News and updates from BCSDN and the region
The Open Government Partnership (OGP) provides government and civil society reformers an opportunity to make governments more transparent, participatory, and accountable. Working together, government and civil society in 78 countries and several local members cocreate two-year action plans with concrete commitments across a variety of sectors. The first section features two commitments that fall within
Read more →The European Democracy Action Plan is a chance for the EU to articulate a vision and ambition for European democracies. The Action Plan should provide a comprehensive framework to guide the EU and EU Member States in enacting this vision for strengthening democracy. The paper presents several areas that the Action Plan should contribute to
Read more →The Protection Working Group under the Global Coalition on Youth, Peace, and Security, and the Office of the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth (OSGEY) recently started working on protection of young activists/ human rights defenders/ peacebuilders and other youth who are active in civic spaces. They are currently organizing online global consultations with young people who
Read more →CIVICUS spoke with Ivana Teofilović from Civic Initiatives about the causes of recent protests and the government’s reaction to them and Serbia’s elections under the COVID-19 pandemic. The immediate reason for the mass and spontaneous gathering of citizens in July 2020 was the announcement of the introduction of a new curfew, that is, another 72-hour
Read more →The research presents that CSOs tend to coincide in their definitions of values of democracy, the rule of law, and solidarity, even if they unveil more diverse interpretations of them. It also reveals that CSOs recognize the vital role that the civil sector plays in promoting these values. CSOs also face different challenges promoting these
Read more →Anti-government protests turned into violence on the 56th day in Bulgaria. On this occasion, more than 50 people have been hurt, while almost 100 of them have been arrested. The police guarded the Bulgarian parliament weathered smoke bombs, firecrackers, and stones. Thousands of citizens have been calling every day in the streets on the Bulgarian
Read more →Regulators have struggled to keep up with the track of the change in online political campaigning. With the technology’s development, the problems have become more apparent. There are disinformation and divisive content, exploitation of algorithms and use of bots, cyborgs and fake accounts, micro-targeting based on detailed personal data, etc. Freedom of expression is essential,
Read more →Albania’s system for publishing government legislation was fragmented and ineffective. The lack of information was a problem, taking into account the new decentralization reforms that endowed local governments with a wide range of responsibilities. At the urging of INFOCIP, an Albanian NGO that promotes transparency and the rule of law, the Albanian government committed to
Read more →COVID-19 pandemic affects economic and social life, mainly targeting peoples’ online lives. Internet usage is spiking around the world, and the web is used in new ways. This situation is putting a strain on the infrastructure that underpins the internet, especially in developing nations. Amid pandemic, the average citizens are more aware of their data’s
Read more →Nineteen organizations from Southeast Europe have joined in a newly-established network that aims to advance the protection of digital rights and address the growing challenges posed by the widespread use of advanced technologies in society. Initiated by Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN, and SHARE Foundation, the SEE Digital Rights Network is the first network of
Read more →New technologies are crucial to the right to peaceful assemblies. This trend has been further accelerated, with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. ICT and AI technologies provide many possibilities to facilitate protests and have a downside effect by allowing States and private actors to restrict the right of peaceful assemblies. The briefing is a
Read more →A draft law in two parts proposes an amendment to the Non-profit Legal Entities Act in Bulgaria. One is the part regarding the functioning of the Civil Society Development Council. The other is proposing the creation of a new legal framework on declaring and controlling the funding of NGOs received from a foreign country or
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