President Stevandic attended the Conference “Civil Society and the Media: Critical Voices Under Pressure

“Civil society is an important condition in the formation of a legal and democratic country, it should be the corrective and the control of the country because the aim is the common good”, said the President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Srpska Dr Nenad Stevandic today at the Conference “Civil society and the media, critical voices under pressure”.

He added that the country should invest more in the work of the civil sector and to gain good correction for its work.

“Especially the issues related to the protection of children and women, human rights generally, and in the protection of religious freedoms, humanitarian organisations, professional associations, as well as in the protection of the environment”, said Stevandic addressing the Conference.

He said that potential problems can happen when foreign Governments finance civil sector and expressed doubt that unconditional financing exists.

“Independence of the civil sector is very important, but real independence. This relates to the Government in the Republic of Srpska, but also to the governments of other countries. This is the only way for the representatives of the civil society to gain their position of a high-quality critique and corrective, in order to build a high-quality society and legal and democratic Republic of Srpska", stated Stevandic.

President Stevandić reminded that representatives of civil society very rarely comment and criticize the work and decisions of high representatives, including the unelected high representative Christian Schmidt, and that all attention and criticism is directed only at the institutions of the Republic of Srpska.

"Is it possible that no one from the civil sector has noticed that the high representative makes decisions that are at the level of the law? The authority of the Republic of Srpska in passing laws must not be threatened. As long as the OHR imposes laws, we face democratic challenges. A debate about democracy is impossible when one individual makes decisions and at the same time determines the penalties for disobeying those decisions. This is the key problem of a democratic society," said President Stevandić.