News and updates from BCSDN and the region
The Serbian Interior Ministry has adopted a decision on formally banning the 2022 EuroPride as well as the “anti-globalists” family march, both scheduled to take place on September 17 in Belgrade. The reason behind this is the high-risk safety of the participants on the announced routes and other citizens. During the International Human Rights Conference, Serbian Prime Minister
Read more →CSO Partnership for Development Effectiveness (CPDE) joins other CSOs at the Global People’s Assembly, which will take place virtually on 20-22 September 2022. The event is a self-organized space during the United Nations General Assembly’s high-level week, aiming to bring the people’s voices to the forefront in high-level debate with decision-makers. Activities include various sessions
Read more →Although regional cooperation exists on different levels in the Western Balkans, not everyone has benefited equally, and some problems remain. For example, BiH and Kosovo citizens undergo a burdensome procedure to obtain a visa to enter the other country. Besides the criticism, regional cooperation in the Western Balkans is still at the heart of EU
Read more →New research dips comprehensive data on the global diffusion of national human rights action plans since the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights. It reveals that at least 141 such plans have been adopted in 76 countries. Next year will mark the 30th anniversary of the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights. The Conference was
Read more →In her State of the Union speech in the European Parliament, President von der Leyen introduced the first set of proposals that responded to the demands of the citizens participating in the Conference on the Future of Europe. Ms. von der Leyen’s statement to introduce regular citizens’ panels ahead of crucial legislative proposals demonstrates that
Read more →In the framework of the 2023 European Commission work program, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) has called for empowering European civil society and involving all civil actors in designing EU policies. The EESC adopted a resolution containing its recommendations during its plenary assembly on 17 July. Despite the unparalleled situation, the EESC also
Read more →The study explores the implementation of the European Union (EU) Guidelines on Human Rights Defenders, which constitute the policy framework and provide the operational means for protecting human rights activists in third countries. The first part of the study, written internally, provides an institutional perspective on implementing the Guidelines. It assesses the development of the
Read more →Recently, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić announced that the EuroPride festival, which features a Pride parade, would not be held in Belgrade as planned next month. The reasons behind this are the “significant crisis in Kosovo “, depicted by economic problems and fears of clashes resulting from the threats from right-wing extremists. The organizers, CSO communities, and many
Read more →The European Policy Institute – Skopje has published its quarterly brief on the key developments concerning the rule of law in the light of EU accession in North Macedonia for the period of April – June 2022. The document includes monitoring the fundamentals of EU accession, including key developments in the functioning of democratic institutions, public
Read more →In the third episode of our podcast series- Explaining Western Balkans, BCSDN discusses the role of civil society in dealing with the ongoing society polarization concerning the so-called French proposal as a destabilizing factor. Civic space and the (imm)possibility of consolidation; how to protect it from narrowing, including the ongoing and aligned fears and hopes,
Read more →An OpEd published on the European Western Balkans by the Senior Event Officer within the External Cooperation and Events Team at the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies goes into an in-depth analysis of the integration process of North Macedonia and Albania and the debut of the expression “start of a process of opening accession
Read more →BCSDN’s Serbian member Civic Initiatives launched the Video Tips section – a comprehensive multimedia library with a wide range of video tutorials and presentations on topics of CSOs’ interest. The video library offers various tutorials, from creating a communications strategy to instructions for preparing project applications for CSOs. In addition, a series of expert statements/presentations on topics
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