Bosnia and Herzegovina Totally Unprepared for Natural Disasters: In Ten Years We Will Be Left Without Military Pilots!

The report on the performance audit on the topic of Activities of BiH Institutions for Conducting Protection and Rescue during Natural or Other Disasters, submitted by the Office for Audit of BiH Institutions, will be presented to the deputies of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Patria reports.

This audit has shown that BiH has done almost nothing on this issue, even after the devastating floods that hit BiH in 2014! The findings and conclusions reached by the audit indicate that BiH institutions have not always undertaken adequate activities to improve capabilities for effective action in crisis situations.

It is stated that the process of adopting planning and operational documents for protection and rescue is lengthy and lacks a functional mechanism that would enable competent institutions to monitor and control their implementation.

- The Council of Ministers of BiH adopts the Assessment of BiH's Vulnerability to Natural or Other Disasters, which is prepared and proposed by the Ministry of Security. This document, although foreseen by the Framework Law from 2008, was adopted in 2012. Although weather disasters occurred during this period, as well as the May floods of 2014, the Vulnerability Assessment has not been updated to date – the audit states.

The Ministry of Security has not yet submitted for adoption the Program for the Development of the Protection and Rescue System of BiH Institutions and Bodies.

This program, otherwise, determines the policy and strategy for the protection and rescue of people and material goods from natural and other disasters, defines development programs, projects, and strategic directions for the development of protection and rescue in BiH in accordance with the Framework Law.

- The Decision on the formation of a special mixed unit has not been submitted for adoption to the Council of Ministers, nor have activities been carried out on the practical implementation of structuring the unit and its basic equipping and training, although the deadline foreseen in the strategic documents of the Ministry of Security for the completion of these activities was the end of 2015 – the auditors further state.

BiH does not have an established 112 emergency call system, the auditors determined, and there is a lack of functionality in the work of the BiH Coordination Body, especially during the crisis situation of the 2014 floods. The inefficiency of re-establishing this body after the expiration of the mandate of its previous members is evident.

- At the level of BiH institutions, within whose competence the protection and rescue system falls, a system has not been developed, nor have procedures been established to verify whether all available resources at local levels have been engaged before a request is made for the engagement of the BiH Armed Forces, primarily helicopters.

- Activities on adopting the Rulebook on Providing Assistance to Civil Authorities, which regulates the management and use of movable and immovable property and potential of the BiH Armed Forces, engagement of BiH Armed Forces members, bases, forms, types and methods of realization, criteria, priorities, conditions, limitations, submission and resolution of requests, procedures and activities, approval, cooperation, coordination and consultations, responsibilities and other issues in the field of providing military assistance to civil authorities in BiH, have not been completed by the end of the audit – the report states.

In addition to the lack of rulebooks and legal bases, BiH is also faced with a lack of material and personnel equipment in crisis situations. The auditors' report contains an alarming piece of data:

- The Armed Forces of BiH could, due to the retirement of personnel over a period of ten years, be left almost completely without pilot staff – is the opinion of the auditors.

Due to the importance of engaging pilot staff in assisting civil authorities in the event of natural and other disasters, below we provide an overview of the age structure of the existing pilot staff of the Ministry of Defense.

The analysis prepared by the BiH Armed Forces showed a very unfavorable age structure of the current state of pilot staff in the BiH Armed Forces, where the average age of pilots is 42 years. Of the total planned number in the Air Force and Air Defense Brigade, 50% of the positions foreseen for pilots are filled. The pilot staff should leave the BiH Armed Forces through the retirement process in the next ten years!

- The BiH Armed Forces do not have an established training center for aviation specialty personnel; this personnel is trained through cooperation with partner countries. The project foresees the education of 39 young pilots. For 2016, according to the planned training dynamics, 13 trainees were supposed to be enrolled in training and schools, and five of them to complete the training, for which the project allocated funds of about one million KM. The total value of the projects amounts to 7,828,200 KM – the auditors state.