J.1_SOO_JACA.pdf

STATEMENT OF OBJECTIVES

USAID’S JUDICIARY AGAINST CORRUPTION ACTIVITY (JACA) IN

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

I. GOAL AND PURPOSE

The goal of USAID’s Judiciary Against Corruption Activity (JACA) (“Activity”) is to support more effective, independent and accountable justice actors and the purpose is to strengthen selected justice sector institutions to combat corruption, economic and organized crime.

BACKGROUND

Since Dayton, considerable attention has been focused on establishing the normative frameworks (laws and policies), institutions, and processes for delivering impartial justice to the public, resolving disputes in a timely manner and protecting the rights and freedoms of everyone in BiH regardless of ethnicity or socioeconomic status. Concrete results have been achieved in judicial and court reform, despite the country’s well-known hyper-politicization and other governance challenges resulting from its unique post-conflict political-administrative structure. Progress toward justice and accountability has come in large part because of the constructive engagement of the US Embassy and USAID Mission, working in concert with other international donors and actors active in BiH since 1995.

Despite the aforementioned progress in justice sector reform, the rule of law in BiH remains weak and concerns about backsliding grow. Shortcomings in the independence, efficiency, and effectiveness of justice sector institutions persist along with corruption and other threats to justice and accountability in BiH.

Public opinion, while more favorable to justice sector institutions than to executive and legislative branches of government, reveals considerable citizen concern over the lack of transparency, impartiality, and efficiency within the judiciary and prosecutorial services.

USAID’s Judicial Effectiveness Index for 2017 showed a decline in the areas of accountability and transparency of the judiciary. According to Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index, BiH ranks 83 out of 176 countries, with a score of 39 on a scale of 0 to 100. Comparing results over the last five years, and the scores which varied from 42 in 2012 and 2013, which was the highest score for this period, and 38 for 2015 and 39 for 2016, it is obvious that BiH has made no progress. Citizen survey data indicates a significant rise in concern about the level of corruption generally and an ongoing decrease in public confidence in efforts to combat corruption by Bosnian authorities. Through the JEI’s citizen survey measure, although there was a slight overall positive change in public perception, several important indicators saw a decline in 2017 compared to 2016. The two largest negative changes are those related to the public’s trust in judges to conduct court procedures and adjudicate cases impartially and in accordance with the law, and trust in prosecutors to perform their duties impartially and in accordance with the law. At a time when the fight against corruption is a top priority in BiH’s EU accession efforts, negative changes in the public’s perception of corruption within the court system, the improper influence on judges’ decision making, and a decrease in perceptions that prosecutors are rewarded for good performance deserve attention by both the judicial community and all levels of government.

In addition, the 2018 EU progress report for BiH related to anti-corruption measures, some progress was made in addressing the previous report's recommendations regarding the adoption of strategies and action plans at various levels of government. However, the legal and institutional frameworks remained inadequate and the fragmentation of the action plans makes their implementation less effective. This highlights the persistent gap between the declared political will and the lack of concrete results.

On the structural level, there are a number of serious impediments and environmental factors that affect operation of the BiH justice system.

Fundamental questioning of state-level judicial institutions, particularly from the RS, which weakens the importance of the unified High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council (HJPC).

Subsequently, a weaker state-level HJPC threatens judicial and prosecutorial appointments, career advancement in the rule of law sector, disciplinary procedures, and the overall independence of the judiciary.

Political pressure and influence at all levels of the administration and operation of the justice system: This undue influence, including but not limited to just the HJPC itself, is having a deleterious effect on the independence and impartiality of judges and prosecutors.

Absence of successful high-level political prosecutions for corruption and economic crimes: These cases where the preponderance of evidence shows guilt and yet either results in no verdict or not guilty suggests improper political influence over justice sector institutions and actors, and is fostering a culture of impunity that is eroding public trust in institutions and social values.

Transfer of investigative competencies to prosecutors from judges: Prosecutors lack adequate, continuous specialized training, and this combined with a decrease in the overall number of prosecutors and a lack of career advancement opportunities, is negatively impacting prosecutor performance.

