TI BiH TO RS MP’s: DO NOT ALLOW DISCRIMINATION AND VIOLATION OF THE CONSTITUTION, REJECT THE DRAFT LAW ON NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS

Banja Luka, September 19, 2023 – Transparency International in Bosnia and Herzegovina (TI BiH) sent comments to all clubs of deputies in the National Assembly of the Republic of Srpska on the Draft Law on the Special Register and Publicity of the Work of Non-Profit Organizations, which, at the proposal of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Srpska, was included in the agenda of the Fifth regular session scheduled for September 26, 2023.

The proposal to specifically regulate the work of only a number of non-profit organizations, apart from being discriminatory, is not in accordance with the European Convention on Fundamental Human Rights and Freedoms, the Constitution of the Republic of Srpska and Bosnia and Herzegovina, the laws on associations and foundations and the tax procedure of the Republic of Srpska.

Prohibitions of certain activities, such as advocating for the improvement of laws and public policies, the introduction of an additional obligation to label materials that are the result of the work of these organizations, and special registers, with the use of phrases such as “agents of foreign influence”, besides being undemocratic in nature, are legally debatable, and fundamentally insufficiently clear and imprecisely defined, which creates the possibility of stigmatization and abuse during application. Such solutions have the potential to create additional pressure on freedom of speech, and serve as an introduction to open censorship and a reason for banning the work of independent organizations, as well as free media.

The draft also foresees procedures and mechanisms that are already defined by existing laws, such as the introduction of a special register, even though it has already been established, while financial reports on work are submitted to the Agency for Intermediary, IT and financial services once a year and are available both to the Tax Administration and the general public in the Republic of Srpska. Associations are already obliged to report to the competent authorities, and according to applicable laws, they can be subjected to financial and inspection controls.

In this context, the explanation of the purpose of passing this law has no basis and leads to the conclusion that the aim and purpose of this law is to add an additional burden to the work of associations, reduce their space for work, freedom of speech, assembly and association, and narrow the space for criticism of the work of public authorities.

Targeting organizations that are financed from foreign sources, along with prescribing additional restrictions and control systems, leads to the violation of Article 14 of the European Convention, as well as the Constitution of BiH, which guarantees the rights and freedoms without discrimination and enables protection and creation of conditions for equal treatment, which is why this Draft can be seen not as a mean of improving or additionally regulating the field of civil society work, but as the intention of the authorities in the Republic of Srpska to limit the work of organizations that criticize their work.

Ultimately, the proposed Draft Law does not contain provisions on effective legal remedies, but in the event of a violation of the provisions of the law, it prescribes that an immediate ban on performance and work is ordered. Prohibition of work and dissolution, as measures taken for minor offenses, as well as other provisions from this Draft, are not provided for other legal subjects and organizations, such as organizations that receive funds from the budget of the Government of the RS and local self-government units, which are often closely connected with political parties and their officials, who, in this way, extract money from the budget.

This fact, as well as the vagueness and many shortcomings of this law, clearly indicate the discriminatory nature of this Draft and the real intention of this law: to send a clear message to the citizens that citizens’ associations are the enemy and that the final solution to the multi-year aspirations of the authorities in the Republic of Srpska is to stifle criticism by all means, even with the methods typical of totalitarian regimes.

Given the numerous objections to the Draft of this Law, as well as non-compliance with the current laws and the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Srpska, international conventions and recommendations of relevant international organizations and bodies, and the fact that this area is already regulated by the Law on Associations and Foundations of the Republic of Srpska , TI BiH calls on the MPs to analyze in detail the submitted comments and to reject this text of the draft.