In light of the political crisis in Macedonia and the large number of illegally intercepted communications which were being published since 9 February 2015, and the systemic problems which they have revealed or confirmed, the European Commission recruited a group of independent senior rule of law experts to carry out an analysis of the situation and provide recommendations to address the issues. The report provided by the experts’ group, among the other findings and recommendations, “noted the commitment of several NGOs engaged in promoting democratic standards in particular in relation to free elections, free media, proper oversight of the intelligence…
Author: anja
On 17th June, Tanja Hafner Ademi, the Executive Director of BCSDN, presented the Monitoring Matrix for Enabling Environment for Civil Society Development at the CIVICUS-AGNA (Affinity Group of National Associations) “Workshop on Civic Space Monitoring and Enabling Environment” held in Istanbul, Turkey. The aim of the workshop was to reflect on civil society led tools in the assessment of enabling environment and civic space and how to use their results for advocacy and policy influencing. Attended by 17 representatives of national civil society associations from all continents (Europe, Middle East, Latin America, Africa, Central and South Asia including Japan and…
BCSDN, in partnership with European Center for Non-profit Law (ECNL), has published the second Regional Report on Enabling Environment for Civil Society Development in Enlargement Countries, presenting the regional state of play of civil society in 2014 and highlighting the priorities for intervention by national and EU insittutions at the regional level towards creating a more enabling environment for civil society. According to the findings for 2014, the legal environment for CSOs in the Western Balkans and Turkey remained relatively stable. Freedom of association, assembly, expression and information continued to be legally guaranteed in all countries of the region, with the exception of…
CIVICUS is taking a new approach to tracking the quality of civic space in real time. They intend to do this by combining analysis of externally available data sources with their own, internally generated, real-time information from civil society on the ground. For this purpose, CIVICUS has shared this consultative document with various stakeholders and experts on civic space, asking for frank assessments of this approach. Any comments, critiques, questions and suggestions can be sent by emailing cathal.gilbert@civicus.org by 19th June, 2015. CIVICUS has piloted this approach in a study of civic space in southern Africa, demonstrating the kind of…
The role of CSOs has come to the forefront of the European political and normative debate, signified as a remedy to solve the democratic deficit and inefficiency of public policy making. The EU has increasingly pursued sophisticated approaches to activate participation of the civil societies of enlargement countries. Following a series of reforms, in relative terms, Turkey was able to better provide political space and enable mobilization of civil society with the reforms made in the legislation throughout the 2000s. Despite these steps, problems still exist both in the context and implementation of primary legislation and related secondary legislation. It…
According to the recently published Monitoring Matrix Regional Report for 2014, the legal environment for CSOs in the Western Balkans and Turkey remained relatively stable. Freedom of association, assembly, expression and information continued to be legally guaranteed in all countries of the region, with the exception of Turkey, however ensuring proper implementation and respect of the legal guarantees in practice remains to be challenging in most countries. CSOs continuously struggle to secure their financial sustainability in the whole region. State support in 2014 was too often distributed through non-transparent mechanisms, and remained insufficient. Governments continued to adopt national strategies for…
Lack of transparency by major European donors is hindering development outcomes in some of the poorest countries in the world, according to Publish What You Fund’s latest report. Nine out of 16 key EU donors and institutions are still not publishing their data on time and in detail, leaving recipient countries in the dark about expected funding. PWYF Initiative calls on EU donors to meet their aid transparency commitments by publishing the data; making the data useful and making the data accessible and promoting its use. BCSDN has been involved in the past 3 years in promoting the aid transparency…
Lack of transparency by major European donors is hindering development outcomes in some of the poorest countries in the world, according to Publish What You Fund’s latest report. Together, the EU and its member states are the largest body of donors in the world, yet nine out of 16 key EU donors and institutions are still not publishing their data on time and in detail, leaving recipient countries in the dark about expected funding. The Publish What You Fund Initiative calls on EU donors to meet their aid transparency commitments by publishing the data; making the data useful and making…
On 4th June, 2015 BCSDN organized a debate at the European Parliament to present to MEPs and other key EU stakeholders the state in which civil society operates in Western Balkans and Turkey, and how the accession process can promote a more enabling environment for its development. The debate “Norms over Forms: Empowering Civil Society in the Western Balkans and Turkey” was hosted by Ms. Ulrike Lunacek, Vice-President of the European Parliament (The Greens/EFA) and it gathered over 80 participants, Members of the EU Parliament and the Parliament’s services, representatives of the European Commission, the Permanent Representations of EU Member states, as well…
On 4th June, 2015 BCSDN organized a debate at the European Parliament to present to MEPs and other key EU stakeholders the state in which civil society operates in Western Balkans and Turkey, and how the accession process can promote a more enabling environment for its development. The debate “Norms over Forms: Empowering Civil Society in the Western Balkans and Turkey” was hosted by Ms. Ulrike Lunacek, Vice-President of the European Parliament (The Greens/EFA) and it gathered over 80 participants, Members of the EU Parliament and the Parliament’s services, representatives of the European Commission, the Permanent Representations of EU Member…