In addition to these sectoral challenges, there are also more specific ones related to individual justice institutions.

Courts: Courts do not prioritize adjudication of corruption and organized crime cases, and there is a lack of adequate motivation for judges to work on these cases. Due to non-harmonized legislative solutions, conflicts of jurisdiction between the state and entity courts and prosecutor offices (POs) emerge. Furthermore, unequal judicial practice and sentencing are present at all levels. An important impediment in processing corruption-related cases in the Federation of BiH (FBiH) is failure to establish the Special Department of the Supreme Court of the FBiH as prescribed by law.

Finally, long disposition times at first instance courts and persistence of issues related to cases for unpaid utility bills combined with the identified deterioration of disposition times and backlog in second instance courts are serious issues to consider.

POs: POs still face long disposition times for corruption and economic crime cases, and while progress is notable at the local level in individual cantonal and district POs, the overall trend is still negative. POs are confronted with numerous poor-quality criminal reports for corruption cases, and prosecutors still lack motivation to work on the most complex corruption cases. Major reductions in the disposition of general crime cases were achieved through rejection of criminal reports and termination of investigations. As in the case of the courts, differently defined subject matter and territorial jurisdictions of POs cause conflicts of jurisdiction, but in addition there is a discrepancy in expectations in judicial validity of evidence standards between POs and courts. Finally, a lack of adequate budgets and financing for the work of POs, including delays in payments for expert witnesses and other goods and services are issues that POs face on a day-to-day basis.

Police competencies: It is common practice to remove police investigators from investigations or investigative teams in complex or sensitive cases that involve public officials.Police professionalism is also called into question through recent convictions of high-profile police officers. There is no independent oversight of the operational activities of the police force, and it is claimed that there is political influence over their work. Other governmental institutions (i.e., tax administration, financial police, and Supreme Audit Institutions), which are supposed to report corruption crimes and provide support in processing those cases, are regarded by POs as being of little help.

HJPC: Full implementation of adopted reforms, particularly regarding conflict of interest, still needs to happen. Without formal changes in the law, many of the most difficult structural issues in the HJPC remain unchanged and politicization of the Council can remain. Furthermore, implementation of the upcoming “peer-review” visits and their recommendations will place additional requests before HJPC. In its core competences, HJPC is confronted with poor perceptions of judges and prosecutors related to their appointments; career advancement and valuation of their work; disciplinary proceedings and sanctions rendered. At the same time, the

Office of Disciplinary Counsel (ODC) is understaffed and overburdened with the low-quality disciplinary reports being filed.

Some of these specific challenges have been addressed by USAID in previous programs. USAID’s current

Justice Activity (JA) has been helping prosecutor offices, with exception to the State Prosecutor’s Office, to investigate high-profile corruption and economic crime cases through strengthening their organizational leadership, planning, and performance capacities and by performing their functions more efficiently through balanced allocation of resources. In addition to tailored assistance to frontline prosecutors, JA provided significant assistance to HJPC on internal reforms, particularly those that are required by the EU Peer

Review findings. Despite the difficult environment for success in the rule of law sector, JA’s assistance over the past four years resulted in:

Increased efficiency in the prosecution of corruption and organized crime cases in selected partner

POs. Data collected show an increase of 6.1 percent in the number of convictions in corruption-related cases between 2014 and 2017. Also, the number of indictments for corruption-related cases increased by 3.7 percent between 2014 and 2017 while the conviction rate increased by 5.3 percentage points between 2014 and 2017. Also, intensive expert assistance to specific POs has helped POs to realize and understand the importance of financial and economic expertise. These improved prosecutors’ skills to conduct complex investigations. Regardless, majority of POs expressed a need for this type of assistance, stating that all POs should have financial/economic experts on a permanent basis. This need was particularly emphasized by all large POs, such as

Bihac, Tuzla, and Sarajevo.

