September 18, 2009

18. September 2009.

The Republican Ombudsman’s offices are going to be opened in Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja by the end of this year. Each of them is going to work on specific workdays; while in the meantime, the premises of the offices will be used for other purposes. The offices’ employees are going to be part of the Ombudsman’s expert team that will be in charge of contacting the citizens and receiving their complaints. Members of ethnic minority communities will be particularly encouraged to apply for the job in the offices.

The Republican Ombudsman’s offices in South Serbia are going to be the first Ombudsman’s „branch offices“to be established in the country. For the time being, no other Ombudsman’s „branch offices“are to be opened. The UNDP and OSCE Missions to Serbia are to assist the Ombudsman with the opening of the new branch offices. The Protector of Citizens Sasa Jankovic believes that „one of the key issues concerning the exercising of the citizens’ rights is unequal availability of the institutions to the citizens. “ Out of over 10,000 requests submitted to the Ombudsman so far, only several tens of them are from South Serbia. Mr. Jankovic says that the reason why his office has received only few complaints from South Serbia isn’t the fact that life in South Serbia is without any problems, but the fact that South Serbia’s citizens aren’t sufficiently informed and that they’re a long way away from the Republican institutions. He says that is why contacts between the citizens and the government should be improved.