Bosnia’s Republika Srpska (RS) entity parliament adopted the draft of the so-called "Law on Foreign Agents" Thursday. The legal solution, which envisages the establishment of a special register of non-profit organizations, received significant support from the authorities, with 48 MPs voting "in favour", 11 "against", while six MPs abstained.

The Draft Law will now be sent to a public hearing for a month.

The legal solution, which caused outrage from the non-governmental sector and part of the international community, was advocated by the President of the RS, Milorad Dodik. According to critics of the government, this law represents a continuation of the suppression of freedom of speech and basic human rights.

The absence of such a law, as pointed out by the proponent, Minister of Justice Milos Bukejlovic, creates conditions for the “collapse of the legal system and constitutional arrangement of the RS and creates harmful consequences for the work of the bodies and organizations of the RS.”

The authorities did not listen to the Delegation of the European Union, which called for the withdrawal of the Draft from the parliamentary procedure, nor the Peace Implementation Council in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which called for its withdrawal as well.