NSRS: Law on Public Order and Peace before MPs, US Embassy monitoring the situation

National deputies of Republika Srpska should, at today's session which will begin today, consider, among other things, the proposal of the Law on Public Order and Peace which sanctions social networks, writes the BiH news agency Patria.

In a letter from Human Rights Watch addressed to the Speaker of the NSRS, Nedeljko Čubrilović, it is stated that the Assembly should reject the draft law that criminalizes freedom of expression on the internet.

- The authorities of Republika Srpska have a responsibility to act in accordance with the international obligations of Bosnia and Herzegovina when it comes to respecting freedom of expression. The authorities should repeal the draft of this law and ask for the help of OSCE representatives in drafting regulations that protect freedom of expression on the internet and in other media.

- The extremely broad and vaguely formulated prohibitions in this law, which seem to have no other purpose than to restrict speech on the internet - stated Lidija Gal, researcher for the Balkans and Eastern Europe at HRW.

The US Embassy in BiH announced that Ambassador Maureen Cormack is monitoring the NSRS session to see if the citizens' rights to express themselves freely anytime, anywhere will be respected.