29. 09. 2005

RIGHT TO KNOW DAY

BELGRADE, September 29, 2005 – Many countries in Europe marked the International Right to Know Day yesterday, promoting the right to access to information of importance by organizing conferences, public debates and other manifestations. Transparency Serbia and Belgrade Legal Committee for Human Rights (YUKOM) have organized a round table on implementation of the Free Access to Public Information Act, adopted in November last year. The participants in discussion concluded that the consistent implementation of the Act was very important in curbing corruption, since “it ensured the right of citizens to know”. The participants also stressed the necessity of education of citizens, in order to be aware of their rights as well as the authorities, public institutions and companies to know their obligations. The research results of non-governmental organisations showed that, despite the initial ignoring of the administration, the vast number of responses did reach the addresses of interested parties who demanded information. Tamara Luksic-Orlandic from the Fund for an Open Society and representative of the Coalition of non-governmental organisation for free access to information noted that the expert organisations – Center for improvement of legal studies, Belgrade Center for Human Rights, Civic Initiatives, Center for Anti War Action and Fund for an Open Society advocated for enactment of the legislation and produced a Guide with straightforward explanations of citizens’ rights. “The Guide, made with the assistance of the OSCE Mission in Serbia and Montenegro, already has two editions. More so, thirty thousand copies of the Guide were sold with yesterday’s edition of the daily Danas”, said Tamara Luksic-Orlandic. Dejan Milenkovic from YUKOM presented the results of this organization’s research derived from the monitoring of the Act’s implementation, and stressed the importance of defining an official secret. “We do not have the legislation on data classification – the minutes from the government’s session cannot be regarded as secret”, said Milenkovic. Politicologist Vladimir Goati noted that “the conscience of people of Serbia was not prepared for legislation such as this”. “These laws were brought in line with the obligations to the international community. People are not aware of what they are entitled to. All the researches show that maybe a bit over one third of citizens know they have rights under the Act, but the official clerks don’t know what their obligations are.” Nemanja Nenadic from the Transparency Serbia said the surveys showed that 40 percent of the republican bodies and 60 percent of local authorities never responded to the repeated requests of citizens and media. “Only eight percent of the population is aware that it can appeal to the Commissioner for information of public importance. That’s why people need to be educated, to know how to act in case of possible abuse of power”, said Nenadic.