The OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, in co-operation with the Ministry of Security of BiH, today concluded a specialized course for more than 30 security sector representatives from across the country on building integrity in this sector.

The course covered the country’s security policy and ways of building capacities to minimize the risk of corruption at all levels of government.

“Building a system that promotes integrity will be one of the main challenges in the context of the ongoing defence and security sector reform,” said Head of Security Co-operation at the OSCE Mission to BiH Michael Delacruz. “Corruption squanders scarce resources and destroys the public trust and confidence in institutions, eroding their capacity and limiting their ability to effectively respond to security challenges.”

Deputy Minister of Security and President of the BiH Inter-Ministerial Working Group for Security Policy Implementation Mijo Kresic stated: “We must work on building integrity and transparency of the security sector institutions to strengthen the entire system and contribute to better public awareness with regards to the security agencies’ implementation of legal requirements and expenditure of public funds.”

The Assistant Director of the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption and Co-ordination of the Fight Against Corruption, Vladica Babic highlighted the importance of the BiH Strategy for combating this problem in the period 2015-2019. “This document covers institutions at all levels of government that will contribute to the fight against corruption through implementing activities defined by the Action plan.”

Since 2007, the OSCE Mission to BiH and Inter-Ministerial Working Group for Security Policy Implementation of BiH have been organizing courses with the aim of increasing the understanding among security sector officials on the Security Policy of BiH and exchanging information on its practical implementation.

OSCE BiH

16 March 2016