REPUBLICAN OMBUDSMAN TALKED WITH BUJANOVAC CITIZENS

27. August 2019.

Bujanovac – As part of the "Ombudsman Days" campaign, citizens of Bujanovac spoke with the Republican Protector of Citizens, Zoran Pasalic. The citizens mostly complained about communal problems, labor disputes and the exercising of rights in the field of pension insurance, while representatives of the local self-government emphasized the problem of respect for human rights and the slowness of the judiciary.

Saip Kamberi, the Mayor of Bujanovac, said that one of the largest problems that the citizens faced in that local self- government was respect for human rights.

As he specified, one of the biggest problems was the deletion of citizens from the single electoral roll, which was related to the deletion from the register of residence.

Mr. Kamberi also said that the local self-government had complaints about the slow work of the courts, citing as an example that the Municipality of Bujanovac, that year, paid 8.5 million dinars from the budget for the process initiated in 1986.

He also said that the local self-government had good and regular communication with the Republican Protector of Citizens and that he expected that the cooperation would continue and contribute to the solving of all the problems.

The Republican Ombudsman, Zoran Pasalic, urged all citizens who had a problem with voter registration to contact the Ombudsman's Office personally, "because this problem can often be solved more quickly through the Office than through other institutions."

"The registration of voters is a right of all citizens," Mr. Pasalic said.

He also believes that the co-operation between the Office of the Ombudsman and the local authorities in Bujanovac is very good, but that there is always room for improvement, noting that the Ombudsman is there to improve communication and cooperation between the republic and local authorities.

Until now, the Offices of the Republican Ombudsman in Bujanovac, Presevo and Medvedja have already dealt with a number of problems, such as the official use of the language in state institutions and textbook issues.

Mr. Pasalic also said that most of the citizens of these municipalities had, until then, addressed similar things as the citizens of all other municipalities in Serbia, and that those complaints related primarily to the work of the state administration, largely to the exercise of the right to an old-age pension or to the slow work of the courts.

"Citizens can turn to the Republican Ombudsman regarding the exercising of all the rights guaranteed by law," he said.

According to the records of the Office of the Republican Ombudsman in Bujanovac, over the ten years of its existence, there were only 200 complaints, while since the beginning of the year, 221 citizens addressed that office and only five complaints were lodged.

As it was pointed out, that was a lower average of citizens’ address to his office than in other municipalities and cities with a similar population, which is why the Ombudsman once again urged citizens to contact the office.

In total, there were 551 citizens that addressed the Offices of the Republic Ombudsman in Bujanovac, Presevo and Medvedja from the beginning of the year, 182 of them in Presevo, 221 in Bujanovac and 42 in Medvedja.

The Republican Protector of Citizens met in Bujanovac with representatives of non-governmental organizations, public companies and the President of the National Council of Albanians, Ragmi Mustafa.

Source: “Beta” news agency and Coordination Body