The International Day for Universal Access to Information, marked annually on 28 September, comes this year in the shadow of the failed amendments to the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance, mass citizen protests, a deep political crisis, and a rise in SLAPP actions (investigations and lawsuits aimed at intimidating and silencing activists and journalists).

The process of amending the Law on Free Access to Information was halted in February, when the Draft Law was withdrawn from parliamentary procedure without any explanation. As a result, key problems in the implementation of the Law remain unresolved, from misuse of the right to access information by certain applicants, to the absence of an effective mechanism for enforcing the Commissioner’s decisions and inadequate inspection oversight, to the limited access to information on the work of the country’s most important institutions (the Government, the President, the National Assembly and others), which are not subject to the Commissioner’s jurisdiction in the appeals process.

Data from the Commissioner’s report shows that in 2024, public authorities invoked secrecy in 206 cases, twice as many as in 2023. It is important to note that most of these appeals were resolved in favor of the applicants. Secrecy was also invoked by the President in the context of publishing the contracts for the reconstruction of the Novi Sad railway station. However, it was subsequently revealed that these contracts had never been classified as secret. The Ministry of Defence also cited secrecy when it refused to provide Partners Serbia with information on the number of employees working within the Ministry.

Together with partner organizations from the region, Partners Serbia each year performs annual research on the openness of the executive and legislative branches across the region. Unfortunately, the results again show no progress. In Serbia, government decision-making processes remain shrouded in secrecy. For the second year in a row, the Government has not published its work plan (the last publicly available plan was for 2023), nor does it regularly report on its activities.

Citizens demanded the release of all documentation related to the reconstruction of the canopy at the Novi Sad railway station, whose collapse claimed 16 lives. Similar demands emerged in North Macedonia after the tragic fire in Kočani. Following the Novi Sad incident, two investigations were launched: the first to determine responsibility, and the second, more than six months later, to investigate possible corruption. The public’s distrust in authorities, and even more so in the independence of the judiciary, led protesters to place full disclosure of all reconstruction documents as their first demand.

These events illustrate that government transparency is not an abstract concept, it can directly affect the safety and lives of citizens. When institutions conceal information, public trust erodes, and demands for accountability become a central social issue.

The International Day for Universal Access to Information reminds us that the right to access information should be a cornerstone of every state. Encouragingly, more and more citizens, including those previously viewed as “passive” are calling for transparency. This growing public interest in openness can be seen as a small but meaningful step forward in the struggle against institutional secrecy.