8. COOPERATION BY THE PROTECTOR OF CITIZENS 8.1. COOPERATION WITH PUBLIC AUTHORITIES EXCLUDED FROM THE OVERSIGHT BY THE PROTECTOR OF CITIZENS After the failure to review regular annual reports of the Protector of Citizens for four years in a row (2014, 2015, 2016 и 2017), the National Assembly reviewed the Annual Report for 2018 and adopted the Conclusion (Official Gazette of RS, number 51/19 dated 19th July, 2019) in which, inter alia, it invited the Government to report continually to the National Assembly on the implementation of these conclusions. The National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia on 13th December, 2019 elected three deputies of the protector of citizens: Jelena Stojanović, Nataša Tanjević, PhD, and Slobodan Tomić. They, in accordance with the Law on the Protector of Citizens, took an oath on 30th December, 2019. In the reporting period, the Protector of Citizens cooperated with several committees of the National Assembly. The Commitee on the Judiciary, Public Administration and Local SelfGovernment at the session held on 17th June, 2019 reviewed the Annual Report for 2018 and confirmed the proposal of the conclusions submitted to the National Assembly for review and adoption. Furthermore, the Commitee on the Rights of the Child at the session held on 2nd April, 2019 reviewed the Annual Report for 2018 in the section which refers to child rights. On 25th April, upon the proposal of the Committee on Administrative, Budgetary, Mandate and Immunity Issues, the National Assembly gave consent to the new Rulebook on Internal Organization and Job Systematization proposed by the Protector of Citizens. The representative of the Protector of Citizens participated at the session of the Committee on Human and Minority Rights and Gender Equality dedicated to the official use of languages and scripts of national minorities held on 15th November, 2019. The representative of the Protector of Citizens participated also at the public hearing organized by the Committee on Education, Science, Technological Development and the Information Society to the topic of education in the languages of national minorities held on 22nd November, 2019. Furthermore, representatives of the Protector of Citizens participated at the public hearing dedicated to the prevention of violence against women organized by Committee on Human and Minority Rights and Gender Equality held on 26th November, 2019. In the reporting period, the Protector of Citizens participated at the joint session of the Committee on Human and Minority Rights and Gender Equality and Committee on Labour, Social Issues, Social Inclusion and Poverty Reduction, Social Inclusion and Reduction of Poverty held on 2nd December, 2019 on the occasion of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. In 2019 the Protector of Citizens submitted to the National Assembly requested information from his competence for the purpose of the preparation of the meeting ofStabilisation and Association Parliamentary Committee. The Protector of Citizens in this reporting period, too, issued initiatives to competent bodies for the amendment of laws and other regulations from his competence.241 The Protector of Citizens issued also numerous opinions to competent 241 Article 18, Paragraph 2 of the Law on the Protector of Citizens, “Official Gazette of RS“, no. 79/05 and 54/07. - 122 -