Bosnia and Herzegovina public administration requires war crime indictments declarations from job seekers

Public administration in Bosnia and Herzegovina is facing criticism for requiring job applicants to provide formal statements declaring they are not under indictment by the International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague. This requirement has affected individuals born both before and after the war.

One applicant born in 1987, who was only seven years old when the war ended, reported having to sign such a statement for a position with the Indirect Taxation Authority. Similarly, a civil engineer born in 2001 was required to provide a statement under full material and criminal responsibility for a traineeship in Banja Luka, despite not being born during the conflict period.

Legal expert Vladimir Dragičević has described these requirements as senseless. He noted that under domestic criminal law, children under the age of 14 cannot be held criminally responsible. Since those born in the 1990s were either infants or not yet born during the 1992–1995 conflict, Dragičević argues that requiring such certifications serves no rational purpose and calls for legislators to remove these unnecessary burdens to create reasonable conditions for young job seekers.