USAID’s Justice Activity in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Quarterly Report April 2016 – June 2016

The initiative aims to help justice sector institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina effectively combat government corruption, prosecute serious crimes, and build public trust. The Justice Activity components include strengthening the professional status and performance of prosecutor offices (POs) and strengthening the BiH justice sector institutions to uphold public integrity and combat corruption. The Justice Activity works in partnership with key actors and stakeholders in the justice systems in Bosnia and Herzegovina, primarily the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council (HJPC), partner courts and POs, and ministries of justice. Specific activities include preparing in-depth diagnostic assessments of key issues, providing individual assistance and partnership programs with each PO, and supporting the Office of the Disciplinary Counsel (ODC) to enhance ethical standards and integrity. In Quarter 3, the Justice Activity continued implementing Prosecutor Office Assistance Plans (POAPs) developed in collaboration with POs. POAPs are being implemented in the Cantonal POs in Sarajevo, Široki Brijeg, and Mostar, the District PO in Trebinje, the Federal PO of the Federation of BiH (FBiH), and the Republic PO of the Republic of Srpska (RS). As part of the individual POAPs for Year 2, the Justice Activity initiated assessments of the management and investigative capacities in the Cantonal POs in Mostar and Široki Brijeg and the District PO in Trebinje. Experts in criminal and financial investigations continued to provide mentoring and advice for the partner POs to improve case management techniques for the prosecution of corruption and economic crimes. The Justice Activity is also supporting the efforts of partner POs to advance Prosecutor-Guided Investigations (PGIs) and form joint police-prosecutor teams to enhance efficiency in pursuing economic crimes and corruption cases. The Justice Activity organized and completed several training activities, including a second study tour to the Central and Eastern European Law Initiative (CEELI) Institute in Prague for 11 line and chief prosecutors from Year 1 and Year 2 partner POs. The Justice Activity also completed a five-day introductory practical training for 15 newly appointed prosecutors who will handle economic and organized crime and corruption cases in the Cantonal PO in Sarajevo. The Justice Activity, in cooperation with the Judicial and Prosecutorial Training Centers (JPTCs) and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) Project, completed a two-day specialized anti-corruption training for prosecutors from all POs in BiH. The Justice Activity also continued activities to finalize the strategic planning frameworks, including identifying medium-term performance targets and indicators for all POs in the FBiH and RS. Consultations with partner POs were conducted to revise their individual annual plans and incorporate performance targets from the strategic framework. A second round of collegium meetings of chief prosecutors in the FBiH and RS were conducted in June to present the revised annual plans and discuss the new framework for strategic planning and reporting that will be applied by all POs in 2017. During this quarter, the Justice Activity continued data collection from partner POs as part of a diagnostic assessment of the utilization of expert witnesses in the prosecution of organized and economic crime and corruption cases. The Justice Activity prepared a draft analysis of the legislative framework and developed a detailed questionnaire for assessing the engagement of expert witnesses and the quality and efficiency of their utilization.