Ombudsman

BELGRADE - The state of citizen rights in Serbia in 2015 was marked by economic difficulties affecting a large part of the population and a lack of legal certainty, Deputy Ombudsman Milos Jankovic told the parliamentary committee on the judiciary.

Presenting the ombudsman's 2015 annual report, he said the ombudsman had received 6,231 complaints - 20 pct more than in 2014.

BELGRADE - A rainbow flag was hung out on the building of Serbia's protector of citizens as part of International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia celebrations, a sign of support for people of different sexual orientation and gender identity and the fight for their rights, on Tuesday.
    

If Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev doesn't veto much disputed changes to the Electoral Code, the Consultative Council with National Ombudsman Maya Manolova will consider filing a complaint with the Constitutional Court, Manolova has said.

BELGRADE - Serbian ombudsman Sasa Jankovic on Monday congratulated media and media professionals on May 3, World Press Freedom Day, encouraging them to oppose any form of pressure more strongly and in a more organised manner.

He urged authorities and everyone else to enable media and journalists to work freely and, in particular, refrain from any attacks against them.

For the first time a woman will head the Bulgarian penitentiary system.

This became fact after Gergana Georgieva was appointed as general director of the justice ministry's General Directorate Execution of Punishment.

Georgieva was appointed on the order of Justice Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva, the justice ministry informed on Thursday.

The way in which a person’s name appears on their ID card or passport will become simpler, after the Ministry of Interior and Administrative Reconstruction decided it will be written only in one form of latin characters, instead of twice, one under the LOT 473 type and another of the choice of the person concerning.

EU Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova, will visit Bulgaria on Friday to discuss priorities in the area of justice reform, consumer policy, gender equality and Roma inclusion.

Jourova will meet Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and the ministers of justice(Ekaterina Zaharieva), labour (Ivaylo Kalfin) and education (Meglena Kuneva), the European Commission said in a statement on Thursday.

Many Turkish institutions cannot operate with transparency and a participatory approach to governance because of the long shadow cast by the executive, according to a new report by Transparency International Turkey after an in-depth analysis of 15 institutions. 

In his 2015 report submitted to Serbia's parliament on Wednesday, Ombudsman Jankovic said the state of human rights in Serbia was far from satisfactory.

In the section on the police and secret services, Jankovic said the Military Security Agency, VBA, had actively sought information about the activities of various political parties and movements.

Ombudsman says police are registering young refugees with adults they do not know to skirt ban on detaining unaccompanied minors.