Dan prava na informacije

06.10.2005.

To: IFEX Autolist (other news of interest)
From: Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM),
mediawatch@lists.opennet.org

September 27 - October 4, 2005.

RIGHT TO KNOW DAY

BELGRADE, September 29, 2005 (Danas) - 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.

RIGHT TO INFORMATION

BELGRADE, September 29, 2005 (B92) - State bodies still do not understand their responsibilities, while, on the other hand, the citizens are not aware they have the right to information.

The discussion on implementation of the Free Access to Public Information Act was organized for promotion of the International Right to Know Day.

The Public Information Commissioner Rodoljub Sabic said the vast number of complaints he had received was regarding the reluctance of the administrative bodies to provide information to citizens.

"This information is very indicative, since it shows that the authorities still do not perceive the essence of the legislation. There's no logic in Commissioner' implementing the law and bringing 100, 200 or 10.000 decisions which would order the authorities to do something. The Commissioner needs to act more in educational sphere, to interpret the law, to solve only exceptional and problematic situations, while the authorities need to grant
access to information of importance to citizens and media", said Sabic.

According to Sabic, a total of 79 out of 122 complaints were resolved mostly by sending the decision to appropriate authorities to ensure access to information.

President of the Transparency Serbia Vladimir Goati saw the lack awareness of common citizens of their rights as a big problem.

"Just a bit over one third of people know they have certain rights. Not only people, but also the state officials and bodies, are not aware of their rights and obligations", said Goati.

Goati also said the Free Access to Public Information Act was a key link in fighting the corruption and warned of attempts of feigning the legislation by giving the authority body too much work or electing the body of importance too late, which would make the implementation of the legislation impossible.

ITALY TWO DAYS WITHOUT NEWSPAPERS
ROME, October 1, 2005 (FoNet) - Italian print journalists walked off their jobs this morning at the start of a two-day strike, idling news agency wires for two days and stopping most newspaper editions over the weekend.

The National Union of Italian Journalists (FNSI) has called the journalists on strike to protest a stalemate in contract renewal talks with media publishers.

In a letter to the Italian president Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, the journalists' association noted how difficult this decision to go on strike was.

The Italy's newspaper publishers association (FIEG) expressed their concern over the walkout, not in the interest of the journalism as profession. The publishers, however, think the demands of the journalists' union were unacceptable.

Journalists of the national, private and local radio and television stations will stage a similar 48-hour strike starting October 7, FNSI said in a statement.


 

Povratak