The legislative process in BiH, at both the entity and national level, has been characterized by a remote, closed-door approach to lawmaking, which has inflamed public skepticism as to the possibility of equitable access to justice and a sustained peace.

Public knowledge of decision-making within the government and legislature is sparse, and accessible information is frequently inaccurate and biased, complicating the monitoring of legislation under consideration by the entity and state parliaments. To begin equipping civil society with the requisite tools for influencing policymaking and the legislative process, IHRLG conducted a workshop in December 2000 on implementing BiH's constitutional provisions for legislative transparency. To build on the success of the workshop, we conducted a series of legislative advocacy seminars for representatives of local groups focusing on trafficking in persons, domestic violence, youth concerns and the rights of disabled persons in the Federation of BiH and the Republika Srpska. Results of the series include

• Defining the legislative agendas of the Gender Equality Coalition, the RING Anti-trafficking Network, the People with Disabilities Coalition and the Legal Services Coalition; and
• Establishing a Legislative Transparency Working Group to develop recommendations for improving existing legislative mechanisms within parliamentary rules of procedure (state and entity), and creating new ones that will effectively open the legislative process.

Click here to learn more about our work with issue-based coalitions. Click here to learn more about the IHRLG-facilitated working group on legislative transparency.