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The organization “Open Parliament” announced that the Serbian Assembly is “hiding” who is the candidate for Commissioner for the Protection of Equality, planning to determine the proposal for a new Commissioner on November 23, without revealing the name of the candidate.
A statement from the “Open Parliament” states that, judging by the program for the next session of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs and Legislation, posted on the Assembly’s website, “only one name” will be on the program at the suggestion of a indeterminate number of parliamentary groups.
The post of Commissioner for the Protection of Equality has been vacant for more than six months, since Brankica Janković’s term expired in May.
Instead of electing a new Commissioner no later than the end of August, in accordance with the Prohibition of Discrimination Law, “the elections were first prevented by several months and an unreasonable postponement of the ruling majority to constitute the Assembly,” it states. the “Open Parliament”.
Then, the procedure began overnight, without announcing the name of the candidate and the parliamentary group that nominated him, thus closing the door to consultation and public participation in the debate on the decisions he makes. The non-transparent conduct of Parliament in the process of electing a new Equality Commissioner casts shadow doubts on the integrity of the process, ”the statement warned.
The “Open Parliament” writes that this is “another in a series of negative examples” of the Serbian Parliament’s attitude towards independent institutions whose, in its opinion, efficient, professional and independent work should be one of the key pillars of the Assembly in the supervision of the executive.
“The Commissioner for the Protection of Equality has the function of preventing all types of discrimination and protecting and promoting the equal position of all people in all areas of society,” the organization recalled in a statement.
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