. BiH enters the election process without a budget for holding elections and with one of the worst laws in the region, especially in terms of preventing election fraud and misuse of public resources. As we already have announcements of the distribution of money before the elections and indirect vote buying, it is clear that substantial reforms are not in the interest of key decision-makers. Ruling political parties have spent time trying to resolve constitutional issues and maintain their control over the election process, while changes to prevent vote theft, manipulate polling stations and illegally fund political parties have been sidelined.

Only five priorities from the Opinion of the European Commission have been partially realized or have begun to be fulfilled, and these are mostly technical issues, and not a substantial reform that would speed up the European path. Despite the fact that the vast majority of political actors are committed to European integration, everything that has happened in the past three years clearly shows that the key goal of the ruling elites is to obstruct these reforms, preserve the levers of power and the current state of widespread corruption.

Press rls_30.05.22

“Party management of schools must stop” – TI BiH proposes that with the new Law on Basic Education of the RS, school boards appoint principals

Press releases ● 27 May 2022

Due to the negative consequences of the current party management of educational institutions in Republika Srpska, Transparency International in BiH (TI BIH) believes that a good opportunity for essential reform is the adoption of the New Law on Basic Education of the RS, which will be presented to the deputies at the next session. TI BIH sent comments on the proposed draft law to the Ministry of Education and Culture of the RS, in which the need to reduce the influence of the Government of the Republic of Srpska on the appointment of principals of primary schools is emphasized.

This type of management in the previous period led to party distribution of management positions, which was later reflected in the depth and party employment of teaching staff, and TI BiH receives numerous applications for rigged competitions, illegal transfers, as well as complaints from parents about the quality of education. In two cases, there were even boycotts of classes and protests by children and parents dissatisfied with frequent changes in teaching staff and increasingly obvious examples of party recruitment.

That is why TI BiH’s proposal is that the school board, as a heterogeneous and participative management body, has a key role in appointing the director, who will be elected after a public competition. In the new law, which is referred to the procedure, it is still foreseen that the Government of the RS appoints directors on the proposal of the minister and even leaves the possibility that the minister does not propose a single candidate from the list submitted by the school board after the competition. TI BIH believes that it is completely inappropriate to conduct a competition procedure for the selection and appointment of directors, to spend material and human resources on the selection procedure, and then to leave the possibility that not a single candidate is proposed. This enables the Government of the RS to appoint acting directors, which was a frequent practice in the previous period, especially when concluding coalition agreements of the ruling parties.

TI BiH also proposes that directors be elected for a maximum of two mandates, which would be limited to five years, that candidates for the position of director must submit a work program proposal, and that the school board has the obligation to seek an expert opinion on the quality of that program, which would ultimately affect the outcome of the competition.

In addition to the above, the draft of the new law stipulates that the Government, on the proposal of the Ministry, appoints a Council for the Development of Pre-School, Primary and Secondary Education and Education, and TI BIH proposes that the procedure for selecting the members of this Council be carried out on the basis of a public competition, with the determination of clear criteria that candidates must meet .

TI BiH previously sent similar proposals to the Ministry of Education and Culture of the RS, but this initiative was not accepted. With the support of parents of a Banja Luka elementary school and three BiH human rights ombudsmen, the campaign “Politicians leave class” was launched in order to draw the public’s attention to this problem. The ombudsmen, who also receive numerous reports from teachers and parents, then highlighted the problem of the increasingly frequent practice of partisan employment and keeping teaching staff on fixed-term contracts, which creates eligible and obedient staff who do not usually act in the best interest of children.

That is why TI BIH calls on the Ministry and representatives in the National Assembly of the RS to accept these proposals and establish mechanisms that will enable the reduction of the influence of politics on the management of school institutions, which will certainly lead to an improvement in the quality of education.

Press rls_27.05.22_

During 2021. only 4 final verdicts for high corruption, most defendants end up with suspended sentences

Press releases ● 11 May 2022

The average prison sentence for corruption is less than two years, while court proceedings last up to 10 years

Banja Luka, 11. May 2022 – During 2021. In 2011, 147 final verdicts for corruption offenses were passed in Bosnia and Herzegovina, of which only four related to high-level corruption, according to data from the Monitoring of Corruption Prosecution presented by Transparency International in BiH. Despite BiH being one of the countries with the highest level of corruption in Europe according to all relevant research, the judiciary has mainly dealt with small cases and low-ranking officials, while many major scandals have remained unanswered.

All prosecutor’s offices in BiH have filed a total of 235 indictments, of which only 6 or 2.5% relate to high-level corruption. One of them refers to the former Minister of Defense of BiH, Selma Cikotić, who is accused of a criminal act committed more than 10 years ago, which additionally indicates untimely and inefficient prosecution of corruption in BiH.

