The Global NPO Coalition on FATF, representing a wide coalition of non-profit organisations (NPOs), applauds the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) recent update to its counter-terrorism recommendation on NPOs. NPOs hail the removal of the long-standing characterization of non-profits as “particularly vulnerable” to terrorist abuse from Recommendation 8 (R8). The previous language led to overregulation and inappropriate restrictions on NPOs, hampering their legitimate and essential work around the world. The policy changes were approved at FATF’s Plenary in South Korea on 22-24June. More information is available here. Source: ECNL
Author: anja
On 21-22 June in Skopje, BCSDN organized a regional capacity-building event within the scope of the project Western Balkan CSOs in Global Development. In the context of the future enlargement of the EU in Western Balkan countries, the project will raise capacities of CSOs to engage in political dialogue, advocacy and awareness rising of global issues. 25 participants gathered to discuss and get more knowledge and introduction to the current development cooperation agenda as well as experiences from Romania and Slovenia. The workshop was led by Iuliana Rada, Fundatia pentru Dezvoltarea Societatii Civile Romania, together with Marijan Huc, Sloga, Slovenia…
Being cognizant of the fact that is it crucial time for protecting fundamental rights, such as freedom of assembly, on 21st of June, 2016, the European Center for Non-for-Profit Law hosted an expert conference on freedom of peaceful assembly in the Western Balkans “Right to Free Assembly: Making Democracy Work” in Skopje, Macedonia. The event gathered 30 representatives of national and regional civil society organizations, intergovernmental organizations and relevant state institutions from the countries in the region and beyond. ECNL and its partners have recognized the recent significant rise in civic activism and assemblies, and a contested political climate in…
The latest CIVICUS Watch Report shows that in 2015 one or more of the core civil society freedoms – freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly, were seriously violated in at least 109 countries. Of the three core civil society freedoms, the freedom of association was most frequently violated. In the Western Balkans region, the report shows that violation of freedom of expression has been recorded in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, violations of freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of expression have been noted in Macedonia, whereas in Montenegro and Turkey all the three freedoms have been violated during…
The 2016 State of Civil Society Report summarizes the key events, issues and trends affecting civil society around the world. The 5th annual report draws on contributions from more than 30 of the world’s leading experts on civil society as well as investigative work from the CIVICUS staff, which was conducted in close partnership with hundreds of activists in the field. Contributions on this year’s special theme address a wide range of different forms of exclusion, including exclusion by gender, sexual identity, age (for children, young people and older people), disability, mental health and HIV status, indigeneity, ethnicity, refugee and…
More than 244 CSOs from all around the world sent a joint open letter to call delegations worldwide, in order to stand in solidarity with civil society by supporting the draft resolution on the protection of civil society space, to be considered for adoption on the 32nd session of the Human Right Council (on 30 June or 1 July). In the Letter, they urge UN Human Rights Council Member States to cosponsor the draft resolution, reject all amendments, and vote in favor of the resolution if a vote is called. More information is available here. Source: ECNL
On the 27th of June, Civic Initiatives, Serbia, invited CSOs on a meeting that will take place on the 29th of June in Novi Sad (Serbia), regarding the amendments on the Law on Associations and the Law on Foundations contained in the Civil Code. Namely, the working group established by the Government of the Republic of Serbia, has drafted the Civil Code, containing proposals to amend the provisions, such as the definition of associations, establishing and registration, etc. TACSOs has prepared an analysis and draft amendments to the provisions of the draft Civil Code, which on this occasion, will be presented to the…
On 29 June, our member organization, CSPC held a presentation on the 2015 report on the Enabling Environment for Civil Society Development in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The report is the result of the research conducted by the CSPC in cooperation with local experts and civil society organizations. The report contains the developments in Enabling Environment in 2015, making an overview on the development of legal and practical environment for the development of civil society, outlining the key conclusions and recommendations for its improvement. CSOs and government representatives concluded that 2015 report emphasizes key problems, marking that overcoming these problems requires…
The Monitoring Matrix 2015 Reports on Enabling Environment (EE) for Civil Society Development (CSDev) for all seven countries are now available. The reports present the developments in EE in 2015, outlining the key conclusions and recommendations for improvement. After publishing the baseline reports in 2013 and 2014, the 2015 reports are focused on presenting situation under 24 standards for each country. This enables an in-depth presentation of the situation with the intention to enable analysis and concrete recommendations for this to be addressed by public institutions, donors, civil society and other stakeholders. The reports allow both for in-country and between…
CIVICUS released the 2016 Civil Society Watch Report, finding that in 2015 there has been significant worsening in the respect for civil society freedoms. In particular, one or more of the core civil society freedoms – freedom of association, freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of expression have been seriously violated in at least 109 countries. This number shows an increase from 2014 when violations of basic civic freedoms have been found in 96 countries. Trends of closing civic space are noticeable, whereby state and non-state actors combine methods clamp down on civil society rights. In the Western Balkans region…