Work with the HJPC on integrity issues was particularly successful. Support to the HJPC was provided in the areas of asset declaration (with new asset declaration forms for submission and verification adopted on September 25, 2018), integrity plans for courts and prosecutors offices, conflict of interest guidelines and disciplinary guidelines for the Office of the Disciplinary Counsel.

In accordance with the identified environmental challenges, as well as the current issues facing judicial institutions, there are several areas identified in the sector assessment where further USAID assistance is needed, the major ones include:

Improving the track record in the processing of corruption and organized crime cases by courts and

POs, particularly for the most complex, high-profile corruption and organized crime cases. This includes modification of regulations permitting selected judges and prosecutors to work only on the most complex corruption and organized crime cases and defining these cases as a priority in the work of courts as well. Those POs and courts that are working on the most complex cases need to have at their disposal all required expertise, training, financial support, and technical means for undisturbed work on those cases.

Reversing recent divergent legislative initiatives that are not harmonized among state and entity levels, in particular those related to processing cases of corruption and organized crime cases. This includes addressing flaws in resolving jurisdictional conflicts between state and entity courts/POs.

Addressing issues of unequal judicial practice, particularly in relation to corruption and organized crime cases. This includes establishing forums through which court practice and standards set by courts will be presented to prosecutors as well.

Finding the resources and technical expertise needed to address issues related to HJPC, specifically its multi-year implementation of the Integrity Plans, detecting undeclared assets within implementation of guidelines for preventing conflicts of interest,.

Addressing issues in operations of second instance courts that are associated with worsening results and undertaking mitigation measures.

Undertaking various measures to improve the judiciary’s public image and that of judges and prosecutors.

Conducting systematic donor coordination and helping to avoid overlapping of projects and activities, in particular off-site trainings.

III. PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES AND ILLUSTRATIVE RESULTS

The purpose of USAID’s Judiciary Against Corruption Activity is to strengthen selected justice institutions to combat corruption. The activity will focus on two main areas where USG assistance may provide the most tangible results. Activities aimed at improving the processing of the most complex high-profile corruption and organized crime cases will focus on select number of POs, mainly specialized POs and major cantonal POs, and first and second instance courts in the same area of country, and provide assistance in processing the most complex corruption and organized crime cases. Second instance courts will be of particular importance since these courts show the lowest impact and results. Assistance should also be provided to the HJPC to formally implement a procedure for determining the most complex corruption and organized crime cases, and identify them as priority cases for both POs and the courts. Secondly, tailored assistance aimed at prevention of corrupt behavior in the BiH justice sector should focus on helping HJPC implement integrity, conflict of interest and assets declaration rules adopted with previous USAID assistance.

The Development Hypothesis of the activity is therefore the following:

If the prosecutors are appropriately trained and equipped to conduct investigations; and

If the courts are appropriately trained and equipped to adjudicate efficiently cases brought to them by prosecution; and

If necessary preconditions are created by HJPC to allow for more efficient work of justice institutions I criminal matters: and

If the integrity of the justice sector institutions is enhanced to be worthy of the trust of the public, transcending political or ethnic interests and corruption;

Then we can expect justice actors to more effectively and efficiently deal with corruption and organized crime cases.

Based on this, the two main activity sub-purposes (components) are;

1. Processing and adjudicating of the most complex high-profile corruption and organized crime cases in selected POs and courts improved (75% of LOE)

The recent assessment findings showed that a majority of corruption cases are located in a small number of areas. Therefore, focus should be given to a select number of POs, mainly specialized POs and major cantonal POs (absent the establishment of the Special Department of PO FBiH), and first and second instance courts in the same area of country, and provide assistance in processing the most complex corruption and organized crime cases. Second instance courts are of particular importance since these courts, according to USAID’s JEI, showed the lowest results. In the event of the establishment of the

Special Department of PO FBiH, assistance should be re-focused from the cantonal POs to the Special

Department of PO FBiH. Within selected courts and POs, individual judges and prosecutors should be identified to work on the most complex cases, and technical assistance (TA) should be provided directly to them.

