TI BiH requests the initiation of supervision at the Institute Pazaric: Intimidation of persons who indicate the abuse of residents is unacceptable

Banja Luka, August 18, 2023 – Transparency International in Bosnia and Herzegovina (TI BiH) sent a letter to the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy of the Federation of BiH requesting extraordinary professional supervision at “Institute for the Care of Mentally Disabled Children and Youth Pazaric” to be carried out, after the publication of a video of the abuse of residents of this institution, which shocked the public in the recent days.

TI BiH also calls on the competent Ministry to adopt the necessary regulations that would control the situation in this area. Although the Law on Social Protection Institutions of the FBiH entered into force on August 20, 2022, stating that these regulations will be adopted within six months, a year later, the regulations establishing the minimum standards that must be met by these institutions in terms of space, equipment and personnel for providing services, as well as the regulations controlling the manner of conducting professional supervision, have not been published in the Official Gazette of the FBiH.

Also, TI BiH warns that intimidation of persons who pointed out the violence towards the residents in the Institute and published a video that alerted the institutions to react is unacceptable. That is why the statement of the Minister of Labor and Social Policy of the Federation of BiH, in which he threatens criminal charges against both the perpetrators of this act and the workers who recorded everything, stating that “it is unfortunate that they do not have the courage to bring everything to the public and are hiding behind anonymous reports” is particularly controversial.

It is important to point out that the Federation of BiH is the only level of government in BiH that does not yet have a Law on Whistleblower Protection, which is why persons who point out criminal acts within the institutions do not have adequate protection and may suffer the consequences. TI BiH, therefore, apart from the need for supervision, warned the competent minister that instead of persecution, it is necessary to protect those who point out irregularities, especially if the recording was made with the aim of warning against the abuse of residents and preventing abuse in the future. In such a situation, similar reactions of authorities can, in the long term, intimidate all employees in institutions who intend to point out criminal acts in the future.

In addition, the practice of the European Court of Human Rights should be recalled,  according to which, if the unauthorized recording was carried out for the purpose of public interest, individuals who point to harmful actions in this way must not bear the consequences.

Because of this, TI BIH once again calls on the authorities at the level of the Federation of BiH to ensure that the Law on Whistleblower Protection is adopted as soon as possible, protecting whistleblowers in the future.