November 11, 2021

Activists fight against mass surveillance in BiH

topic:	Security
located:	Bosnia and Herzegovina
editor:	Katarina Panić

Authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina are trying to justify mass biometric video surveillance as a safety measure while human rights activists believe it is a tool for political control. The risk is all the more significant when democracy in the region is fragile.

The Prijedor-based Youth Centre, Kvart, published a research article on video surveillance and the right to assembly as part of the Monitoring the Right to Free Assembly project - managed by the European Centre for Non Profit Law Stichting (ECNL) and supported by the Swedish government.

"It is essential to distinguish between less aggressive video surveillance systems, which have long been used in public transport, and new systems of mass surveillance with advanced technologies such as biometrics,” Branko Ćulibrk from Kvart told FairPlanet. “For instance, facial recognition systems open both ethical and legal dilemmas with consequences that are still inconceivable."

He emphasised that citizens have not been consulted about an issue that directly impacts their human rights, and authorities have not given complete information about whether it could implement less intrusive surveillance methods.

"With this non-transparent approach to the introduction of video surveillance, the authorities want to achieve control over citizens," Branko added. “Moreover, the repression, which was already widely present in society, is just taking a new form that limits citizens' rights and controls any form of civil disobedience."

Uglješa Vuković from Transparency International BiH warns that there are more cameras in places of public gatherings where activists frequently unite than in places with high rates of criminal activity. Moreover, vulnerable and minority groups such as people experiencing homelesness, LGBTQ+ people and the Roma are targeted at a higher rate than other groups. This wide-scale surveillance infringes not only upon freedoms of expression and assembly, but also endangers human dignity, privacy, anonymity and the right to live in peace.

"Activists noticed that citizens have a feeling they live in a so-called mental prison. They have the feeling that they are constantly monitored,” Vuković said yesterday at the online conference organised by CSO Kvart to present the publication. “It is especially dangerous that we do not know what the consequences of this could be in terms of behavioural changes and artificial intelligence." 

Photo by Parker Coffman

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