Human Rights House Banja Luka handed over today to the Government and the National Assembly of the Republic of Srpska the Initiative for free and free of charge access to the “Official Gazette of the Republic of Srpska” for all citizens.
This continued the initiative from 2020, which, despite the recommendation of the Human Rights Ombudsman of BiH, was not implemented.
However, there is hope that this time the initiative will have a positive outcome.
We are encouraged by today’s expressed opinion of Miloš Lukić, director of the JU Official Gazette of the Republic of Srpska, about this initiative, who said that “every interest of the citizens of Srpska is the interest of the Official Gazette”.
“I understand the initiative to make the electronic edition of the “Official Gazette of the Republic of Srpska” available free of charge, and I believe that there is a good intention behind that initiative, because the initiators probably believe that in this way the wider availability of the regulations of the Republic of Srpska is ensured for all citizens. Our goal at the JU Official Gazette of the Republic of Srpska is to influence the strengthening of the legal literacy of our citizens, and that is why there are already analyzes and plans regarding this issue,” it was stated, among other things, in the position of the director, which was published on the website of the Official Gazette.
Human Rights House Banja Luka agrees with the representatives of the JU Official Gazette that it is necessary to work to change the regulations related to the work of the Official Gazette in order to ensure free access to all regulations, but also the sustainability of the JU Official Gazette in the future.
“In accordance with the respect for regulations, the general and public interest, full respect for human rights and the ability of citizens to familiarize themselves with the regulations in time, as well as to know which regulations exist, it is necessary that they be free of charge and publicly available to them,” it was explained by the Initiative Human Rights House, which consists of the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Banja Luka, Hi Neighbour, the Center for Environment, Transparency International BiH and the Banja Luka Centre for Human Rights.
