Attack on Citizens’ Rights
This post is also available in: Bosnian
In May this year the Ministry of Justice of Bosnia and Herzegovina published a draft Law on changes and amendments to the Law on Free Access to Information. According to the draft Law, public institutions may limit the publishing of information containing personal data.
Civil society and journalists criticised the proposed changes, pointing out that the proposed Law would limit citizens’ access to information owned by public institutions. Also, they stressed that the new Law would introduce censorship and pose restrictions on investigative reporting.
“Journalists, civic activists, and even representatives of the BiH government tell me that the draft changes for BiH’s freedom of information laws are of grave concern. They say changes would halt the progress made here on openness and transparency and would literally flip the current philosophy of openness on its head,” Moon wrote.
He further said that the freedom of information laws were complex and require “the right balance between the right to individual privacy and the general public’s right to access information.”
Besides the proposed changes to the Law on Free Access to Information, in his blog post Moon discusses the proposed public procurement laws and laws on conflict of interest.
“The proposed changes undermine the efforts to strengthen and depoliticise BiH institutions, while attacking the right of every citizen to be informed and make informed decisions,” Moon wrote.
He further said that public debate on the proposed changes was limited, “a move that questions the desire for a true debate”.
Citizens were given a deadline until the end of last month to comment on the draft changes and amendments to the Law on Free Access to Information.