This will include provision of expertise (i.e., in forensic accounting and cybercrimes) and advisory support

(i.e., prosecutors experienced in conducting investigations) to selected POs in the most complex cases.

Assistance may also be provided to the HJPC to formally implement a procedure for determining the most complex corruption and organized crime cases, and identify them as priority cases for both POs and the courts. Simultaneously, assistance should be provided to selected courts where the most complex corruption and organized crime cases are being tried. Training for prosecutors working on the most complex corruption and organized crime cases and judges adjudicating those cases should also be introduced as a combination of on-site and off-site training. It should include training abroad and exchange visits with specialized courts and POs in the region. Finally, the forums should be established at the level of first and second instance courts, in addition to presently existing prosecutors’ Collegiums, to present data on processing corruption, economic crime, and organized crime cases and institute a monitoring mechanism for improvements in achieved results. All activities should be coordinated with ICITAP and DOJ’s OPDAT programs which could direct the police in conducting effective investigations into the most complex corruption and organized crime cases.

Expected results under this sub-purpose (component) may include:

● Prosecutors and courts are well trained in identifying the elements of corrupt activities under applicable BiH law and are able to effectively investigate, prosecute and enforce against corrupt offenders.

● Prosecutors and judges perform their functions expeditiously, with a balanced allocation of resources that best meets the needs of not only the other institutions of justice (i.e., courts), but the public as a whole.

● Prosecutors and judges uphold public trust and integrity by giving due attention to the prosecution and adjudication of crimes committed by public officials, particularly those involving corruption, abuse of power, grave violations of human rights, and other crimes.

● Prosecutors and judges provide appropriate and accurate information to media and civil society in order to strengthen transparency and responsiveness to the best interests of the public.

2. Corrupt behavior in the BiH justice sector prevented (25% of LOE)

Activities under this sub-purpose (component) should continue the efforts undertaken with HJPC under the previous USAID’s Justice Activity related to integrity, conflict of interest and assets declaration. The reason for this is the fact that in 2016, USAID JA assisted the HJPC in establishing the necessary rulebooks and guidelines on conflict of interest and assets declaration as well as integrity plans for selected prosecutors’ offices. Work remains in order to support the HJPC in its implementation of these documents. While the development of integrity plans was successful under the Justice Activity, due to the broadness and comprehensiveness of integrity plans, implementation will be a challenge. The main challenges to implementation of the integrity plans include: (i) informing and educating all judges and prosecutors (and other staff) about the content and substance of these plans; and (ii) tracking and monitoring implementation of the integrity plans by one person (one person designated by POs to monitor and coordinate implementation). Assistance could therefore include expertise needed for particular issues in the integrity plans, assistance in designing a monitoring tool for tracking implementation in all judicial institutions, and drafting of regulations to address identified risks in judicial institutions.

The JA also provided assistance in drafting the guidelines on conflict of interest, including procedures for submission, verification and management of asset declarations of judges and prosecutors. The JA supported the HJPC Working Group on Integrity and Accountability of Judges and Prosecutors (WGIA) to develop an improved asset declaration form for judges and prosecutors. Continued support to the HJPC in management of asset declarations of judges and prosecutors is needed by helping to establish, train, and equip a unit that will be tasked with discovering undeclared assets.

Expected results under this sub-purpose (component) may include:

● Internal HJPC-driven integrity principles improved and implemented in courts and prosecutors’ offices.

● Courts and prosecutors are motivated to be an effective tool in combating corruption, not allowing undue political influence to keep them from this obligation.

● Improved public trust and respect for justice sector institutions and actors as independent, impartial, and accountable.

● Increased cooperation among courts and prosecutors and other judicial institutions.

IV. SPECIAL ACTIVITIES FOR RAPID RESPONSE

A total funding of $1million is anticipated over the life of the project to be used for special activities required by unanticipated events in the justice sector. The contractor is expected to provide technical assistance on short notice (within 15 days) in response to these unanticipated events and urgent requests.

