News and updates from BCSDN and the region
The so-called French proposal for an agreement between North Macedonia and Bulgaria further activated, but also focused on CSOs in the country. The CSOs have repeatedly expressed their unequivocal position that the negotiations must not be secret and that the government must ensure a transparent process in solving this historical issue, leaving enough space for
Read more →The Belgrade Centre for Security Policy, BCBP, and Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights, YUCOM, urged the Prosecution for Organized Crime, TOK, when prosecuting people smuggling gangs, to examine information published by BIRN about the links between Ministry of Interior officials and smugglers. They stressed that during the mandate of Interior, crime had escalated in this
Read more →In Turkey, the rights to freedom of assembly and association are under constant attack and human rights defenders face increasing pressure. In a three-part series, of which the last report was released on in June 2022, the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (a partnership of the International Federation for Human Rights-FIDH and
Read more →Since 1 July 2022, the Czech Republic has held the Presidency of the Council of the European Union. This is a fundamental role to define the legislative priorities in the EU and a prestigious opportunity for any European country that takes the Presidency. The Presidency – which is known as the “European semester” because it
Read more →The CSO sector in Serbia saluted the first final verdict acquitting Srdjan Vukša, an activist accused of violating the Law on Public Assemblies, on the occasion of organizing last year’s protests in Serbia. Namely, the end of 2021 was marked by civil protests, which were attended by tens of thousands of citizens who wanted to
Read more →The Funders Initiative for Civil Society (FICS) has published a Submission it has made, with the Fund for Global Human Rights (FGHR), to the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of peaceful assembly and of association concerning civil society organizations (CSOs) increasing difficulty accessing funding and other resources, and how this is a critical driver of
Read more →The Coalition Against SLAPPs in Europe (CASE) is approaching lawmakers at the EU and national level with an expert policy brief on the European Commission’s EU anti-SLAPP proposals. The brief highlights the EC initiative’s most ambitious solutions and advice on how to best build on the Commission’s proposals to work towards the strongest possible set
Read more →Within the Mapping Digital Freedom Violations initiative, BIRN has published the most recent regional overview of digital rights and freedoms violations in six countries in Southern and Eastern Europe. For each country’s issues, please check the pages for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Hungary, North Macedonia, Romania, and Serbia. Hate speech and discrimination, threatening content, endangering
Read more →With USAID`s support, the publication of a guideline manual for organizing virtual and hybrid events aims to help a wide range of entities to maintain a presence and relevance in their field while adapting to the “new normal” brought by the COVID-19 pandemics. The guidelines offer practical tools and useful tips and tricks which will
Read more →Civil society is uniquely well-equipped to play a leading role in development and humanitarian assistance efforts, and in promoting the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In all too many countries, though, civil society is subject to heavy constraints, and is hampered from leading and contributing to development and humanitarian assistance initiatives. ICNL has
Read more →A briefing paper released by the International Commission of Jurists points out that, “while new digital technology may be helpful for the protection of human rights, it also carries a real and potential negative impact on the enjoyment of human rights”. This paper aims to contribute to the understanding of the international human rights legal
Read more →Within the framework of the Solidarity Action Network (SANE), a guidance “Navigating cybersecurity: Guidance for (I)CSO professionals” has been developed to help civil society actors better respond to cybersecurity challenges and digital threats. The guidance shares lessons learned and best practices from a series of SANE curated conversations on the topics of data protection and
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