OSCE Mission to BiH launches the EU-funded regional project on trial monitoring of organized crime and corruption

SARAJEVO, 2 July 2021 - The OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Delegation of the European Union to in Bosnia and Herzegovina organized today an online kick-off event with representatives of civil society organizations and journalists to present the EU funded regional project “Supporting a More Effective Administration of Justice in Corruption & Organized Crime Cases in the Western Balkans through Trial Monitoring”. 

This regional Project was born out of a 2018 Sofia Summit Declaration agreement to introduce trial monitoring in the field of serious corruption and organized crime.

The aim of this Project is to support a more effective judicial response to high level corruption and organized crime in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the region. The Project will contribute to the fight against widespread systemic corruption and organized crime that threatens long-term stability and prosperity in the region. The Mission joins OSCE Field Operations in Tirana, Podgorica, Skopje and Pristina in participating in the Project, in close co-ordination with European Union Delegation.

Through the objective assessment of a number of parameters, the Project’s trial monitoring will collect objectively verifiable and triangulated information about the administration of justice in connection with organized crime and corruption cases. The data collected during the monitoring process will be processed and analysed to define systemic problems and their probable root causes. This information will enable the OSCE and the relevant local institutions to identify successes in the fight against organized crime and corruption and determine where to direct further assistance. A public report, scheduled for late 2023, will document the Project’s findings and recommendations.

This Project will support judiciaries to better process the most egregious cases of organized crime and corruption, contributing to ending impunity for grand corruption and organized crime.