AIS: Petition against Law Revisions

During the meeting held in Sarajevo on Tuesday, May 14 the AIS members expressed their dissatisfaction with the new proposal for revisions and amendments of the Law on Free Access to Information, which would prevent journalists and public from accessing many pieces of information with the aim of protecting personal data.

Considering the fact that a public discussion of the draft law is currently underway, the AIS representatives agreed to send their opinion to the Parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina, expressing their stand that the new proposed law would made it impossible for journalists to do their job and, consequently, prevent the public from obtaining an insight into the work of authorities and institutions.

Also, it was agreed that a public campaign and petition would be initiated and that the AIS would request support from associations of journalists, NGOs and other interested individuals in order to try to stop the adoption of those changes.

With the aim of increasing public interest in this subject, it was agreed that an attempt would be made to generate citizens’ reaction by publishing articles and broadcasting footage by BIRN in Bosnia and Herzegovina, BH Radio 1 and the Federal Radio.

The meeting participants also discussed the anonymisation of documents issued by the Court and Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina. They concluded that those institutions still implemented the practice of anonymisation of all decisions and verdicts, despite the recommendations by the European Union, EU, at the last structural dialogue held in Brcko in April this year.

In fact, EU experts pointed out that it was necessary to find a balance between the protection of personal data and the existence of an extraordinary public interest in certain crimes.

Considering the fact that the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina is currently working on revising its Rulebook on Anonymisation, the AIS meeting participants expressed hope that the revisions would resolve the problems associated with anonymisation but they pointed out that the issue of non-publishing State Prosecution’s indictments and issuing only ten minutes of audio and video recordings from hearings still remained to be resolved.

AIS member and Editor-in-Chief of BIRN in Bosnia and Herzegovina Erna Mackic announced that she would arrange a meeting with Chief Prosecutor Goran Salihovic in the upcoming period in order to discuss the problems in collaboration between the media and that institution.

In addition, the participants agreed to organise a regional conference on the responsibility of the media and judicial institutions later this year. Experts in free access to information and judges of The Hague Tribunal and European Court for Human Rights will be invited to the conference in order to speak about the importance of transparency of court proceedings.

At the end of the meeting the participants agreed on an agenda for the first AIS meeting this year to be held with the media and judiciary in Travnik.