When will BiH get a Coordination Body for Counter-Terrorism?

The Coordination Body for Counter-Terrorism has not yet been established, and at the session of the Council of Ministers held on July 28, the agenda included consideration of the Proposal for a Decision on the establishment of the Coordination Body for Counter-Terrorism, but due to the procurement of necessary opinions, the mentioned agenda item was postponed in order to consider the remarks and suggestions submitted by individual ministries, reports the Patria News Agency.

The Ministry of Security of BiH has been undertaking activities since April 2015, at the initiative of the BiH Prosecutor's Office, to draft the Proposal for a Decision on the establishment of the Coordination Body for Counter-Terrorism in BiH, but this has not been done to date.

By a Decision of the Council of Ministers of BiH, a Task Force for Counter-Terrorism and Strengthening Counter-Terrorism Capacities was established, composed of representatives of state and entity bodies and the Brčko District, which operated under the leadership of the BiH Prosecutor's Office and the supervision of the Ministry of Security.

- After nine years of the Task Force's existence, it was observed that the working group established in this way did not have comprehensive competencies for adequate action in terms of counter-terrorism. After analyzing the work of the Task Force to date, as well as current terrorist activities and the increased threat of terrorism, it was concluded that there is an urgent need to restructure the existing Task Force into a Coordination Body - say the Ministry of Security of BiH.

They add that the need to form this body has been emphasized by the latest terrorist attacks in BiH, as well as the increasingly frequent terrorist attacks across Europe.

- The Coordination Body for Counter-Terrorism would also have a function of preventing certain terrorist activities, by collecting information on the basis of which analyses would be made in accordance with the indicated needs - add the Ministry of Security of BiH.

However, the Government of Republika Srpska rejected the Proposal for a Decision on the establishment of the Coordination Body for Counter-Terrorism in Bosnia and Herzegovina as problematic.

The entity government assessed that the attempt to establish such a body through a decision of the Council of Ministers of BiH represents a legal and political precedent.

That decision was justified by the statement that all bodies and agencies in the field of internal affairs and the security system in BiH are established by law.