Civil society organisations (CSOs) in Republika Srpska that receive funding or support from foreign entities would be required to register in a special registry as per the new Draft Law on the Special Registry and Transparency of the Work of Nonprofit Organizations, published by the Ministry of Justice on April 3, 2024.
The law puts an equal burden on both big and small organisations, regardless of the amount of foreign funding they receive. It also:
- introduces excessive reporting: CSOs that already report to the government need to report twice per year;
- requires foreign-funded CSOs to label their materials;
- introduces the term “agent of foreign influence”, a highly damaging label usually interpreted as a synonym for a “foreign spy”;
- creates the possibility for bureaucratic harassment: regular inspection will be carried out once a year, additional inspections of the legality of the work of CSOs receiving foreign funding could be based on requests from citizens and various bodies;
- prohibits foreign-funded CSOs from engaging in very broadly defined political activity;
- introduces heavy sanctions for non-compliance, including the possibility to terminate the registration of a CSO.
The draft law violates Bosnia and Herzegovina’s human rights commitments, stigmatises civil society and duplicates existing regulations. It is also against EU standards and goes against Bosnia’s EU accession aspirations.
Republika Srpska is not the only government to adopt or consider adopting legislation related to limiting “foreign influence” or “foreign agents”. In the last years several years Hungary, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, UK, Canada, the European Union, and other countries have enacted or are considering such legislation. However, this legislation varies considerably across countries, with very different potential impacts on civil society. Republika Srpska’s legislation is of a nature that specifically seems designed to target nonprofits, instead of foreign influence. Adopting such a law can lead to a slippery slope – once the narrative that CSO foreign funding is dangerous, Republika Srpska may follow the path of countries such as Belarus or Azerbaijan, which severely restrict foreign funding: they have introduced permission for receiving such support or limited its receipt only to certain areas.
In our full analysis, prepared by ECNL with support from the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL), we outline how, if adopted, the draft law will violate Bosnia and Herzegovina’s obligations to guarantee freedom of association, freedom of expression and the right to participation, as well as the prohibition of discrimination.