The XV International Conference of Information Commissioners, i.e. independent supervisory bodies engaged in the protection of the right to access to information (ICIC) was held in Tirana (Albania) from 3-5 June 2024. The Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection is a legitimate member of the ICIC. Acting Assistant Secretary-General in the Sector for Complaints and Enforcement in the field of access to information, Slavoljupka Pavlović, and the Senior Advisor from the same Sector, Jasna Mihailović were the representatives of the Commissioner at this Conference. The main topics discussed during the first two days of the conference in publicly open sessions were the empowerment of marginalized social groups through access to information and transparency, the role of civil society and the media in promoting access to information and transparency, and proactive transparency through the prism of information technologies. The participants of the meeting pointed out that the use of rights guaranteed through access to information can significantly empower vulnerable groups, especially women victims of violence, children and minors, persons with disabilities, migrants, and refugees, to protect their rights faster, easier, and better. The importance of proactive transparency and the need to move from reactive transparency to proactive transparency as the predominant protection type of the right to access information was also highlighted. In this sense, the use of information technology is significantly important and it can contribute to increasing transparency in the world.
It is highly recommended that authorities and all relevant actors when creating new software, applications, etc. in the early stages of technology development, incorporate transparency into the product (transparency by design). The Conference participants expressed their concern about the global trend of hindering and reducing the right to access to information, and in that sense, they pointed out that now more than ever, strong cooperation of the authorities engaged in the protection of the right to access to information is needed, emphasizing the necessity of every authority that protects this law to take all measures to ensure that the right to access information is realized in the best possible way because without it there is no democratic, transparent and open society. In this regard, the importance and role of the media and civil society organizations in the promotion and realization of the right to access information, as well as the necessity of cooperating with them, was particularly emphasized. On the third day of the conference, which was closed to the public, representatives of regional groups informed ICIC members about the most significant issues, successes, and obstacles faced by member countries in their regions in the field of transparency and access to information. Also, the new leadership of ICIC voting results were declared. Mexico was re-elected as chairman, and the new members of the Executive Committee are from Kenya and Australia. The next XVI International Conference of Information Commissioners (ICIC) will be held in 2025 in Berlin, Germany.
During the Conference, Acting Assistant Secretary-General Slavoljupka Pavlović met with representatives of the Council of Europe, Elvana Thaci, Head of the organizational unit for the Tromsø Convention in the General Directorate for Human Rights and the Rule of Law in the Council of Europe, and Dr. Tatjana Oleksiuk, vice president of the Group for Access to Information in the Council of Europe (Access Info Group), to discuss the possibility of the Republic of Serbia ratifying the Council of Europe Convention on Access to Official Documents (Tromso Convention), which Serbia signed in 2009. The Acting Assistant Secretary-General introduced the representatives of the Council of Europe to the activities that the Commissioner and the Commissioner's institution continuously undertake to promote the Tromsø Convention and its ratification. The representatives of the Council of Europe pointed out the importance of a country ratifying the said convention and the advantages of help and support that a member country can get from the Council of Europe. At the meeting, it was pointed out that the Commissioner and the Commissioner's institution will continue to consistently and continuously advocate for the ratification of this convention, bearing in mind its importance at the international level for increasing transparency and greater respect for human rights.
