News in English     | 09.12.2019. 14:25 |

Annual Conference – Fight against corruption has no alternative

FENA Muamer Selimbegovic

SARAJEVO, December 9 (FENA) - United States Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina Eric Nelson urged BiH citizens today to seek accountability for money spent in BiH, stressing the importance of engaging all key actors in the fight against corruption in the context of experience of what the US Government is doing in that regard.

"Sarajevo citizens have been choking for days because of poor air quality, and citizens across BiH have been choking because of corruption every day," Ambassador Nelson said ahead of the opening of the Annual Conference on the occasion of the International Anti-Corruption Day - December 9, in Sarajevo.

He recalled that the fight against corruption encompasses a wide range of activities, and reflects in the support of prosecutors working on serious corruption cases and engaged in key reforms, including reform to protect whistleblowers (a person who informs on a person or organization engaged in an illicit activity), and digitization of the public procurement process.

"The efforts and attempts of the international community will never be enough, and as stated by Reinhard Priebe, senior rule of law expert of the EU the body that is in need of reform is the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of BiH (HJPC BiH) for acting irresponsibly and serving political interests," said the US Ambassador.

Nelson, at the same time, called on the BiH Parliament and the new BiH Council of Ministers to work on reform of the HJPC BiH to restore integrity and credibility to the BiH judiciary.

The importance of engaging the relevant institutions and all key actors in the fight against corruption was also highlighted by UK Ambassador to BiH Matthew Field, recalling that more than 80 percent of the BiH population felt that key sectors of health, education, police and justice are vulnerable to corruption, which he absolutely assessed unacceptable.

He also said that a number of strategies have been adopted that should change the situation, but that they have not been properly implemented.

He emphasized in this regard that the first steps in the fight against corruption include full respect for the law, the rights of others and preservation of personal integrity, saying that no one is above the law.

The scope and harmfulness of corruption for overall democratic development has been warned by Deputy Head of the EU Delegation to Bosnia and Herzegovina Khaldoun Sinno, bringing this to the context of the (non) functioning of the rule of law in BiH, i.e. the recent public debate ('Right to Justice') held in Sarajevo.

He considers it an absolute priority in this regard to make up for everything that has been missed so far and underlines that all obstacles that stand in the way of fighting corruption must be stopped.

He said that much effort, courage and determination are needed, but also the improvement of ethical standards in work, including the strengthening of institutions, that is, the institutionalization of ad-hoc anti-corruption bodies and their staff training.

"Effective functioning and coordination of the anti-corruption bodies are one of the absolute priorities," Sinno said, referring to the report and opinion of the European Commission regarding Bosnia and Herzegovina's application for EU membership.

The Head of the OSCE Mission to BiH, Kathleen Kavalec, welcomed the Annual Conference, organized on the occasion of International Anti-Corruption Day, saying that this conference in the BiH capital represents a good opportunity to remind ourselves of the priorities in the fight against this danger.

"Corruption has been one of the serious problems in BiH for many years, which unfortunately weakens the economy, democracy and the rule of law," said Kavalec, stating that enormous amounts of money have 'disappeared' due to corruption.

Director of the Agency for Prevention of Corruption and Coordination of Fight against Corruption (APIK), Hasim Šabotić, said that fighting corruption is one of the key challenges of the rule of law in most countries in the EU enlargement process.

He said that BiH has generally established an institutional, legal and strategic framework for the fight against corruption, but also that there are deficiencies reflected in the fragmentation of activities at multiple levels of government and the lack of alignment of entity laws, which imposes the imperative of continuous and synchronized activities in the fight against corruption.

The Annual Conference on key priorities in the fight against corruption was organized by the Agency for Prevention of Corruption and Coordination of Fight against Corruption, with technical support from the EU project ‘IPAK’ and financial assistance from the EU Delegation.

Among other things, the conference will present the Draft Anti-Corruption Strategy 2020-2024, pointing out the need for professionalization of anti-corruption bodies in order to enable effective fight against corruption at all levels of government in BiH.

The conference in Sarajevo gathered representatives of relevant institutions at all levels of government in BiH, as well as representatives of the EU and diplomatic corps in BiH, international and regional organizations, representatives of countries in the region and civil society organizations.

 

(FENA) A. B.

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