During 2025, Transparency International’s Free Legal Aid Center in Bosnia and Herzegovina (ALAC) dealt with 364 new cases, while the free phone line received 1,027 calls from citizens who were witnesses or victims of corruption.
As in previous years, the largest number of reports related to state administration (151 cases), which, as pointed out by TI, confirms that employment, appointments and public resources are still the most risky areas for corruption, it shows
A significant number of reports were also recorded in the areas of justice (31), education (28) and (31), where there is an evident increase in the number of cases, which confirms that this phenomenon is becoming more widespread and that TIBiH’s warnings about the normalization of conflicts of interest due to the absence of sanctions were justified.
Precisely these trends were confirmed through specific cases, so after the ALAC reports, the Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina revoked the mandate of the President of the Gacko Municipal Assembly and the advisor of the then President of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, due to the performance of incompatible functions.
In the course of last year, a total of 13 cases were sent to the competent institutions for action, and such examples, as they point out, at the same time point to the growing awareness of the importance in the public sector, but also to serious shortcomings in the consistent application of the law.
During the year, TI BiH initiated 24 administrative disputes due to denial of access to information, while at the same time 24 cases from previous years were resolved in favor of the Center, which indicates a systemic violation of this right by the institutions.
That the lack of transparency and accountability of institutions is a growing problem, according to TI, is also confirmed by the decisions of the highest domestic and international courts.
The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina adopted the lawsuit of TI BiH against the Ministry of Justice of BiH due to the illegal denial of access to the Draft Law on the Court of BiH, which prevented the public from participating in the process of adopting one of the key judicial regulations.
At the same time, the European Court of Human Rights took into consideration the cases related to the denial of access to information by the Federal Ministry for Veterans and Invalids of the Defense and Liberation War, as well as the application by ALAC on behalf of a citizen who, despite numerous court decisions in his favor, has been unable to establish an employment relationship with the Tax Administration of the RS for many years.
TI BiH filed a criminal complaint against officials at several levels of government in the Federation of BiH due to the groundless annulment of the already completed procedure for appointing members of the Management Board of the Federal Institute for Pension and Disability Insurance, which pointed to serious abuses and political influence on the work of the institutions.
“These cases, as well as the fact that journalists requested and received free legal assistance from the Center 57 times during 2025, while the increasing number of cases in which citizens and the media have to seek judicial protection due to continuous violations of their rights by institutions further confirm the extent of the problem,” Transparency states.
The complex political arrangement, frequent blockages in the work of institutions, as well as the lack of key legal solutions, such as the law on conflict of interest in the Federation of BiH and adequate protection, not only significantly complicate the fight against corruption, but also deny citizens basic rights, above all to legal protection, employment and access to information of public importance, announced Transparency International in BiH.
