REACTION TO THE DRAFT LAW ON THE SPECIAL REGISTER AND PUBLICITY OF THE WORK OF NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS: AN ATTACK ON THE WORK OF CITIZENS’ ASSOCIATIONS

Associations of citizens sent an initiative to the Ministry of Justice to withdraw the Draft Law on the Special Register and Publicity of the Work of Non-Profit Organizations,stressing in the comments on the Draft Law itself that it contradicts not only human rights standards, the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Constitution of the Republic of Srpska, but, it is in direct contradiction to several valid laws in the Republic of Srpska, such as the Law on General Administrative Procedure, the Law on Administrative Disputes, the Law on Civil Procedure, the Law on Associations and Foundations, the Law on Accounting and Auditing, the Law on Inspections, etc. Furthermore, this Draft Law represents a continuation of activities aimed at suppressing freedom of expression and association, which began with the initiative to criminalize defamation and insult, and continued through attacks on journalists, activists and NGOs.

The formulations offered by the proposed draft are foreign to domestic legal theory, imprecise, ambiguous or redundant. For example, the term “agent of foreign influence” appearing in the Draft Law is found for the first time in the legal history of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the very wording used in it is a clear indication that the tendencies of this Draft are to pejoratively present the work of citizens’ associations. We remind that according to the Law on Associations and Foundations of the Republic of Srpska, an association is “any form of voluntary association of several natural or legal persons for the purpose of promoting or achieving some common or general interest or goal, in accordance with the Constitution and the law, and the main purpose of which is not the acquisition of profit”.

The draft prohibits political activities which are so widely placed that they can prevent any action of citizens’ associations in the direction of improving legal regulations and achieving better protection of citizens, which is why associations are formed. By limiting “political action” and “political activity” (e.g. submitting an initiative to propose a law), introducing supervision over the type of activity that associations can carry out and introducing direct control through inspection supervision, this Draft Law dangerously encroaches on constitutionally guaranteed rights and freedoms and leaves a great possibility for the competent institutions to, by arbitrary interpretation of the law, prohibit the work of organizations whose activities do not favor the authorities in Republic of Srpska.

The authorities are trying to present to the public that there is no regulation in the area of the work of citizens’ associations, that the associations do not work transparently and are not accountable to anyone. However, this is absolutely untrue – legal regulations exist and associations are obliged to submit various reports to the institutions of the Republic of Srpska, and each association, as a legal entity, has the obligation to submit a final financial report to the Agency for Intermediary, IT and Financial Services (APIF), that during the inflow of financial resources, it has to submit the basis for the inflow of funds to the bank so that it can use them, and is subject to the controls of the Tax Administration in the Republic of Srpska.

In addition to the imposition of double reporting obligations, the proposed draft labels and discriminates against associations and foundations from the Republic of Srpska whose activities and projects are financed by foreign governments and organizations, while the draft law excludes associations and foundations that are financed from public budgets, and precisely those mechanisms of allocation of financial resources are insufficiently transparent and the source of various political abuses, especially in the pre-election period.

In the end, the institutions of the Republic of Srpska government are financed through international projects, from the same sources as citizens’ associations, including the European Union, USAID, various international development agencies, and the question arises, why institutions are not declared agents of foreign influence when they receive funds from abroad?

Therefore, it is clear that the purpose of the Draft itself is to send a message to the citizens that citizens’ associations are enemies of the state, and it represents only one step in a series of multi-year attempts by the authorities in the Republic of Srpska to limit freedom of speech, assembly and association and stifle criticism in all ways, including methods characteristic of totalitarian regimes.

Banja Luka Center for Human Rights

Banja Luka Social Center

Youth Center “KVART”

Center for Research and Studies – GEA

Center for Information Decontamination of Youth Banja Luka

Center for the Environment

Society for Biodiversity Research and Protection

Foundation “Udružene žene”

Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly of Banja Luka

Genesis Project

Association of Citizens “Moja Hercegovina”

Youth Organization “Centar” Mrkonjić Grad

Perpetuum mobile – Institute for Youth and Community Development

SEMPER – Service for media professional education and development

Transparency International in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Association of Citizens „Impuls“ Banjaluka

Citizens’ Association eTrafika.net

Citizens’s Association „UNSA Geto“

Citizens’ Association „Zdravo da ste“

Association for the promotion of European standards and improvement of the business environment

Association” Romska djevojka – Romani cej ”

Citizens’ Association „Druga priča“

Citizens’ Association „Mikro mreža“

Citizens’ Association „Srce na dlanu“

Association for the Protection of Animals “Vardi”

Citizens’ Association „ToPeeR“

Association „Forum Žena“ Bratunac

Association „Stop Mobbing“

Citizens’ Association „Radnička solidarnost u BiH“

Citizens’ Association „Restart“

Association „Prijatelji Srebrenice“

Citizens’ Association „Oštra nula“

Citizens’ Association “Budućnost” iz Modriče

Press rls_11.04.23_