ANNUAL REPORT ON THE RESULTS OF THE ACTIVITIES OF THE INSTITUTION OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS OMBUDSMAN OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA consuming. But, the fact that in 124 cases no reply from the responsible authority is particularly raising concerns of Ombudspersons. A total of 978 cases were registered within the Department for Monitoring the Exercise of Political and Civil Rights in 2019. In 2019 the Department put in focus of its work the issues related to police conduct, especially in the segment of policing the public gatherings, then cases related to the work of inspections of all levels of government and free legal aid services. A significant number of cases have also been registered in the area of property relations, government and ministerial appointments, migration and asylum and public documents. Since the largest number of registered cases within this Department relates to violations of rights to access to information, Ombudspersons would like to emphasize the importance of taking action to remedy the identified violations, given that this mechanism is important for building a democratic society and an efficient system. The exercise and protection of the right of access to information reflects the accountability and transparency of the authorities. In the area of access to information, the Institution has registered an increase in number of complaints since 2015, which can be the result of several factors, such as the following : more frequent violations of the right of access to information by the public authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, increased awareness of citizens on the mechanisms of protection of the right to free access to information, but also the result of the activities of the Ombudsman, as a body supervising the implementation of legislation governing the free access to information in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The role of the media in promotion of the mentioned legislation cannot be neglected, especially considering the fact that, due to the lack of specific media laws, the media themselves very often use freedom of information legislation as a tool for obtaining important information for public reporting purposes. The most common reasons for addressing the Ombudsman are the failure to reach a decision on received request for information within the statutory time limit, failure to provide information on legal remedy available, the inability to use the remedy, and the refusal to access information that citizens consider to be available. In 2019 the Department for the Monitoring of the Exercise of Rights in the Judiciary and Administration registered 851 cases. The analysis of the received complaints may lead to the conclusion that citizens address the Ombudsman mostly because of the inappropriate length of court proceedings, ineffective enforcement of court decisions, especially when the respondent party is a municipality, canton or entity, as well as complaints relating to the work of judges due to violations of procedural law provisions. There are a large number of citizens' complaints regarding the work of the prosecutor's offices because of the delay of processing the reports of criminal offenses. Complaints lodged by citizens about the work of public administration bodies, as in previous years, relate to the length of the administrative procedure, the silence of the administration, the ineffective response of the inspection services and the failure of the competent authorities to act within the legal deadlines when deciding on the parties' requests. Ombudspersons emphasize that the quality of public services and the work of public administration bodies for the citizen is a tangible indicator of the functionality of the state. Good governance should serve the community and promote the public confidence in the executive authorities, contribute to political stability and promote economic development and social well-being. 9