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Strengthening Environmental Rule of Law in Bosnia and Herzegovina
ECO-JUSTICE Project
The pressures on the environment globally, including in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), are increasing. At the same time, BiH is facing systemic, social and political challenges that adversely impact the quality of the environmental rule of law in the country. With the candidate status for European Union membership granted to BiH in December 2022, the first imperative in this area is the harmonization of its legislation with the EU acquis.
Project objective
Strengthening the environmental rule of law in BiH - improving access to environmental justice, promoting human rights and supporting people-centered environmental public policies and services.
ECO-JUSTICE Project components
Project components
The envisaged results are spread over several phases, encompassing a four-year duration of the project. The initial 12-months phase (in 2023) is designed to enable the implementation of the following (project components):
- Harmonize the legislation in BiH with the EU acquis - Support for drafting the necessary legislative changes to the environmental laws and criminal codes, to ensure their harmonization with the EU environmental acquis.
- Strengthen procedural framework for law enforcement agencies - Develop clear SOPs for coordination and responses to environmental incidents and accidents, by law enforcement agencies.
- Advance training curriculum for students and practitioners - Integrated changes to the judicial and prosecutorial training curriculum, whereby the inclusion of environmental criminal law training would improve the capacity for its enforcement in BiH.
- Improve the understanding and exercise of environmental human rights - Environmental human rights are understood, adequately mapped and reported.
Goals moving forward
A) Harmonized legislation
B) Institutionalized academic and practitioner learning
C) Increased public awareness
D) Improved enforcement capacity
Duration:
December 2022 - December 2023
Donors:
Government of Netherlands, UNDP Global Programme on Strengthening the Rule of Law, Human Rights, Justice and Security for Sustainable Peace and Development
Value:
USD 100,000.00
Main partners:
Environmental ministries, judicial and prosecutorial training centers, academia, NGOs
UNDP facilitated the translation of "Overview of the Case Law in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Field of Environmental Protection" authored by Fatima Mrdović, a Judge of the Supreme Court of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Developed within the framework of an EU-funded project, this publication now serves as a valuable resource for legal experts.
