The Commissioner for Information of Public Importance, Mr. Rodoljub Šabić, and Ms Hina Jilani, Special Representative of UN Secretary General on Human Rights Defenders, met today in Belgrade.

On this occasion, Commissioner Rodoljub Šabić said:

“Ms Jilani was interested in a number of issues concerning the regulation, exercise and protection of human rights in our country, from the situation regarding the legislative and normative assumptions for human rights exercise and improvement, through relations between government authorities and the NGO sector and their cooperation and protection, to the qualification levels of civil servants to apply democratic standards in the field of human rights.

The talks focused in particular on the results of and problems with the exercise of free access to information held by government authorities. Ms Jilani listened wanted to hear all relevant information and she highly commended the activities of the Commissioner for Information and his Service. I humbly hope the information she obtained will help to give a more positive tone, as far as our country is concerned, to the report by the Special Representative, i.e. her opinions and recommendations.

The Special Representative of UN Secretary General visited our country following an open call sent by our country to the UN within the framework of cooperation in special procedures for human rights monitoring and enforcement. This open call was welcomed at the time it was sent as a confirmation of Serbia's willingness to work on the exercise and improvement of human rights. It is therefore all the more important to have a confirmation of specific results achieved in this regard in the form of a report by the Special Representative of UN Secretary General.”