|
|
|
5. Results |
With the exception of two cases, the following table shows requests filed either by mail or fax. Both exceptions are included in the table because of their “specific weight." The first request was filed by a journalist employed by a specialized foreign publication, who asked in person for information on the budget of the Republic of Serbia. The other exemption was related to the opening of secret police files, based on a decree adopted by the Serbian government in May 2001.
The first impression from looking at the table is that the requests went mostly unanswered. Out of 15 shown requests, along with the two exceptions described above, only 4 requests received an official reply - 3 of them from the representatives of city and municipal authorities. In one of those cases, the requester was directed to another, more relevant institution. However, “filing a request in person" seems to be one of the most successful ways of getting the information requested. This counts not only for the cases presented in the table, but for all the other requesters we interviewed as well.
When it comes to journalists and representatives of domestic and foreign NGOs, several characteristics can be pointed out:
a) a lack of paper trails in information exchanges,
b) "circumspection" of procedures, or, since they are undefined, reliance on personal acquaintances and contacts,
c) the relative openness of the government to communicate with representatives of foreign NGOs, in particular when they appear as potential donors. Domestic NGOs, however, received no reply to any of the requests filed in the experiment. On the other hand, just prior to the time of the experiment, the Prime Minister of Serbia began meeting with representatives of Serbian NGOs on a regular monthly basis.
A great deal of public attention has been focused on the issue of secret police files lately. The procedure of accessing one's file is as follows: the telephone number published in the media is correct and allows the requester to ask to be received in the state security office where the file is most likely to be located. The requester is asked to give her/his first and last name, father's name, ID number, and place of residence by phone. Since our associate who filed the request, according to the state security official, did not have a secret police file, he asked for a confirmation or any other written evidence stating that no file existed. The state security official replied: "He can only get a blank peace of paper."
|
|
Top of page |
|
|
|
