prijava
SARAJEVO, December 9 (FENA) - The United States Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina Eric Nelson published a commentary on his blogsite on the occasion of the International Anti-Corruption Day.
We are republishing it in its entirety.
No country is immune to corruption. What makes a difference is how a country combats corruption. The citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, like all citizens around the world, deserve good governance and the confidence that public funds – the money that comes from the sweat of their labor – are devoted to improving their day-to-day lives.
Today is International Anti-Corruption Day. But BiH citizens struggle with corruption every day. One constantly hears stories of corrupt politics in Bosnia and Herzegovina; that the justice sector is increasingly captured by political influence; and that people lack hope that things will improve.
In despair, the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina are voting with their feet – leaving the country to pursue their futures in the European Union, the United States, or elsewhere. One hears they are not “leaving with their families,” but “for their families.” These are people who do not believe their leaders are committed or able to improve governance, the economy, or their lives, or that they themselves are able to demand change.
The United States Government works to create the space and provide the tools necessary for the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina to build your own better future. We invest in supporting good governance, improving the rule of law, and preventing and combating corruption in Bosnia and Herzegovina. We have prosecutors, investigators, development workers and diplomats from the State Department, USAID, the FBI, the Department of Justice and throughout our embassy dedicated to this mission every day.
We provide training, equipment and specialized know-how to your police, prosecutors and judges to investigate and prosecute corruption. We work through international organizations like the OSCE to track and evaluate anti-corruption criminal cases to promote best practices and identify problem areas. And we use financial sanctions and visa restrictions to crack down on political and commercial impunity and send a message that corruption should not be tolerated. Most recently, the U.S. announced a $1.2 billion penalty and fine against Ericsson under the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act for engaging in corruption in overseas tenders.
We advise on needed legislative reforms, like whistleblower laws. We work with students to build a better understanding of their rights and responsibilities as citizens.
We support e-governance and public procurement reforms to increase transparency, improve oversight, and reduce opportunities for corruption. We encourage strong investigative journalism to shine the light on public misdeeds. And, perhaps most importantly, we work to empower citizens and support civil society organizations to advocate for change. This week, we are announcing an expansion of our partnership with civil society to demand anti-corruption reforms, particularly in public procurement. We will help those citizens and whistleblowers ready to report and fight against corruption in their communities. We want to empower them to build a culture that rejects corruption and protects public funding from private pillage.
We know that you are asking, “Where are the results?” We ask ourselves that constantly, to learn from shortcomings. We acknowledge the ineffectiveness of the HJPC, which the international community helped to design. Our help and influence will never be enough. Real progress will not come until the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina demand it of elected leaders. The countries that have achieved real governance reform have succeeded after the citizens pressure politicians to reform.
Now is the time, as a new Council of Ministers takes charge, to demand needed reforms – especially in rule of law. As the Priebe report made clear, this will require a new law on the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council. The report states, “The HJPC is often perceived by citizens and even by members of the judicial community as a center of unaccountable power in the hands of persons serving the interests of a network of political patronage and influence.” This will not be easy to fix, because politicians have a hard time passing laws that would loosen their control of the justice sector. Without public pressure, there will be no political will.
That can happen in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In Canton Sarajevo, a year ago, citizens expressed a sense that things can and must improve and rejected business as usual. They voted for a message of unity over division and for a government whose constituency is the public and not particular vested interests. In the time since then, they have implemented significant transparency reforms, such as a new law on origin of assets of elected officials, a published registry of public employees, and the registry of ongoing procurement contracts and new procurement notices. As the Priebe Report singles out the Sarajevo Canton Office of Anti-Corruption for its particular effectiveness, so is the U.S. Government expanding our support of their efforts.
And there are other things you can do to join partners we are supporting to clean up government in Bosnia and Herzegovina. You may have seen advertisements around the country today saying how to report corruption. If you are aware of corruption, you can call 122 to report it to the authorities, anonymously if you wish. You can also report by calling Transparency International’s toll-free hotline at 0800 555555, or filling out a corruption reporting form at https://ti-bih.org/prijavi-korupciju-online
Building a brighter future for Bosnia and Herzegovina begins with citizens speaking out and demanding change. The U.S. government stands with those BiH institutions, businesses, civil society, investigative journalists, and brave citizens in their efforts to improve the lives of the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
(FENA) L. N.
