Representatives of judicial institutions, ministries of interior and police bodies and associations of journalists gathered in Banja Luka on 4-5 April 2023 at the Conference “Ensuring systematic and institutional follow-up to cases of threats and violence against journalists and media workers”, organised by the European Union in Bosnia and Herzegovina in partnership with the OSCE Mission to BiH and the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of BiH. 

Participants discussed practices for protecting journalists and mechanisms for registering the number of attacks as a step towards implementation of Key Priority 12 from the 2019 Opinion of European Commission on the BiH’s application for EU membership. The Opinion notes that BiH needs to ensure it guarantees freedom of expression and of the media and the protection of journalists, including through ensuring the appropriate judicial follow-up to cases of threats and violence against journalists and media workers.

The panels during the conference also reflected on the most recent developments regarding media freedom, especially in the Republika Srpska, that include the adoption of draft changes to Criminal Code of RS towards re-criminalisation of defamation, as well as cases of pressures on journalists, including lack of protection in individual cases. The EU’s position is that proposed legislation in the RS to criminalise defamation would impose unnecessary and disproportionate restrictions on independent media and civil society, resulting in a chilling effect on media freedom and freedom of expression, as well as a step backward on the EU path.