News

Author: Denis Čarkadžić In mid-December last year, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) was granted candidate status for membership in the European Union (EU). Emphasising the “current geopolitical context”, the Council of the EU underlined in their decision the urgency for BiH to move forward on the EU path, primarily by fulfilling the 14 key priorities for … Continued

The Initiative for Monitoring the European Integration of B&H strongly opposes the adoption of the Draft Law on Amendments to the Criminal Code of the Republika Srpska, published on the website of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Srpska on 03/03/23. The aforementioned amendments, which, among other things, criminalize defamation, are contrary to … Continued

Author: Hata Kujraković The rapporteur of the European Parliament for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Paulo Rangel, will soon present to the European Parliament’s (EP) Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET) the draft Resolution on the 2022 Commission Report on Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). Every year, the relevant resolutions describe the positions of BiH and other Western Balkans … Continued

Author: Dejan Lučka Last week, Banja Luka hosted a conference entitled “How much freedom we’ll be left with?”. The conference was directly motivated by the announcement of legislative amendments in the Republika Srpska, introducing defamation and insult as criminal offenses, as well as the adoption of a law on fake news and expansion of criminal … Continued

Author: Harun Išerić Attacks and threats against journalists: a brief overview The hotline for journalists, operated by the BH Journalists Association, recorded 70 reported cases of violations of journalist rights and media freedoms in 2021, including 16 cases of physical and verbal attacks and threats. Online space is the dominant source of attacks and threats … Continued

Author: Nedim Kulenović Improving the migration and asylum policy management system is emerging as one of the critical issues on BiH’s path to EU integration. The challenges that the country encountered in 2018-2019, as well as during the pandemic, highlighted all the shortcomings of the current system. These risks remain, and authorities must act quickly … Continued

Author: Sanela Bešić The Western Balkans Prime Ministers adopted the Declaration of Western Balkans Partners on Roma Integration within the European Union (EU) Enlargement Process and regional cooperation in 2019 (the so-called Poznan Declaration). Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) has pledged to continue and strengthen efforts for full equality and integration of Roma through the implementation … Continued

The Initiative for Monitoring the European Integration of BiH and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung in BiH are organizing a conference on the occasion of receiving the European Commission’s recommendation for granting BiH candidate status. The conference “EU candidate status for BiH: Between merits and expectations” will be held on November 29, 2022 in Sarajevo at … Continued

Author: Amina Hujdur In July 2022, a historic step forward in the fight for the recognition of children born of war[1] was taken when the Brčko District of BiH became the first in Bosnia and Herzegovina to legally recognise children born of wartime rape as civilian victims of war, under the framework of the newly … Continued

Author: Branko Ćulibrk Social discrimination against sexual minorities is still prevalent in many European countries, but respect for the rights of LGBTIQ people is a critical issue in the process of EU integration of BiH, and it is an integral part of the EU accession negotiations as well as the EU Commission’s annual progress reports. … Continued

Author: Denis Čarkadžić The election year of 2022, like many others before it, is drawing to a close, but Bosnia and Herzegovina is still waiting for candidate status for membership of the European Union. When it comes to Bosnia and Herzegovina’s EU path, the previous mandate – 2018 to date – lacked everything but promises. … Continued