What's New

News and updates from BCSDN and the region

North Macedonia: Election of 16 Members of the Council for Cooperation with and Development of Civil Society from Associations and Foundations (Deadline: 5 April 2021)

To maintain an independent, representative, and effective Council for Cooperation with and Development of the Civil Sector in the next three years in N. Macedonia, the General Secretariat of the Government announces a Public Call for the election of 16 members of the Council among associations and foundations. Organizations registered under the Law on Associations

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Protecting Civil Society in Global Counterterrorism: FATF Leads the Way, UN Should Follow

Global counterterrorism is pursued through a closed institutional infrastructure. It includes UN entities, among which the Office of Counter-Terrorism (OCT). FATF recommendations are internationally endorsed global standards against money laundering and terrorist financing to enable countries to tackle illicit use of the financial systems. The FATF’s approach has been criticized as enabling governments to target civil society through repressive financial regulation.

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North Macedonia: Human Rights Protection and COVID-19

COVID-19 has accelerated the erosion of democratic values across the world, including the Western Balkans. Among the other states in the region, North Macedonia, trying to keep pace with the pandemic’s human rights challenges, has reinforced severe restrictions. The pandemic expanded the current gap between legislation and reality in human rights protection in the country.

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Serbia: The Abuse of Anti-Money Laundry Legislation for the Suppression of Civic Space

After the Administration for the Prevention of Money Laundering sent an official request to all commercial banks in Serbia to provide information and documentation concerning the accounts and financial transactions undertaken by 57 CSOs, media, and individuals, Serbian CSOs have been particularly concerned about the use of oversight powers to target the financing of terrorism

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Albania: CSOs Request the Venice Commission for a Legal Opinion for the Draft Law “On the Registration of NPOs”

On 24 February 2021, together with the CSOs representatives, the Commission of Legal Issues, Public Administration, and Human Rights of the Assembly of Albania organized a hearing session on the draft law “On the registration of Non for Profit Organizations”. Even though CSOs positively welcomed the new law initiative, they noted that the process was

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Montenegro: The Citizens’ Views Regarding NGOs in 2021

The Resource Centre for Civil Society in Montenegro presents the report on the citizens’ views about NGOs in Montenegro. The first chapter introduces the findings on the familiarity with NGOs’ work and citizens’ sentiment towards them. In the second chapter, citizens’ sentiment is complemented by the level of public trust in NGOs and citizens’ specific

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ECNL Briefer: What Can CSOs Do in Case of Combating Financing of Terrorism and Anti-Money Laundering Overregulation?

The recent ECNL briefer provides examples of how CSOs can oppose abuse or overregulation caused by anti-money laundering (AML), combating financing of terrorism (CFT), and counter-terrorism (CT) standards. Firstly, CSOs affected can provide information to the UN Special Rapporteur, which as a UN Human Rights Council Expert can request inquiry from the government and address

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An Analysis of the Application of Financial Action Task Force Recommendations and Its Implication on Civil Society in Turkey

TUSEV, BCSDN member from Turkey, with support from ECNL, published an information note on the policies and safeguards suggested by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) against terrorist financing, money laundering, and financing of weapons of mass destruction and discusses their impact on civil society operations in Turkey. The Law on the Prevention of Financing

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Europeans’ Right to Protest Under Threat

The coronavirus tested civic freedoms and democracy after the governments worldwide implemented unprecedented actions, including curfews, restricting people’s movements, and limiting or banning gathering, narrowing the civic space. The latest CIVICUS Monitor shows that while governments were restricting the fundamental freedoms under the guise of fighting the pandemic, civil society, on the other hand, intensified its response

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The Challenge of Hate Speech in The Albanian Media Environment

Albanian Media Institute (AMI) identifies two main trends about hate speech in the Albanian media in their surveys and monitoring. The principal source of hate speech in the media results from politicians’ speech. Second, user-generated content is a rich source of hate speech, producing inflammatory comments against groups, and individuals, particularly in online media. Most

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Legal Environment for Philanthropy in Turkey

BCSDN member TUSEV contributed to Philanthropy Advocacy, a joint project by the European Foundation Center (EFC) and Dafne, which provides insights into philanthropy’s legal and fiscal landscape across Europe. The report for Turkey is, prepared and updated within the project, is one of the 40 country profiles which contain information such as requirements for registration,

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COVID-19 and Civic Freedoms in Europe in 2020

Based on an analysis of the COVID-19 Civic Freedom Tracker data, in its latest publication ECNL presents the trends they observed in Europe during 2020. It focuses on three essential points: Legislative responses to the COVID-19 pandemic that affected civic freedoms; Measures implemented in practice and incidents that occurred under the pretext of battling COVID-19;

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