News and updates from BCSDN and the region
The Vitoria-Gasteiz Declaration was officially adopted at the 2025 OGP Global Summit, securing almost 160 new endorsements. This major commitment unites governments, civil society, and partners in a shared global effort to strengthen democracy and protect civic space. The Declaration reaffirms the open government community’s core commitment to transparency, participation, and accountability as tools to
Read more →The UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, Gina Romero, has released a new report sounding the alarm over the escalating threats to civic space worldwide. According to the report, the erosion of these fundamental rights has been compounded by the dismantling of global aid systems and increasing
Read more →The “Guidelines on the Right to Peaceful Environmental Protest and Civil Disobedience” have been released, drawing on both the Aarhus Convention and international human rights treaties and standards. These Guidelines provide both guiding and operational principles to assist Aarhus Parties and other UN Member States in protecting environmental defenders who engage in peaceful protest, including
Read more →The Regional Conference “Resilient Voices: Western Balkans Civil Society in a Changing World”, co-hosted by BCSDN and Partners Albania, concluded successfully on October 1, 2025, in Tirana. The event gathered civil society representatives, policymakers, institutional actors, and donors from across the Western Balkans and the European Union. The conference addressed the sector’s challenges and opportunities,
Read more →BCSDN announces the upcoming release of its new policy research, “Donor Support, Civic Space, and the Future of Civil Society in the Western Balkans,” highlighting that independent civil society is both “indispensable and endangered” in the region. The research unpacks shifting priorities, funding modalities, and approaches to strengthening civic space in a time of geopolitical
Read more →On September 23, in Podgorica, the Berlin Process’s Civil Society Forum brought together civil society actors from across the Western Balkans ahead of the annual Berlin Proces, aiming to finalize key policy recommendations in the six policy areas: Common Regional Market and Growth; Gender and Diversity; Reconciliation and Dealing with the Past; Environment, Energy and Decarbonisation; Security;
Read more →The Serbian government is proposing an amendment to Article 290 of the Criminal Code, which would effectively criminalize road blockades and carry a potential penalty of imprisonment. The change removes the requirement that an obstruction must endanger life or property to be an offense, meaning halting transport services contrary to regulations is now sufficient for prosecution. Civil society
Read more →Kvinna till Kvinna and its partner organizations have submitted their input to the 2025 EU Enlargement Package, continuing a seven-year effort to produce a gender analysis of the European Commission Country Reports for the Western Balkans. The analysis aims to strengthen gender mainstreaming within the EU accession process. This year’s review shows that more work
Read more →We are pleased to announce that on 1 October 2025 in Tirana (Albania), BCSDN, together with Partners Albania, will host the regional conference “Resilient Voices: Civil Society in a Changing Western Balkans.” This high-level event will bring together civil society actors, EU institutions, national governments, and donors to explore the shifting civic landscape in the
Read more →The consultation on the first-ever EU Civil Society Strategy is now closed, and BCSDN is proud to have submitted its contribution, endorsed by 107 other CSOs in the region and beyond. This strong collective backing sends a clear message: civil society across the Enlargement region and beyond is united in calling for a coherent, ambitious,
Read more →The newly released Global State of Democracy (GSoD) Report 2025 paints a sobering picture of the current global climate of radical uncertainty, with political turbulence in the United States highlighting wider patterns of democratic fragility and declining trust in multilateralism. The data show that in 2024, more than half of all countries assessed (94, or
Read more →Following European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s annual State of the Union speech, Civil Society Europe and over 35 other organizations released their own report. While they welcomed commitments on the rule of law and media resilience, they are calling for bolder action, including the creation of a European Electoral Authority and a formal
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