indivisible security and establishing security coalitions, in particular in the areas where
some occurrences must be stopped, such as BiH.
BiH’s position, history and regional links, on the one hand, and its integration
ambitions and prospects, on the other, point at the country’s weaknesses. The territory of
BiH is 51,129 square kilometers, with a 1,551 km-long border, and 89 border crossings;
the terrain configuration makes for a great number of potential or ‘crossable’ illegal border
crossings, which is an important factor in relation to migrations from the regions that we
have identified earlier in this text as BiH’s unstable surroundings.
A poorly regulated field of information technology in BiH is a specific
destabilizing factor, and at the same time a factor in the potential growth of the economic
power of terrorism. The growing trend of intense reliance on information technology, in
commercial and private spheres, is accompanied by the growing risk of cyber crime,
including the hacking of financial systems and abuse of BiH citizens’ personal information
or company information; these crimes are often used as vehicles for financing terrorism
and contributing to its economic power.
Finally, we should not forget a challenge common to all transition countries, which
can also contribute to terrorism: the problem of small calibre arms and light weapons
(SALW), which, because of how easily SALW can be smuggled and the permeability of
borders, also calls for a coordinated international approach.
Clearly, Bosnia and Herzegovina needs a single national action plan. BiH’s
constitutional arrangements are complex, including security, but it is necessary to establish
a unified plan for the work of all BiH bodies that have relevant competencies or play a role
in the prevention of terrorism. The decision was made to make the BiH Strategy for
Preventing and Fighting Terrorism that plan. The issuing authority for the Strategy is the
Council of Ministers. The Strategy will give to all the responsible and relevant bodies in
BiH the task to develop their action or operational plans within their respective fields of
expertise.
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