United Nations (UN) Independent Experts have expressed serious concerns about the Draft Law on the Special Registry and Publicity of the Work of Non-Profit Organizations currently in the parliamentary procedure in the entity Republic of Srpska.
The UN experts have confirmed that this law represents a serious attack on freedom of association and excessively restricts the work of civil society.
According to the experts, if the law is adopted in its current form, it will seriously jeopardize the autonomous work of civil society organizations.
“This law aims to intimidate non-government organizations and affects freedom of expression,” the experts warned.
UN experts had already expressed concerns about this law in 2023, and now, after the Draft Law was withdrawn in May 2024, it is re-emerging in the legislative procedure.
Experts believe that the law would seriously threaten the independence and autonomy of civil society in BiH, which is contrary to the right of organizations to freely organize their activities and formulate their programs without unnecessary interference by the authorities, as guaranteed by Article 22 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
In addition, experts state that there was no real consultation with non-government organizations when drafting this law.
“We call for the immediate and permanent withdrawal of the Draft Law on the Special Registry and Publicity of the Work of Non-Profit Organizations in the Republic of Srpska. We also call on political leaders to stop stigmatizing NGOs by giving them pejorative names and labeling them as ‘foreign agents’,” the experts point out.
