prijava
SARAJEVO / BRUSSELS, December 6 (FENA) - The 4th Stabilisation and Association Sub-committee on Justice, Freedom and Security under the European Union (EU) and Bosnia and Herzegovina finishes tonight in Brussels, after a two-day session focused on (non) functioning of the rule of law in BiH, comprising a team of experts including senior EU senior law expert Reinhard Priebe.
On the occasion of the 4th Stabilisation and Association Sub-committee on Justice Freedom and Security, Mr Reinhard Priebe presented to the European Commission, the EU Member States and the Bosnia and Herzegovina authorities the main findings of the independent senior experts’ report on Rule of Law issues in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Co-chairman of the Sub-committee Igor Golijanin (from the BiH Ministry of Security) told FENA that at the beginning of the two-day meeting on Thursday, the framework of the report was presented, covering seven chapters, with appropriate recommendations for improving the functioning of the rule of law in BiH, which will be forwarded to the relevant institutions in BiH.
He points out that representatives of the European Commission (EC), as well as Priebe himself, have indicated in an extremely sharp tone the need for urgent action and necessary reform steps to address a number of weaknesses in the justice and human rights sector in BiH.
The expert report is the result of the "EU initiative to enhance the monitoring of the Rule of Law in BiH", which focuses on the root causes of law deficiencies in BiH, as part of the EC Opinion on BiH's application for EU membership.
At the same time, Golijanin stated that the meeting of the Sub-committee discussed issues related to organized crime and corruption, which also raised the concerns of the participants in the meeting, and provided some recommendations on what competent institutions should do to establish the rule of law system in BiH.
According to him, issues related to the protection of human rights and freedoms, including freedom of speech and the rights of journalists, as well as the rights of persons with disabilities and other vulnerable categories of the population, were elaborated at the meeting of the Sub-committee on Justice, Freedom and Security under the EU and BiH.
They also discussed topics related to the process of return, migration and asylum, and the protection of the state border of BiH, and as planned, by the end of the meeting, among other things, the issue of migration, i.e. the situation in camps in the Una-Sana Canton will be discussed.
The Sub-committee on Justice, Freedom and Security is one of seven subcommittees, joint bodies of BiH and the EU, established under the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA), for the purpose of monitoring its implementation.
(FENA) A. B.
