SARAJEVO (Reuters) – The European Union and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) urged the Bosnian Serb government on Thursday to drop a bill that labels non-profit groups funded from abroad as “foreign agents” and called on lawmakers to reject it if it is presented in the parliament.
The parliament of Bosnia’s autonomous Serb Republic is scheduled next week to discuss the draft law, which experts say will stigmatise civil society organisations that receive funding from abroad.
“The European Union also strongly calls upon all members of the Republika Srpska National Assembly to oppose this draft law, which aims to intimidate and suppress civil society organisations by branding their representatives as ‘foreign agents,'” the EU delegation in Bosnia said in a statement, referring to the Bosnian Serb parliament.
The Bosnian Serb Republic, an autonomous region that was formed after the ethnically-based 1992-1995 war in Bosnia, passed a law in July that re-criminalised defamation despite protests by journalist associations and international criticism.
Adopting this new draft law would bring the Bosnian Serb Republic closer to authoritarian regimes than to the European democracies, the EU said, warning that the draft law directly contradicts the region’s commitments to advance European integration and priorities on civil society and freedom of expression and media.
The law was proposed by the ruling Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) led by the Bosnian Serb Republic separatist leader Milorad Dodik, and agreed by their coalition members with whom they form a parliamentary majority.
Brian Aggeler, the head of the OSCE mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, asked the Bosnian Serb lawmakers in an open letter to refrain from taking any action that would undermine human rights and fundamental freedoms.
Aggeler urged them to “immediately and permanently” reject the draft law and ensure that all future legislation complies with the international and domestic human rights standards to which Bosnia has committed itself.
Bosnian Serb officials have dismissed objections regarding the bill and pledged to get it adopted by the parliament.
(Reporting by Daria Sito-Sucic; Editing by Paul Simao)