The data published by TI BIH on the Interactive Map of Corruption Prosecution show that the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH additionally reduced the already small number of indictments and the Special Department for Suppression of Corruption, Organized and Serious Forms of Economic Crime at the RS Republic Prosecutor’s Office did not succeed. It mainly dealt with corruption in “own ranks”, ie in the judiciary itself, and out of a total of 6 confirmed indictments, one was filed against officials of this prosecution for accepting bribes, and three indictments were filed against judges in Banja Luka, East Sarajevo and Prijedor. It should be noted that this prosecution opened some significant investigations into multimillion-dollar abuses in public procurement during the pandemic last year, but the results are still expected in the coming period.

Across BiH, there has been an increase in the number of indictments for corruption compared to 2020. year when due to the pandemic there was a sharp decline in all indicators of the judiciary, so the results are now at about the same level as in previous years. The biggest contribution to that was given by the FBIH prosecutorial system, where the number of indictments was 75 during 2020. increased to 185 last year. On the other hand, the number of indictments in the RS prosecutorial system has increased only slightly, but is still far lower than in the five years before the pandemic, while the Brcko District Prosecutor’s Office has reduced the number of indictments for corruption.

The District Prosecutor’s Office in East Sarajevo, which filed the last indictment for corruption in 2018, has had particularly devastating results for years. In the last seven years, the courts have passed only two convictions for corruption in the cases of this prosecution. The District Prosecutor’s Office in Trebinje has no better results, which did not file a single indictment for corruption last year. Only one was filed by the Cantonal Prosecutor’s Office of the SBK, and only three verdicts for corruption were handed down before the courts in this canton, and in all three cases the defendants were acquitted.

Of the total number of final court verdicts for corruption, 68% ended in suspended sentences, as mostly minor cases were processed, while only 41 verdicts (27.8%) related to prison sentences. Also, more than half of criminal charges (57.3%) end with an order not to conduct an investigation, and as these charges, in addition to citizens, are submitted by competent law enforcement agencies, it is clear that there is no adequate cooperation between these agencies and prosecutors.

The recent monitoring of trials in these cases by a TI BiH sample showed that the average prison sentence for corruption in BiH was less than two years, although the law provides for a penalty of up to 10 years for corruption offenses. The trials in these cases lasted on average three years and seven months, while some cases lasted over 11 years. The judiciary is increasingly facing political pressure and public attacks by high-ranking officials, which, along with the existing systemic shortcomings, certainly affects the efficiency of corruption prosecution.

Press rls_11.05.22_

Processing monitoring 2021_TIBiH_

TI BIH: Regulating conflicts of interest at the cantonal level leads to legal uncertainty and additional room for abuse [

Press releases ● 10 May 2022

[: bs] Banja Luka, May 10, 2022 – Transparency International in Bosnia and Herzegovina (TI BiH) considers harmful the initiative of the Sarajevo Canton authorities to regulate competencies at the cantonal level for determining conflicts of interest and protecting whistleblowers. This is envisaged by the Draft Law on Prevention and Suppression of Corruption in Sarajevo Canton, which was adopted by the Assembly of KS in the form of a draft and in the coming period, after a public debate, should be again before the deputies for adoption. TI BiH warns that this issue should be regulated at the entity level, and that regulating such important issues as conflicts of interest of public office holders could lead to legal uncertainty, fragmentation of the legal framework, implementation problems and additional inconsistencies in the anti-corruption system throughout BiH. .

TI BiH reminds that the Law on Conflict of Interest in Government Bodies in the Federation of BiH is still formally in force, and the Proposal of Amendments to this Law would be in the procedure, which would define the competence of the body for its implementation, as well as the Law on Protection of Corruption Reporters. The recommendations of GRECO and the Venice Commission call for regulation and harmonization of this matter at the state, entity and Brcko District levels, and the need to centralize and harmonize these regulations, instead of multiplying regulations that would put public office holders in different positions and cantons.

Comments on the draft law submitted by the TI BiH to the KS Assembly pointed out other shortcomings, such as leaving space for public office holders in Sarajevo Canton to be in the bodies of private companies that do business with other levels of government or to be in the bodies of funded associations. are other levels. This shortcoming is best illustrated by the fact that it is not advisable to regulate this area at the cantonal level, because the existing Law on Conflict of Interest in FBiH prescribes incompatibilities in relation to private companies that enter into contracts with any level of government.

In addition, the draft cantonal law still does not guarantee the independence of the Conflict of Interest Commission, whose president should be the head of the KS Anti-Corruption Office while the other members are elected by the KS Assembly. This would create a hybrid system between a Commission that is a body of the Assembly and an office that is a body of the Government whose competencies are intertwined in the proposed solution. In addition, the competencies of this body are very limited, and it cannot identify incompatibilities or situations of conflict of interest in relation to other levels of government. According to the findings of TI BiH, different regulations at different levels in recent years have allowed many officials to circumvent the regulations and have been in open conflict of interest for years.

Regarding the attempt to regulate the area of protection of whistleblowers by this law, the proposed draft excludes persons who report corruption in the private sector

Due to all the above, TI BiH calls on the proposers to withdraw the proposed solution from the procedure because a possible chain reaction of other cantons, which would adopt different solutions, or in some cases would not adopt, could lead to complete chaos in the anti-corruption system and easier circumvention of regulations. by officials in conflict of interest.

