U.S. Embassy: Amendments to the HJPC Law Draft are Harmful and Will Undermine Efforts to Increase Transparency in the Judiciary

(Patria) - The U.S. Embassy in BiH announced that last-minute amendments to the draft Law on the HJPC are harmful and will "undermine efforts to increase transparency in the judiciary and improve checks on asset declarations.

“As we emphasized in the June 2 joint letter that we signed with the OSCE, the EU, and other partners from the international community, the last-minute changes introduced to the draft law on the HJPC on May 12 were harmful and will undermine efforts to increase transparency in the judicial system and improve checks on asset declarations,” the U.S. Embassy in BiH stated early this morning.

Their views have not changed, they added.

As we emphasized in the June 2 joint letter that we signed with the OSCE, the EU, and other partners from the international community, the last-minute changes introduced to the draft HJPC law on May 12 were harmful and will undercut efforts to increase transparency in the…

— US Embassy Sarajevo (@USEmbassySJJ) July 29, 2023

“As we and our international partners have clearly stated, the HJPC law currently before parliament does not meet international standards and needs to be amended from the original version prepared by the Ministry of Justice.”

They further emphasized that the EU integration process involves hard and demanding work, with an emphasis on the rule of law.

“The HJPC package in its current form would not bring the transparency and accountability that the citizens of BiH deserve from their judicial system.”