WASHINGTON—The Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, also known as the Helsinki Commission, today announced the following hearing:
“Combatting Corruption in Bosnia and Herzegovina”
Wednesday, May 25, 2016
2:00 PM
Capitol Visitor Center
Senate Room 212-10
Live Webcast: www.youtube.com/HelsinkiCommission
Twenty years ago, Bosnia and Herzegovina was beginning a process of recovery and reconciliation following the brutal conflict that marked its first four years of independent statehood and took outside intervention to bring to an end. The United States, which led that effort culminating in the Dayton Peace Accords, has since invested considerable financial and other resources to ensure the country’s unity, territorial integrity and sovereignty, as well as to enable a population devastated and traumatized by conflict to rebuild. Many European and other countries have as well.
Today, beyond well-known ethnic divisions and weaknesses in political structure, Bosnia’s progress is stymied by official corruption to the detriment of its citizens’ quality of life and the prospects for the country’s integration into Europe. Amid recent press reports on scandals involving various government officials, public perceptions of corruption rank Bosnia and Herzegovina among the worst in the Western Balkans.
The hearing will examine the current situation regarding corruption and its causes at all levels of government in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and look at efforts by the United States and the international community, along with civil society, to combat it.
The following witnesses are scheduled to testify:
- Jonathan Moore, Head of the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Thomas Melia, Assistant Administrator for Europe and Eurasia, USAID
- Srdjan Blagovcanin, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Transparency International, Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Valery Perry, Sarajevo-based Independent Researcher and Consultant and Senior Associate at the Democratization Policy Council
