In a recent post on his personal blog, US Ambassador Patrick Moon criticized members of the BiH parliament for allegedly banning the Center for Civic Initiatives–a US-backed NGO–from attending a session of parliament.
The U.S. Government will continue our support to CCI and other similar organizations that promote greater transparency. In the newly released 2012 Human Rights Report on Bosnia and Herzegovina, the U.S. State Department observed that “human rights groups and NGOs generally operated without restriction, investigating and publishing their findings.” The Parliament’s ban on CCI from attending its sessions and some parliamentarians’ disparaging comments about civil-society NGOs are inconsistent with this year’s generally positive assessment of the report. Unfortunately, a permanent ban against CCI will have to be mentioned in next year’s report as a step backward.
