During 2025, the Transparency International BiH Legal Aid Center (ALAC) handled 364 new cases, while the free hotline received 1,027 calls from citizens who were witnesses or victims of corruption.
As in previous years, the largest number of reports related to state administration (151 cases), which, as TI points out, confirms that employment, appointments and public resources are still the most risky areas for corruption, showing
A significant number of reports were also recorded in the areas of justice (31), education (28) and (31), where there is an evident increase in the number of cases, which confirms that this phenomenon is becoming more widespread and that TIBiH’s warnings about the normalization of conflicts of interest due to the lack of sanctions were justified.
These trends were also confirmed through specific cases, so after the ALAC reports, the Central Election Commission of BiH revoked the mandate of the President of the Gacko Municipal Assembly and advisor to the then President of the Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik, due to holding incompatible positions.
Last year, a total of 13 cases were referred to the competent institutions for action, and such examples, as they point out, simultaneously indicate a growing awareness of the importance in the public sector, but also serious shortcomings in the consistent application of the law.
During the year, TI BiH initiated 24 administrative disputes due to denial of access to information, while at the same time 24 cases from previous years were resolved in favor of the Center, which indicates a systemic violation of this right by the institutions.
According to TI, the lack of transparency and accountability of institutions is a growing problem, which is confirmed by decisions of the highest domestic and international courts.
The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina accepted TI BiH’s lawsuit against the Ministry of Justice of BiH for unlawfully denying access to the Draft Law on the Court of BiH, which prevented the public from participating in the process of adopting one of the key judicial regulations.
At the same time, the European Court of Human Rights considered cases related to the denial of access to information by the Federal Ministry for Veterans and Disabled Persons of the Defense and Liberation War, as well as the application of ALAC on behalf of a citizen who, despite numerous court decisions in his favor, has been unable to establish an employment relationship with the RS Tax Administration for many years.
TI BiH filed a criminal complaint against officials at several levels of government in the Federation of BiH for the unfounded annulment of the already completed procedure for appointing members of the Management Board of the Federal Pension and Disability Insurance Institute, which indicated serious abuses and political influence on the work of institutions.
“These cases, as well as the fact that journalists requested and received free legal assistance from the Center 57 times in 2025, while the increasing number of cases in which citizens and media have to seek judicial protection due to continuous violations of their rights by institutions, further confirm the scale of the problem,” Transparency states.
The complex political system, frequent blockages in the work of institutions, as well as the lack of key legal solutions, such as the law on conflict of interest in the Federation of BiH and adequate protection, not only significantly complicate the fight against corruption, but also deny citizens basic rights, primarily to legal protection, employment and access to information of public importance, Transparency International in BiH announced.
