Last year, the Transparency International Legal Aid Center in Bosnia and Herzegovina (TIBiH) received 1.629 calls from citizens who reported corruption and asked for legal aid, and based on their reports and on its own initiative, TIBiH acted in 265 cases at the competent institutions.
Citizens most often pointed out irregularities in employment procedures and inaction of inspection bodies, while TIBiH filed the most complaints due to corruption in the field of public procurement and the emergence of conflicts of interest.
The TIBiH stated that there has been a significant increase in the number of reports in the field of education, especially parents who suspected the party’s employment of teaching staff.
They mentioned the example of the competition for the admission of 13 educators in the Public Institution Center for Preschool Education Banja Luka, where after the change of the city government and director, a competition was announced for the first time since 2015, and more than a hundred candidates applied. However, the 13 most successful ones were not hired because in the meantime, the former director was returned to her position and she immediately annulled the completed competition. TIBiH reacted and reported the case to the Education Inspectorate, which annulled her decision.
Due to the increasing occurrence of party employment in educational institutions, TIBiH, with the support of the Human Rights Ombudsman, led the campaign “Politicians get out of class”, and the Government of Republika Srpska (RS) submitted an initiative to change regulations that would exclude politics from the election.
In addition to education, the number of reports of corruption in health care has increased, and last year there was a reaction from the competent institutions in two major cases initiated by TIBiH. Due to illegal procurements of medical equipment from the Institute of Public Health of the RS, there was an investigation and arrest of the director of this institution and other actors against whom TIBiH filed criminal charges.
19 reports of potential conflicts of interest were received
They especially emphasize that because the law on the protection of “whistleblowers” has not been adopted in the Federation of BiH (FBiH) yet, and even in the places where it exists, whistleblowers are still being persecuted. They also point out the case of Emir Mesic, who is facing retaliation because he reported corruption in the Indirect Taxation Authority of BiH, and the authorities refuse to provide him with protection. TIBiH was granted the status of intervener before the Court of BiH in a lawsuit in which Mesic sued his employer for discrimination.
Moreover, this year 19 reports of potential conflicts of interest were received, after which 14 reports were sent for further verification to the competent authorities. The TIBiH points out that the Central Election Commission of BiH, after the TIBiH reaction, revoked the mandate of the councilor from Velika Kladusa, Aladin Cerimovic, who was also an advisor to the Prime Minister of Una-Sana Canton and had four conflicts of interest.
Due to the refusal of public authorities to provide information of public importance, last year TIBiH initiated 17 administrative disputes.
”Transparency has been providing legal assistance to citizens fighting corruption since 2003, and to date, more than 20.000 citizens have approached TIBIH, mostly through the
