The Chairman of the Commission for the Control of Execution of Criminal Sanctions, Meho Omerovic said that the Commission’s chief task is to take care of the status and human rights of persons serving prison sentences or in detention, but that it must not neglect the status and rights of those employed by the Directorate for Execution of Criminal Sanctions considering how difficult their duties are.

The union representatives of the Directorate employees shared the trade unions’ common view as regards addressing the priority topics relating to the position of the Directorate employees with a special focus on: the need for reduced service years for retirement for all the employees in an adequate scope; the employees’ difficult financial position at odds with their difficult duties and working conditions which is why the Directorate employees should be exempt for the announced pay cut for government employees; inadequate staffing at the Directorate, far below the numbers set out in the job systematisation, detrimental to work quality and safety at work of the employees tasked with especially difficult jobs, jobs dangerous to health and risky jobs, as well as the status of the temporary employees, and the mounting debts of other state authorities, especially courts dealing with detained persons, which additionally leech the already insufficient funds at the disposal of the Directorate for Execution of Criminal Sanctions.

The Chairman and members of the Commission for the Control of Execution of Criminal Sanctions stressed that the Commission and the National Assembly would, in line with their position and within their purview, strive to contribute, in the circumstances of insufficient funds in the budget of the Republic of Serbia, to the improvement of the position and working conditions of the Directorate employees.