On the occasion of today’s world-wide observed International Anti-Corruption Day, representatives of the law enforcement agencies in BiH signed the Declaration on the Zero Tolerance to Corruption within Police Service.

The Declaration was signed under the auspices of the EU-funded Project “Strengthening Law Enforcement” implemented in BiH with the aim to further advance police service and strengthen cooperation, coordination and efficiency in in the fight against organized crime, terrorism and corruption. “The message we jointly reiterate today is that police integrity is crutial for public service with honor and that maintaining the highest standards of integrity in the policing profession is in the best interest of the public,” said Project’s Resident Twinning Advisor Friedrich Hofbauer.

Noting that the corruption undermines the most fundamental values of any democratic society, rule of law as well as the safety of citizens, Minister of Security of BiH Dragan Mektić said: “Having in mind the detrimental effects of and the dangers that the corruption presents we shall have no tolerance, particularly within the law enforcement. This remains on the top of the Ministry’s and the law enforcement agencies’ priorities.”

The RS Ministry of Interior positions the fight against corruption as one of the priorities too, to which end a number of organisation and legislation changes have been implemented. “To fight corruption within our own ranks as successfully as possible, we have strengthened the internal control while the professional standards unit have this year evolved into a service for protection of integrity and lawfulness in work. Professional and efficient performance is the only acceptable performance by police officers,” noted RS Minister of Interior Dragan Lukač, noting that the fight against corruption cannot be successful without support of judiciary as an important partner in shedding light to such crimes.

By signing the Declaration, the FBiH Ministry of Interior has demonstrated both commitment and determination towards more succesful fight against corruption as a serious threat to development and stability of BiH society, which undermines the confidence of public into police work. “I am convinced that joint activities of the law enforcement, improvement of legislation, institution capacity building as well as strenghtening of police integrity will contribute to the more efficient fight against corruption and thus reinforce confidence of public into police work and encourage participation of society, as a whole in preventing the corruption,” said Federal Minister of Interior Aljoša Čampara.

The Declaration will be displayed at the premises of all law enforcement agencies in BiH and be made available on the agencies’ web sites.