Mr. Rodoljub Sabic, Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection, congratulated today in letters addressed to the Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS), the Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS) and the Independent Journalists Association of Vojvodina (NUNV) the World Press Freedom Day, 3 May, to all journalists in Serbia.

Expressing his best wishes for continued success in the work of journalists and the media, the Commissioner reaffirmed his readiness and duty to help them carry out their important social function.

In that regard, Commissioner Rodoljub Sabic also said the following:

"It is very commendable that journalists and the media are increasingly exercising their rights under the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance thus ensuring that the law serves the purpose of providing information to the general public and contributing to the exercise of democratic control by the public of the Government's work. This is why it is very important that representatives of the Government and publicly owned enterprises fully and adequately respond to their duties towards journalists and the media as representatives of the public. Regardless of the progress, there are many problems in that regard and it is high time for more stringent enforcement of provisions regarding responsibility for violation of rights of the public under the law.

Proclaimed principles of transparency of the Government's work, including Serbia's accession to international initiatives such as the Open Government, must not remain only proclamations and must seriously put the Government under obligation to provide much more pieces of information to the public in the most appropriate manner, proactively, by public presentation of available databases and on the Internet. We cannot be satisfied with the existing level of electronic communication between Serbian Government and the public, the situation in this field must change much faster.

Finally, a lasting priority duty of Serbia is also to ensure elementary personal safety for journalists. This inter alia implies the duty to punish those who jeopardize this safety. In this regard, the cases when even several years after a journalist's death the public, truth and justice have not been satisfied are very worrying. Both because of the past and because of the future, it is essential to finally resolve these cases."