News and updates from BCSDN and the region
The enthronement of the new Patriarch in Cetinje has led to interethnic tensions in Montenegro, resulting in days of mass, violent protests. On several occasions, fierce clashes broke out between protesters and police, followed by excessive use of force by police officers. Following the weekend filled with tensions and violent protests, multiple international community representatives
Read more →Monitoring and advocating against the global trend of increasing restriction of CSO activities in response to security and counter-terrorism and its burdens on civil society operations, ECNL and its partners have convened a global Expert Hub of different countries and activists on Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT). The Hub members build their coalitions,
Read more →Two surveys have been launched, calling for CSOs’ response on the Covid- 19 implications on civil society. One of them is part of a research conducted by Civil Society Europe, European Civic Forum, European Center for Not-for-Profit Law, and Institute for Public Affairs and commissioned by the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC). It aims
Read more →The report published by the International Press Institute (IPI) and several other organizations points to the media deterioration under the Slovenian Prime Minister during the country’s rotating presidency of the European Union. The report presents the progressive campaign of the ruling Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) to restructure the media landscape, and by the use of “new
Read more →In a special report, Reuters discovers that in some countries worldwide, including Serbia, the authorities’ legislation to satisfy FATF standards was used as a mechanism to investigate journalists, NGOs, and lawyers. In July 2020, Serbia’s financial intelligence unit sent a letter to local banks requesting private data on 50 NGOs and media outlets recognized for
Read more →The report published by the Center for Independent Journalism in Romania discusses the price of journalism and society when lacking credible sources of information. From the silence of the surveyed sources, intimidated to disclose information, to the lack of transparency of the public institutions and politicians attacking journalists for publishing the “inconvenient truth”, the report highlights the challenging
Read more →A report delivered by the Turkish freedom of expression campaign group presents the country’s complex internet censorship mechanism. It explains that Internet and social media censorship has increased over the past 15 years in Turkey, with authorities’ restraints of approximately 60,000 websites throughout the last year. The report asserts that more than 467,000 websites have
Read more →Following the release of worrying video footage from July 2020, the Bulgarian prosecution is investing the political violence during last year’s protest besides denying these cases in the first place. Before its official release on the media and YouTube, the video was presented in the Bulgarian Parliament, and four of the police officers that committed
Read more →The latest Civicus Monitor Report for Turkey, a research update provided by BCSDN and published by Civicus, covering recent information on the state of the freedom of association, assembly, and expression, reflects on worrisome trends of the civil society and journalist position in the country. Due to complete restrictions on LGBTI events, including Pride marches,
Read more →The analysis based on Reporters Without Borders (RSF) findings reflects that fake websites’ attacks on some local Serbian media contribute to lower media’s trust and revenues. Besides the ongoing online and direct threats from the governing party representatives, the Serbian independent media are also targeted by their digital look-alikes. The report shows that some of
Read more →In a statement, BCSDN’s member from Turkey, TUSEV, working on providing an enabling environment for civil society development regarding legal, financial, and functional aspects, expresses its concerns about social media and other medium narratives on CSOs receiving foreign funds. The letter points that the statements about creating suspicion and labeling institutions that receive foreign funds
Read more →ECNL welcomes the adoption of the resolutions related to the digital sphere during the 47th session of the Human Rights Council and analyses to what extent the new language of the three resolutions (‘Civil society space resolution’, ‘Human rights on the Internet resolution’ and ‘Emerging technologies and human rights resolution’) provides safeguards for online manifestation
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