News and updates from BCSDN and the region
In 2021, the European Commission tabled a proposal for a regulation on the transparency and targeting of political advertising, while some EU member states also try to incorporate their solutions into ongoing reforms of national electoral laws. In the proposed EU regulation, “political advertising” is defined to encompass electoral advertising or advertising coming from political
Read more →The report produced by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), in cooperation with the Ministry of Information Society and the Administration of North Macedonia, determines the current situation with digital skills in the country. The report aims to assess the current supply and demand of digital skills in the country and develop a digital skills strategy
Read more →The Parliamentary Assembly of BiH missed the opportunity, especially with the obstruction of representatives/delegates from the Croatian National Assembly and Alliance of Independent Social Democrats to pass amendments to the Election Law on improving the integrity of the election process, as stated in the public address of the Declaration for the Constitutional Change of BiH.
Read more →North Macedonia’s Justice Ministry is proposing to criminalize the violation of freedom of opinion and expression as part of planned changes to the country’s criminal code. The proposed changes have been part of the new version of the criminal code, published on the National Electronic Register of Regulations, and now subjected to public consultation. For
Read more →The National Resource Centre for CSOs in Albania has raised the concerns of the CSO community after attending the meeting of the National Council for Civil Society (NCCS) during which the monitoring of the roadmap for the government’s policy “On the creation of an enabling environment for civil society 2019-2023” has been presented. The elaborate
Read more →The report results from a desk-research exercise carried out by the CIVICUS Youth Action Team to bring to light the current trends of youth engagement in civic spaces. It analyses the physical and digital developments, the strategies used in countries worldwide, and emerging practices used by young activists. The findings highlight possible areas to strengthen
Read more →ECNL and PILnet have launched a series of overviews of banking conditions in European countries. These overviews aim to support CSOs that willing to open a bank account in the selected countries or compare conditions between the countries. The overviews also aim to help CSOs navigate through the organizational banking requirements which are becoming increasingly
Read more →The recent Liberties Podcast reflects how the internet is changing – for the better. MEP Alexandra Geese and Eliska Pirkova of Access Now discussed how the EU passed the Digital Services Act (DSA), landmark legislation to restore users’ rights and rein in the dangerous business practices of Big Tech. They highlighted how new rules will
Read more →The so-called French proposal for an agreement between North Macedonia and Bulgaria further activated, but also focused on CSOs in the country. The CSOs have repeatedly expressed their unequivocal position that the negotiations must not be secret and that the government must ensure a transparent process in solving this historical issue, leaving enough space for
Read more →The Belgrade Centre for Security Policy, BCBP, and Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights, YUCOM, urged the Prosecution for Organized Crime, TOK, when prosecuting people smuggling gangs, to examine information published by BIRN about the links between Ministry of Interior officials and smugglers. They stressed that during the mandate of Interior, crime had escalated in this
Read more →In Turkey, the rights to freedom of assembly and association are under constant attack and human rights defenders face increasing pressure. In a three-part series, of which the last report was released on in June 2022, the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (a partnership of the International Federation for Human Rights-FIDH and
Read more →Since 1 July 2022, the Czech Republic has held the Presidency of the Council of the European Union. This is a fundamental role to define the legislative priorities in the EU and a prestigious opportunity for any European country that takes the Presidency. The Presidency – which is known as the “European semester” because it
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