The founders of the Skarga.Help CC initiative talk about the difference between a petition and a complaint.
Why are all of our requests important?
- To show officials the real opinion of citizens
- To convince officials to take the side of the people
- To identify officials who do not want to listen to citizens
Petition or skarga?
- Petitions.by is a tool for collective appeals. Skarga.help – for personal ones.
- Complaints work better for local authorities, petitions work better for central authorities.
- If the collective appeal collects more than 30 signatures, then the official must go to the place to solve the problem.
What makes personal appeals important?
Officials find out the real opinion of citizens from personal messages. Not all officials analyze the agenda and discussions on social networks. For all Belarusians, including officials, the possibilities of obtaining reliable information through social polls are limited.
When citizens submit one collective appeal, there is a possibility that one person will see it. The appeal that we have collectively sent, for example, to the Council of Ministers, can also be sent to all 128 district and regional administrations of Belarus. Someone from honest officials can send an appeal upstairs through all levels of the hierarchy from the region to the Presidential Administration. Officials in higher-level structures will have to do something, knowing that this appeal is being discussed by officials at all levels. You will need to start a dialogue.
Follow the answers of the state structures and get legal information in the @skarga Telegram channel.
