8.2. INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION AND PROJECTS In 2019 as well, the Protector of Citizens continued with intensive regional and international cooperation at multilateral and bilateral level. The cooperation is established with ombudspersons from other countries and it is improved with continual exchange of examples of good practice in the field of promotion and protection of human rights, by signing of memoranda on cooperation, organization and participation at bilateral meetings, conferences, study visits and other summits in the country, region and wider. Furthermore, the Protector of Citizens maintains close cooperation also with representatives of international and regional organizations (the United Nations, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Council of Europe, European Union). The Protector of Citizens is a member of various professional international networks: Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI), European Network of National Human Rights Institutions (ENNHRI), International Ombudsman Institute (IOI), Association of the Mediterranean Ombudsmen (AOM), European Ombudsman Institute (EOI), European Network of Ombudsmen (ENO), European Network of Ombudsmenpersons for Children (ENOC), Children Rights Ombudsmen Network in South-East Europe (CRONSEE) and Ombudsman Network for Environmental Protection. The visibility and recognizability of the Protector of Citizens through active participation in the operation of networks and organizations dealing with human rights contributed to the invitation to membership in the Eurasian Alliance of Ombudsman (EOA), which was established in December 2017 with the aim of raising of the awareness on mechanisms of exercise of human rights and cooperation in the field of human rights, and the Protector of Citizens became its member in December 2019. The Protector of Citizens is a national human rights institution in Serbia (National Institution for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights), accredited with the highest “A” status by the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI). This status was originally assigned to it in 2010 and in 2015 the Protector of Citizens was re-accredited for the period until 2020. In accordance to that, in October 2019 the Protector of Citizens prepared and submitted necessary documentation for the forthcoming re-accreditation which will be considered at the session of the Sub-committee on Accreditation of the United Nations in March 2020. The Protector of Citizens as the national human rights institution through memberships at professional international organizations aims at the contribution to better protection and promotion of human rights both at the national and international level, so all its activities at the level of international cooperation are aimed at this goal. Therefore, he took part at the general assembly of the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) as well as at the general assembly and annual conference of the European Network of National Human Rights Institutions (ENNHRI) in Brussels, Belgium. The Protector of Citizens in the capacity of the national human rights institution in the reporting period issued responses to various questionnaires of the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).244 Moreover, the cooperation with special procedures of the United Nations was continued. With regards to the accession process of the Republic of Serbia to the European Union, the Protector of Citizens participates actively at the meetings of committees and sub-committees The questionnaires, inter alia, referred to the following topics: the rights of the elderly persons with disabilities, the access to justice of the persons with disabilities, the protection against violence and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, child, early and coercive marriages, human rights and business. 244 - 124 -