Working Group Recommends Fixing BiH
Judicial Salaries at Appropriate Level

The High Representative has received a Report compiled
by the Working Group established at the beginning of this year to examine the
level of judicial salaries in

Bosnia and Herzegovina

. Along with its Report, the
Working Group has presented the High Representative with draft State, Entity and
District laws that would render judicial salary levels appropriate to the
resources and requirements of BiH.

The Report confirms that since the initial dramatic increase in judicial
salaries, following the introduction of new legislation in 2000, salaries of
judges and prosecutors have increased by between 40 and 44 percent. This has
significantly expanded the income differential between judges and other
citizens: judges now earn nearly ten times the average wage, compared to four
and a half times the average wage four years ago. The lowest paid judge earns
nearly six times the BiH average, the highest paid judge nearly 14 times.

The starting salary of a BiH judge is higher than that of a new judge in

France

or

Slovenia

. In no
other country examined by the Working Group were judges of the highest courts
paid more, comparative to the national salary average, than in BiH.

Adequate compensation for the judiciary is a major component in the effort to
place the courts beyond the influence of graft and corruption; therefore the
Working Group has not recommended radical salary reductions. It proposes
harmonizing judicial salaries throughout the country with, for the most part,
small decreases across the board, standardizing working hours and leave
entitlements and limiting supplementary and retirement awards. In addition, it
proposes curbing future annual increases envisaged in the existing
legislation.

At the end of last year, the High Representative emphasized that while
judicial salaries must be competitive in order to shield judges and prosecutors
from potential bribery, systematic increases in salaries are unsustainable.
Salaries and benefits account for 84 percent of the total budget for the
judicial system, leaving just 16 percent for essential expenses such as heating,
electricity and telephones.

The High Representative will now review the report.