Deputy Speaker of the House of Peoples Safet Softić addressed participants of the Regional Workshop on Cooperation of Parliamentarians and Criminal Justice Representatives in the Fight against Terrorism

Deputy Speaker of the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Safet Softić, addressed today the participants of the Regional Workshop on the Cooperation of Parliamentarians and Representatives of the Criminal Justice in the Fight against Terrorism, held at the Headquarters of the Arab League in Cairo.

In discussing the role of parliamentarians in bridging the gap between executive authorities and institutions and organizations representing actors in the fight against terrorism, Mr. Softić said that terrorism, being the global problem, did not bypass the region of Southeast Europe.

Emphasizing that extremism is an ideology, radicalization is a process, and terrorism is a criminal offense, Mr. Softić informed participants of the Regional Workshop about the measures that crucial state authorities have undertaken in order to prevent terrorist activities in our country.

Pointing out that BiH has a very clear legal framework and professional police agencies for the fight against terrorism, and the Strategy for the Fight against Terrorism adopted for the period 2015-2020, Softić said that the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH and its working bodies competent for the security sector had a significant role both in terms of prevention and in terms of the response to terrorist attacks and tasking the security sector authorities to effectively and timely act in such instances.

Talking about the lack of coordination in the activities of police agencies in BiH, Mr. Softić emphasized that the work of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH and its working bodies has given encouraging results, in terms of better inter-agency cooperation and readiness to coordinate work, as well as to jointly fight the terrorism.

Speaking about the problem of leaving of BiH citizens to foreign battlefield, Mr. Softić underlined that BiH was the first in the region to adopt amendments to the BiH Criminal Code in terms of criminal sanctioning of this phenomenon. In this regard, Softić warned that returnees from foreign battlefields pose a real threat and that more work needs to be done in the process of de-radicalization.

Emphasizing that all institutions in BiH will be engaged in the implementation of the State Strategy for the Prevention and Fight against Terrorism, Softić said that the Strategy identified the key priorities such as the improvement of the legal framework for the fight against terrorism and violent extremism, including regulations that govern issues of control of the movement and the stay of foreigners, as well as the improvement of the legal framework for coordination of all operational and investigative activities, collection, analytical processing and exchange of information. According to Softić, the priorities also include the strengthening of international cooperation through the EUROPOL and EUROJUST system, as well as prevention of financing of terrorism through the fulfilment of MONEYVAL’s standards and requirements.

In his speech, Softić also called for enhancement of communication between parliaments in the region in order to harmonized standards in the affairs of democratic oversight of the security sector and the elimination of spotted weaknesses in the work of parliamentary committees.

The two-day Regional Workshop in Cairo was jointly organized by the International Institute for Justice and the Rule of Law, the European Union, the Arab League and the Arab Parliament as the advisory body of the Arab League. (End)