News and updates from BCSDN and the region
Challenges and good practices in ensuring human rights-compliant assembly policing in the Western Balkans region and related available resources were explored and presented at an event in Warsaw on 17 September 2018, during the Human Dimension Implementation Meeting. Some 40 representatives of civil society and state bodies took part in the event, which was organized
Read more →The Romanian Government has created a tool for challenging NGOs that may oppose its agenda under the guise of monitoring how they spend money received from citizens through tax donations. The Association for the Defence of Human Rights in Romania – the Helsinki Committee (APADOR-CH) has asked the Romanian Ombudsman to appeal Constitutional Court Order
Read more →A Philanthropy Council was established in Serbia in order to create an enabling environment for providing charity and further development of philanthropic infrastructure and culture of giving for the common good in the Republic of Serbia, taking into account the current situation and trends in giving in the society. The council was formed on the
Read more →The Law on Accounting for Non-Profit Organizations prescribes the accounting principles and rules for CSOs, as well as the basic financial information reported by the civil society organizations. 15 years after its adoption in and implementation in Macedonia, a need for changes has been established. The identified needs have been presented in details in the
Read more →Protests against corruption turned violent on 10 August in Bucharest as the Gendarmerie evicted the peaceful demonstrators with the use of force. 440 people, out of whom 24 gendarmes, received medical attention on site. 65 people, out of which 9 gendarmes, had to be taken to the hospital. The violence was unprecedented and indiscriminately used
Read more →Civil Society organizations in Serbia have launched an initiative requesting the Ministry of Labor, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs to withdraw the existing Draft Law on Amendments to the Law on Social Protection and to initiate new process of legislative changes, raising several concerns over human rights violation, undermining of interests of beneficiaries and inconsistencies
Read more →The process of drafting a new National Strategy for Creating an Enabling Environment for Civil Society Development for the period 2017-2021 is ongoing in Croatia. Four public hearings have been held in Rijeka, Split, Osijek, and Zagreb since April 2016 with the aim of obtaining feedback from civil society organizations on the obstacles and challenges
Read more →Think tanks and CSOs, from Macedonia, involved in the developing the Blueprint on urgent democratic reforms issued a public reaction on the recent adoption of the Amendments to the Law on Financing of Political Parties. They point to several key shortcomings and problems: the lack of transparency and involvement of the key stakeholders and the
Read more →Partners Albania published the 2017 country report for Albania based on the Monitoring Matrix on Enabling Environment for Civil Society Development. The 2017 report highlights the contradictory data…
Read more →The so-called Plesoianu Proposal, aimed at changing radically Governmental Ordinance 26/2000 regulating associations and foundations, has met strong rejection by CSOs in the last 2 years. After having been approved by the Senate, the proposal is now before the Chamber of Deputies. Taking into consideration the reaction of CSOs, Plesoianu has drafted some amendments to
Read more →The 2018 Compendium of the Council of Europe Practice provides an overview of the measures taken by the CoE to guarantee the freedom of association and strengthen the position of CSOs. The report suggests that CoE bodies have carried out a variety of activities to strengthen freedom of association and ensure the crucial contributions of
Read more →CIVICUS, BCSDN, and MCIC have submitted joint UN Universal Periodic Review (UPR) submission for Macedonia as one of the seven countries in advance of the 32nd UPR session in January 2019. The submissions examine the state of civil society in each country, including the promotion and protection of the rights to freedom of association, assembly
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