News and updates from BCSDN and the region
On 19 October 2022, the European Parliament adopted a report on the draft general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2023. Two worrying amendments were added to the report, criticizing the European Commission for allegedly financing campaigns promoting the hijab and radical religious and political organizations and is calling on the Commission “to
Read more →The guide reanimating Civil Society introduces that across the world, authoritarian governments and non-state actors are restricting civic space and trying to silence critical voices or those that challenge the status quo. Governments are launching smear campaigns to taint the work of CSOs and human rights defenders. This guide supports activists, CSOs, and social movements
Read more →European Citizens’ Panels (ECPs) is a proposed form of consultation ahead of key legislative proposals. As a first concrete follow-up to the Conference on the Future of Europe (CoFoE), beginning next year, the European Commission plans to make European Citizens’ Panels (ECPs) a regular form of consultation ahead of key legislative proposals. This paper makes
Read more →BCSDN has published the 2021 Civil Society (CSOSI) Sustainable Index for North Macedonia. The report is a part of the latest edition of the Civil Society Organization (CSOSI) Sustainability Index for Central and Eastern Europe and Eurasia, prepared by USAID and FHI 360, covering developments during the last year, which will be published in the
Read more →The “Berlin process” aims to promote the rapprochement of the Western Balkans countries with the EU. Its goal is to improve the economic situation in the region and improve good-neighborly relations. The meeting of foreign ministers in the “Berlin process” format will focus primarily on efforts to create a common regional market. The current German
Read more →ECNL and PILnet have teamed up with law firms to provide guidance for CSOs on bank practices in European countries. The tool helps the practitioners compare the conditions of how nonprofits can open and manage an organizational bank account in different countries. The tool covers 25 countries, and new profiles are uploaded on a rolling
Read more →A report by a group of CSOs working on gender equality issues in the Western Balkans aims to present an independent assessment of achieved results and recommendations to inform the future planning of the Coalition toward addressing Gender-based Discrimination (GBD) and furthering women’s labor rights. Regional cooperation is assessed as a successful model for further
Read more →In an open letter, BiH CSOs have expressed concern to the officials regarding the Belgian company Green Invest activities. The company is the sole owner of the BUK d.o.o. with headquarters in East Sarajevo, which manages a small hydroelectric plant on the Kasindol river and plans to build two more. BUK d.o.o. recently filed three
Read more →Throughout September, the RDN monitoring team has detected a range of hateful narratives and discourse in the Western Balkans. A significant rise in homophobia has been noted in Serbia across both traditional and social media, as Belgrade hosted this year’s EuroPride. Islamophobia has been noted in Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina, following the interview of
Read more →The European Parliament adopted a legislative initiative resolution (2020/2026(INL), that calls on the European Commission to harmonize the status of non-profits throughout the EU and establish a statute for the European association. Specifically, the EP calls for the Commission to prepare two regulative: A regulation for the new legal form of the ‘European Association, and
Read more →The Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance has published a document that focuses on mapping cybersecurity-related human rights opportunities and challenges an under-explored area in the Western Balkans. The publication contains essential conceptual background information regarding each economy’s cybersecurity and human rights contexts. Its chapters explore four core thematic issues: cybersecurity and the right to
Read more →On 8 October, several hundred people joined the LGBTQ pride march in Montenegro, despite the strong opposition from the influential Serbian Orthodox Church. The 10th pride event was dubbed “No more buts,” demanding more be done to stem hate speech and harassment of the LGBTQ community despite huge steps that have been made in the past
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