Instead, TI BiH calls on the coalition that proposes a solution at the Sarajevo Canton level to redirect efforts to adopting the FBiH Law on Conflict of Interest, which has not been implemented since 2013. year, because the competence of the body for its implementation was not determined, after it was taken away from the Central Election Commission, as well as the adoption of the Law on Protection of Corruption Reporters FBiH, which was already adopted by the House of Representatives, but its adoption stopped at the House of Peoples.

Press rls_10.05.22_ [:]

TI BiH reports Milorad Dodik due to conflict of interest: Companies of close relatives should not do business with the state

Press releases ● 17 March 2022

Banja Luka, March 17, 2022 – Transparency International in BiH has filed a complaint with the Commission for Deciding on Conflict of Interest against BiH Presidency member Milorad Dodik because companies owned by his family do business with the state and receive significant incentives from the budget.

According to the provisions of the Law on Conflict of Interest in BiH Government Institutions, elected officials and their close relatives should not be part of the management of any private company that enters into contracts or otherwise operates with budget-funded institutions at any level of government. . Considering that Milorad Dodik’s son and daughter own private companies that do business with public institutions, and according to the provisions of this law, they are considered close relatives, the member of the Presidency of BiH is in a situation of conflict of interest.

Namely, Article 8a of the Law prescribes that the engagement of close relatives of elected officials in companies that do business with the state, leads to a situation in which these officials are in a conflict of interest.

According to data from a recent survey by the Capital.ba portal, companies owned by the Dodik family won in 2021. about 370,000 KM from the Agrarian Budget and the RS Compensation Fund. Specifically, according to the data of the Agency for Agrarian Payments of RS, legal entities “Fruit Eco” from Gradiška, and “Agro Voće” and “Global Liberty” from Laktaši, during 2021. They received aid for repairing frost damage, support for sold and produced fruit, regressed diesel fuel, anti-hail nets, etc.

Also, the legal entity “Ugostiteljstvo Agape” sp, owned by Dodik’s daughter, received jobs from the Catering Service of the Government of Republika Srpska in the past period in amounts exceeding the legally allowed threshold of 5,000 KM per year.

Due to all this, TI BiH calls on the Commission for Deciding on Conflict of Interest of Bosnia and Herzegovina, whose work was often blocked due to political obstructions in the previous mandate, to conduct a procedure and investigate the conflict of interest of one of the highest officials of BiH.

Also, TI BiH again calls on the delegates in the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH to stop the obstruction of the adoption of the new Law on Conflict of Interest in BiH government institutions, which should ensure the independence of the commission that will decide on conflicts of interest.

Press rls_17.03.2022_

TI BIH Welcomes Adoption of New Conflict of Interest Law: Appeal to House of Peoples Delegates to Unblock Reform Processes

Press releases ● 10 March 2022

Banja Luka, March 10, 2022 – The decision of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina to adopt a new Law on the Prevention of Conflicts of Interest in BiH Institutions is an important step in preventing corruption in this area and Bosnia and Herzegovina’s European path. Transparency International in Bosnia and Herzegovina (TI BiH) welcomes the adoption of the Law in the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly and appeals to the delegates in the House of Peoples to adopt this law in the same form in line with international standards.

TI BiH, in cooperation with international organizations, initiated the adoption of this law, which has been in the procedure since 2017. It has been adopted in the House of Representatives for the third time, but so far there has been no support in the House of Peoples or readiness to accept proposals for its substantial improvement. For the past 5 years, TI BiH has been working with the authorities at all levels to improve the legislation in this area, and the law that was adopted yesterday contains key proposals that would enable the prevention of corruption.

This primarily refers to the establishment of an independent commission that will decide on conflicts of interest instead of the previous one, which was mostly made up of parliamentarians from both houses of the BiH PA. The law expanded the definition of “close relatives” and “related persons” and finally prescribed the control of property records, which should include information on the property of family members of public office holders. Also, this law would prohibit officials from performing more than one public function, as well as from being owners of private companies that do business with the state.

Enormous progress has also been made in the article banning officials from using public functions or public resources for party and election promotion. We remind you that during the monitoring of the election campaign, TI BiH recorded over 2,500 examples of misuse of public resources and functions for the promotion of political parties and candidates.

In order to significantly improve the situation in this area, it is necessary for the authorities at all levels to adopt laws in line with international standards, because so far only the Brcko District government has done so. In the Federation of BiH, the law has not been applied since 2013. In the Republika Srpska, due to numerous vaguenesss in the law, a large number of officials perform several functions without hindrance.

Improving conflicts of interest law is one of the 14 key priorities the EU has set for BiH, but has been blocked for years as many decision-makers find themselves in conflict of interest or unwilling to deny themselves the potential for undue influence. .

Press rls_10.03.2022