In 2023, according to the Rule of Law Index of the World Justice Project (WJP), Bosnia and Herzegovina fell to 75th place out of 142 countries, which is the worst result since 2015, when this research was conducted worldwide, without any noticeable improvement in progress in any of the areas that affect the assessment of the degree of the rule of law in the country.
Bosnia and Herzegovina received an approximate rating of 0.51, on a scale from zero to one, and since 2015, when it was rated with 0.57, it has been continuously declining, with the fact that it fell from 72nd position in 2022 to 75th this year. place in the world and is well below Slovenia (in 27th place), Croatia (45th), Kosovo (58th), Montenegro (57th) and North Macedonia (67th), while only Serbia (93 . place) and Albania (91st place) placed higher than Bosnia and Herzegovina on this year’s ranking of the rule of law index, Transparency International in Bosnia and Herzegovina announced.
The WJP’s rule of law index is measured through eight indicators: limitations of government powers, absence of corruption, openness of government, availability of fundamental rights, order and security, law enforcement, civil legal system and criminal legal system.
Basic rights unavailable
Compared to last year, BiH did not manage to make progress in any of the monitored areas, and recorded the most significant decline in the indicator that measures the availability of basic rights, where BiH achieved a score of 0.58 (where one is the highest score) and is on the 64th position, while last year it ranked 57th out of 142 countries in the world, with an index score of 0.60.
The most significant for this result is the rating of the protection and guarantee of freedom of expression and opinion, according to which BiH is in the 108th position in the world with a rating of 0.44, which, without a doubt, was contributed by the efforts of the authorities at all levels to stifle any form of criticism, either through changes The Criminal Code of the Republic of Srpska, which criminalized defamation, or the new law on “agents of foreign influence” that targets organizations that are not under the control of the authorities in this entity, but also the attempts of authorities in the Sarajevo Canton to limit freedom of speech and introduce censorship under the pretext of fighting the so-called “fake news”, according to TI BiH.
Corruption at a high level
The area that is still the worst rated in Bosnia and Herzegovina is the presence of corruption (0.42), where by far the worst rated parameters are the parameters that measure the degree to which officials abuse their position to achieve personal interests, and this is where BiH ranks 109th when it comes to executive power officials with an index of 0.36, i.e. in 100th place in the world in terms of the propensity of officials to abuse their position in legislative bodies, where it was rated with 0.23 index points. Compared to last year, Bosnia and Herzegovina also fell behind in the area of the judiciary (-3) and the establishment of effective mechanisms for limiting government powers (-3).
The WJP report states that almost 76 percent of the world’s population, or more than six billion people, live in countries where the rule of law has weakened in the last year, while from 2016 to 2023, the rule of law has weakened in 78 percent of countries, with increasingly declining ratings in the areas of limitations on government powers, fundamental rights and the criminal justice system.
The research, in which lawyers and experts from various fields participated in addition to citizens, once again confirms the findings of similar relevant international research, such as the Corruption Perception Index, reports by Freedom House and the World Bank, that BiH has not only not made any progress but is a very marked drop in the results of the fight against corruption.
Insufficient transparency of public institutions
In addition to research by international organizations, TI BiH reports support the fact that the degree of transparency of public institutions is insufficient, that corruption, especially at a high level, is not prosecuted, and that holders of the highest judicial positions bear almost no significant consequences for failings in their work.
The decline in the assessment of the World Justice Project’s rule of law index is the last in a series of relevant findings that point to the worsening situation in which BiH finds itself, and that it is necessary to direct significant efforts towards the implementation of essential reforms necessary to resolve the entrapment of the institutional apparatus, establishing a minimum of accountability and the rule of law in BiH, they said from TI BiH.
