News and updates from BCSDN and the region
Civil society and media in Albania have played an essential role in providing relief aid to the affected population in managing devastating earthquake and the COVID-19 pandemic. The organizations experienced a rapid evolution and innovation process in terms of self-organizing, learning from one crisis to inform the other’s response, creating platforms to match needs and
Read more →Media Freedom Rapid Response, MFRR, the Southeast Europe Media Organization, SEEMO, published a report, calling the new Montenegrin government to commit to reforms to develop and maintain media freedom. The report asks for an end to impunity for crimes against journalists and media workers by ensuring police and prosecutors investigations. It also calls for establishing
Read more →Turkey’s Parliament approved a controversial law authorizing the oversight of associations and foundations, which will bring to the closure of NGOs and overall damage of civil society. The law predicts NGOs’ boards to be replaced with trustees, and civil servants to conduct annual NGOs monitoring. The critics claim that NGOs’ assets and online donation campaigns
Read more →OSCE presents the second edition of its practical tool to help monitors collect reliable information by observing public gatherings and assessing the findings in line with international human rights standards. Based on ODIHR’s methodology, it provides a conceptual framework to guide the independent monitoring of assemblies. It includes vital information gathered in ODIHR’s training programme
Read more →CIVICUS Monitor has published its report that looks at regional improvements in civic space. Overall, the report found that there have been no significant improvements in civic space in Europe and Central Asia. While regimes in Central Asia have continued to repress civic space since the last report, there has been a decline in civic
Read more →The European Civic Forum (ECF) has published the Civic Space Watch Report for 2020. The publication contains a general analysis of EU trends of deterioration and expansion observed in 2020, seven interviews with inspiring activists that protected human rights during the lockdown, and six case studies. There is a particular focus on how COVID-19 pandemic
Read more →The European Democracy Action Plan (EDAP) is to be installed by the EU to improve European democracy by tackling issues such as disinformation and strengthening Europe’s media ecosystem. Without ensuring an enabling environment for civil society within the EU, the Action Plan cannot reach its full potential. As the Action Plan does not address the
Read more →The article looks at how the COVID-19 pandemic, and the following limitations, have restricted individual freedoms and seen governments use extraordinary powers in the Western Balkans. A question to consider for the future is how Western Balkan leaderships will potentially continue to exercise the use of these concentrated powers. It argues that COVID-19 has allowed
Read more →On 21 July 2020, the Turkish Justice and Development Party, AKP announced it would introduce a new law to regulate social media more strictly, with financial sanctions for companies that do not comply with government demands. In accordance, on 11 December 2020, Turkey’s Information and Communications Technologies Authority imposed 30 million Turkish lira in fines
Read more →The pandemic’s severe impact across the globe has exposed flaws of social, economic, and political models, challenged the societies, tested the collective humanity, and aggravated inequalities. As the lack of social protection measures persisted, pre-existing inequalities, injustices, and gaps in human rights protection have become more pronounced. As the pandemic rages on, the article presents: Weakening
Read more →The CSO Sustainability Index report for Albania has been published by the Institute for Democracy and Mediation, in partnership with USAID and FHI 360. The report looked at seven dimensions of sustainability: legal environment, organizational capacity, financial viability, advocacy, service provision, sectoral infrastructure, and public image. It concluded that the overall sustainability of the Albanian
Read more →BCSDN member, KCSF, has reflected the European Commission’s (EC) report on Kosovo’s civil society. KCSF has stated that the 2020 report is a realistic reflection of the standing of the environment for civil society development in Kosovo. The EC reported progress on adopting legislative and strategic documents, public consultation at the central level, and easier
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