The capacity may be required in any of the subject areas covered by the contract. Technical assistance may include assistance require for the preparation and implementation of the new Law on HJPC, if such development occurs during the lifetime of the project. Also, a placement of long term expert within HJPC should be considered since a resident presence has been agreed by the HJPC and USAID considers it could be a valuable way of achieving results, particularly with regard to building the capacity of HJPC. Other activities may include but are not limited to analyzing discrete legal issues and advising prosecutors, judges or lawyers; conducting assessments; conferences/seminars/workshops, IT and office equipment for courts and prosecutors, advocating to improve the justice sector reform agenda in BiH, support analyses and /or publications by research and academic organizations analyzing justice and economic policies and otherwise meet any unforeseen needs of the justice sector in BiH as they relate to the overall scope of the project.

V. CROSS-CUTTING ISSUES

Sustainability: The USAID’s Judiciary Against Corruption Activity will consider sustainability of efforts a priority. The activity will cooperate closely with justice sector institutions which are part of the existing

BiH justice sector. As such, these institutions’ (e.g. courts, prosecutors’ offices, High Judicial and

Prosecutorial Council) financial sustainability has been secured from the governments of BiH regular budget contribution. The important segment of USAID’s activity will be to work with the BiH justice sector institution to create and adopt the improved systems and procedures that will contribute to better operations of these institutions and ultimately better and more efficient delivery of justice. Therefore, the Contractor is encouraged to think creatively regarding the collaborative relationship with these organizations. Also, it is expected that activities will significantly contribute to improving the overall justice sector in the country.

The improvements that will result from these reforms, if successful, will increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the justice sector, increase the fight against corruption, increase citizens’ satisfaction of the justice delivery in BiH, and increase general respect for rule of law, and hence contribute to BiH prospects for EU integration.

Gender Analysis: To the greatest extent possible, the USAID’s Judiciary Against Corruption Activity will promote gender equality and female empowerment as core development objectives throughout all components. The activities will promote increased women’s participation in justice institutions and protection of women’s social and economic rights. The activities under the project will ensure gender equitable participation in all phases of the activity.

Anti-Corruption: USAID’s Judiciary Against Corruption Activity will provide assistance to local partners and stakeholders in the judiciary to increase their efficiency and effectiveness in combating corruption, and address integrity in the judicial chain. The aim of these efforts would be to increase the number of corruption-related investigations, and corruption-related indictments in BiH prosecutors’ offices and courts.

Judiciary Against Corruption Activity will also strengthen the integrity of judicial institutions, thus decreasing the possibility of undue influence to judicial institutions.

Environmental Review: As provided in USAID regulation 22 CFR 216 Environmental Procedures, this activity will fall under the categorical exclusion provided in Sections 216.2(c)(1)(i) and (c)(2)(i), for training and technical assistance segment of the program, as it will not result in adverse environmental impacts. For the anticipated IT equipment procurement no negative impact on environment is expected since the purchase of Eco-friendly equipment will ensure acceptable level of energy efficiency and donation. Therefore the negative determination will be requested. The IEE will be attached to the RFP and

Offerors will need to incorporate IEE requirements in their proposals.

VI. MONITORING, EVALUATION, AND LEARNING

The critical aspect of activity implementation is Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL). Since this activity will attempt to increase the efficiency and accountability of the justice sector institutions, indicators, targets and results will have to be carefully developed to show the real progress and impact. Detailed MEL plan will be developed through a collaborative process with the participation of the Contractor, USAID, and other stakeholders. The MEL plan will include a combination of high-level indicators (purpose and sub purpose levels), and USAID Standard Foreign Assistance Indicators that are most relevant to this activity.USAID will conduct a mid-term evaluation of the project through a third party before the end of the three- year base period. Whether the option period of additional two-years will be exercised, will depend on the outcome of the mid-term evaluation contracted by USAID. USAID also reserves the right to conduct an external evaluation at any point of the activity implementation or afterwards.

