28 Feb Violence Against Civil Society Institutionalized in the Republika Srpska Entity
February 28 2025
by Uroš Jovanović, Public Policy Program Manager at Civic Initiatives
Associations and foundations in the entity of Republika Srpska will bear the label of foreign agents if they secure funding for their work from abroad and if they advocate for better laws before the institutions of this entity following the adoption of the Draft Law on the Special Register and Publicity of the Work of Non-Profit Organizations, supported by the ruling parties on February 27, 2025.
The mentioned law prohibits “political activity” and “political engagement.” Among other things, the law defines “political activity” as “conducting activities aimed at influencing the formation of public opinion to achieve political goals,” and it recognizes as political engagement “any activity directed towards the bodies, institutions, or elected representatives of Republika Srpska or representatives of Republika Srpska in the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina with the aim of shaping policy, political, or public interest of Republika Srpska.”
As a result, anyone advocating for the adoption of better laws or pointing out severe violations of human rights and freedoms in this entity will be forced to register in the new registry and will be exposed to the risk of forced shutdown if they refuse to accept additional administrative burdens related to their work, which includes additional and extensive reporting and oversight.
A group of 41 non-profit organizations from Bosnia and Herzegovina has called this law “a revenge against all critical voices”, stating that it was adopted in “an atmosphere of lynching and persecution created by government representatives over a long period.” In a joint statement, these organizations pointed out that the entity’s institutions already have “the authority to oversee the financial or any other operations of civil society organizations and that associations are already prohibited from engaging in political activity under the existing law, yet this has not been enforced against non-governmental organizations controlled by the authorities, funded from the budget, and openly supporting political parties and candidates during elections.”
An identical draft of the law has been proposed in Serbia by pro-Russian members of parliament. The proposal emerged amid increasing repression against Serbian civil society, which includes openly targeting activists and organizations, exposing them to institutional violence, unfounded investigations, and police raids on their offices.
Civil society is facing increasingly repressive measures by the authorities for openly criticizing the work of institutions in the region. The authorities fail to recognize the importance of the work of individuals and groups who dedicate their lives to improving the societies they live in, leaving them with no choice but to seek support outside their own country. Instead of supporting their efforts to build a fairer society for all, institutions often resort to actions that significantly restrict the work of these organizations, while top state officials run smear campaigns against critics, inciting violence against them.