Duvnjak: All important matters often depend on the enthusiasm of individual representatives

(Patria) - The Federation should soon get a register of convicted pedophiles. We are decades behind Europe in this regard. In principle, there is political will, but the register has never been established. There are indications that it could be established by the end of the year, and what it brings and why it is necessary were discussed in Rezime FTV by Aleksandra Marin-Diklić, Head of the Department for Monitoring Children's Rights and Assistant Ombudsman for Human Rights of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Jasmin Duvnjak, one of the initiators of establishing the register of finally convicted pedophiles and former SDA delegate in the House of Peoples of the Federation Parliament.

Duvnjak reminds that the law on the pedophile register in FBiH has been in parliamentary procedure for four years.

"We proposed this four years ago, and last year it was adopted in the form of a draft. My colleague Lana Prlić, my colleague Aner Žuljević, and I joined forces and proposed such an important law to the parliamentary procedure of the FBiH. Colleague Prlić sent this law to the parliamentary procedure at the beginning of the last mandate in 2019. It was adopted in the House of Representatives of the FBiH Parliament at the beginning of 2020 in the form of a draft, and in the House of Peoples, it was adopted in July 2022," states Duvnjak.

It took three years from the initiative itself to the public debate, he says.

"The public debate was in July last year, and almost a year and a half has passed since then. Unfortunately, for over four years, the law, which is not controversial and has consensus, has been in parliamentary procedure, but it has not yet been passed. This reminds me of the fable of the tortoise and the hare. In BiH, we are often in many political situations – slow as tortoises and unserious as hares," said Duvnjak.

"We have all the necessary information regarding the procedures for adopting this law. We, as an institution, have been involved in this issue from the very beginning. But very actively since mid-2018 when, together with non-governmental organizations, we opened a case ex officio and reacted. We made recommendations that we sent to the FBiH Parliament and received the answer to contact the Federal Ministry of Justice. We do not have a clear explanation – how, why, but we received information that a working group was formed, that amendments to the Criminal Code would see the light of day, as well as the register," said Marin-Diklić.

She explained that it is necessary to adopt the law on the register of persons finally convicted of sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children, and then amend the Criminal Code of FBiH, all in order to harmonize legislation with the Lanzarote Convention.

"Our non-governmental organizations and the Association of Prosecutors of FBiH have offered truly good legal solutions, and no additional budget allocations are needed for the realization of these activities," she added.

When asked about the essence of establishing the register and whether it can lead to a reduction in such criminal offenses, Duvnjak emphasizes that the register is a preventive functional mechanism.

"It is good prevention to keep those who are prone to committing these criminal offenses away from places where children are. Primarily, preschool institutions, schools, sports clubs, etc. All employers, entities where children are present, are obliged to request an extract from the pedophile register when hiring new employees. And only if the person is not in this register can they hire them," said Duvnjak.

He emphasized that there is also a series of other special measures related to the obligation of convicted pedophiles to report to the competent internal affairs bodies every six months if they change their place of residence. The entire law is in the function of prevention, he said.

He emphasized that the register is permanent, and the record is not deleted.

"The data is confidential, accessible to competent courts, prosecutor's offices, MUPs, and organizations dealing with children's issues. We were suggested to lower the legal consequences of conviction from 20 to 10 years," he said.

He underlined that for every law, there must be political will and you must have a majority to adopt it.

"However, in the FBiH, we had a situation where the provisions of the constitution and the election law were violated, and since 2018, we have had a blockade of government. This is a big difference compared to the Republika Srpska entity. Wasn't it expected that such an important law would be proposed by the Federal Ministry of Justice and the government, and not by the three of us parliamentarians. The politically unstable situation in the FBiH caused by the HDZ blockade has led us to put aside many important laws. All important matters often depend on the enthusiasm, energy, and will of individual representatives," concluded Duvnjak.