The final MEL Plan must be in the USAID/BiH required template, and it must be submitted within 90 days of the award. The MEL plan must clearly correspond to the award and work plan. The Contractor must develop performance indicators, collect necessary baseline, annual follow-up data, and numerical targets to measure the results for each result level as described in the Activity Logical Framework. The Contractor must produce a Performance Indicator Sheet (PIRS) for each indicator, which will identify the data sources and collection methods.

The Contractor should keep the total number of indicators in the MEL plan to a minimum necessary to sufficiently measure progress toward achievements, and have not more than 1-3 indicators per each result statement from the activity log-frame. Limiting the indicators to no more than three per result helps ensure that the most important indicators are being tracked without overly complicating the performance monitoring process.

In order to track how effectively USAID assistance contributes to gender equality and female empowerment, the MEL plan must include gender-sensitive indicators and sex-disaggregated data.

Once approved by USAID, MEL plan does not have to be submitted annually unless there are substantive programmatic changes to the award. All targets approved in the MEL Plan cannot be changed throughout the life of the contract without USAID’s approval. The Contractor must report on results achieved and corresponding indicators in quarterly/annual reports using Activity Indicator Performance Tracking Table

(Appendix 4 in MEL template)..Through a third party contract, USAID/BiH implements the comprehensive

Judicial Efficiency Index which measures the progress of the justice sector reform in BiH. The Contractor is expected to work closely with USAID in using the results of the Judicial Efficiency Index to design and implement the monitoring and evaluation of the activity.

VII. RELATIONSHIP TO THE CDCS AND APPLICABLE AGENCY POLICIES AND

STRATEGIES

The proposed activity directly contributes to USAID/Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Country Development

Cooperation Strategy (CDCS) goal which states: “BiH is a more stable country closer to Euro-Atlantic integration,” and it supports the following Development Objective 1: More functional and accountable institutions and actors that meet citizens’ needs’ needs, IR 1.1: More effective judicial, executive and legislative branches of government.

Annex 1:

LINKS TO OTHER DONORS ACTIVITYS

United States Department of State (USDS), Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement

Affairs (INL), International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program (ICITAP), and the

Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development Assistance and Training Program (OPDAT)

INL coordinates work of ICITAP and OPDAT. ICITAP is oriented toward work with law enforcement agencies, while OPDAT is oriented toward work with judges and prosecutors. Each of these has its own activities and projects. Among INL’s prime objectives in BiH is fighting corruption. To that end, INL works with OPDAT and ICITAP to improve cooperation of police and prosecutors in conducting proactive investigations.

European Union (EU)

EU4Justice – Support to the Fight against Organized Crime and Corruption in Bosnia and

Herzegovina

Duration: 2018 -2020

Principal activities: Strengthening prosecutors’ offices (POs), Office of the Disciplinary Counsel (ODC), provision of trainings on organized crime, corruption, and the most common forms of commercial crimes, improvement in the current practice and results in forfeiting criminal assets , improving mutual access to criminal case files by law enforcement agencies, prosecutors’ offices, and courts.

Support to Implementing Anti-Corruption Strategies in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Duration: 2 years starting in June 2018

Principal activities. Effective coordination and monitoring of the implementation of anti-corruption strategies and related action plans with a harmonized approach, as well as to better address corruption in the private sector and to improve communication toward media and citizens.

“9th Phase of Financing of HJPC Projects”

Duration: September 2018–September 2021

Principal activities: Capacity building of POs, technical expertise in economics to POs, support to POs and courts in economic crime and commercial law cases, alternative dispute resolution activities, harmonization of Case Law activities, providing an IT solution for work of ODC, asset-declaration-related activities, improving management skills of Court Presidents and Chief Prosecutors, iIntroduction of strategic planning in courts, activities related to improving PR relations of judiciary with public (training for PR officers in judicial institutions, review and improvements in web presence), confiscation of assets.

EU Twinning Light Projects

“Anti-money laundering”

Duration: 2017–2019

Principal activities. Support of the fight against money laundering, emphasis will be placed on implementation of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations and the functioning of the

Financial Intelligence Department, in cooperation with other relevant institutions. Special components will also continue to support the structures for forfeiture and seizures of criminally gained assets and financial investigations, including the prosecutors and judges for proceedings related to financing of terrorist activities, money laundering or other financial offenses. Complementary supplies of IT equipment and software will also be provided

“Integrity through Justice: Independent Civil Society Monitoring and Assessment of Judicial

Response to Corruption”

Duration: 12/15/2015–12/14/2018

Principal activities include strengthening CSOs’ capacity to assess the effectiveness of judicial response to corruption and advocate for targeted and measures and reforms aimed at enhancing that response.

“EU War crime project”

Duration: ending in 2019

Principal activities include direct payment of salaries for prosecutors and staff working on war crime cases in POs.

Project with APIK and other anti-corruption agencies

Duration: September 2018 – 2020

Principal activities are related to the prevention of corruption in all branches of government, toward the private sector and awareness raising on the negative effects of corruption.

Italy

“Bilateral project providing assistance to HJPC”

Duration: 3 years starting in 2019

Principal activities will include:

• Establishing cooperation between the HJPC and the Higher Judicial Council (Anti-Mafia

Department) in relation to organized crime.

• Exchange/training for prosecutors with the Italian Judicial School, which should bolster the skills of

POs and law enforcement agencies.

• Project focus not determined, but most likely will be on: 1) quality of investigation and data collection and storage of data, as well as sharing of information when needed; 2) improving investigation of financial crimes.

• Italians are now sharing SIWA-SIDNA software with HJPC, which collects all police databases and puts information in the hands of prosecutors. The same software has been implemented in Serbia and translated into Serbian. The software is valued at approximately 400,000 Euros and 50,000 has already been spent for initial adaptation for HJPC.

• The project will have one liaison office in the Italian embassy, which will coordinate all activities, while all other activities will occur through Italian experts or visits of BiH counterparts to Italy.

• The final approval for financing of the project is not yet approved in Italy.

United Kingdom (UK)

“Second phase of the project with the HJPC and BiH PO”

Expected to start in autumn 2018

Principal activities: The project will broadly follow peer-review recommendations related to fighting corruption. More specifically, the new project will:

• Continue to work with the HJPC Secretariat in restructuring (at approximately 30% of the project resources).

• Assist management of HJPC sessions, assist in implementation of the action plan for implementation of the peer-review recommendations, and gender issues within the peer-review recommendations.

• Work jointly with HJPC and PO BiH to implement peer-review recommendations for fighting corruption.

• Continue to assist HJPC in developing tools for monitoring and evaluation of peer-review recommendations.

• Provide assistance in relation to better cooperation between BiH PO and SIPA (police–PO cooperation) building onto the Swiss assistance establishing BiH PO and SIPA.

• Continue to provide assistance to the Court BiH with the aim of offering consolidated support to

SIPA–PO BiH–Court BiH in processing cases. The Court BiH will not receive assistance in the first year of implementation.

Switzerland/Norway

Strengthening Prosecutors in the Criminal Justice System”

Principal activities include support to BiH’s authorities in shaping the prosecutorial system; in improving criminal investigations; in establishing tools for executing prosecutorial functions more efficiently, effectively, and transparently; and in fostering the public’s trust in the work of the prosecutors’ offices. This project is in its second phase.

Sweden

“Improving Court Efficiency and Accountability of Judges and Prosecutors in BiH –

Phase 2”

Principal activities. The general objective of the project is to improve the efficiency of the judiciary, from the perspective of the courts, by strengthening the rule of law, democracy, human rights, improving the position of vulnerable groups that access the courts, fighting corruption, providing support for managing court cases, and reforming enforcement procedures in the judicial system of BiH.

Norway / The Netherlands

”Improving Judicial Efficiency II”

Principal activities. Partners in implementation are the Judicial Council of the Netherlands and the

Norwegian Court Administration. The overall objective of the project is to increase the efficiency of the courts in Bosnia and Herzegovina through targeted interventions. The main focus of the project is to significantly reduce the number of old cases and shorten court procedures (case-processing time) for new cases by reforming and optimizing court management and governance of the judiciary.