News and updates from BCSDN and the region
Enshrined in international law and an established global norm, the freedom of peaceful assembly is a fundamental right to collectively express, promote, pursue, and defend a common interest without fear of retribution. Freedom of peaceful assembly is a critical form of political participation in a healthy civil society. It shapes the debate, public policies, and
Read more →The current approach to anti-money laundering in the EU leaves the Member States significant space to adopt national rules. However, the resulting fragmentation has proven one of the main enablers in recent money laundering cases. The Commission welcomes feedback on what rules should be further harmonized to remedy this fragmentation and new areas that should
Read more →The report presents the results and the methodology of the Media Pluralism Monitor (MPM2020), a tool assessing the risks to media pluralism in EU members and some candidate countries. In a media ecosystem that has been rapidly evolving, particularly under the pressure of the digitalization of the information industry, rapid technological advancements have created new
Read more →The Administration for the Prevention of Money Laundering of Serbian Ministry of Finance has created a list of media and CSOs, and individuals demanding access to their bank records to determine whether they are connected to money laundering or operations to finance terrorism. The Office for cooperation with Civil Society recalls that the cooperation with
Read more →The report identifies initiatives that governments and civil society need to take to respond to the challenge that COVID 19 causes to the democracies. It notes the threats to democracy that governments are restricting human rights and fundamental freedoms, such as freedom of assembly and movement, under the guise of managing the pandemic. The report
Read more →After two years of consultations on the new Media Law, the Legislative Committee of the Parliament of Montenegro, approved the bill, sending it to the further parliamentary procedure. Meanwhile, proposals for additional changes are permanently catching up from the civil sector, the media, and MPs. The civil sector asked for specification of the protection of
Read more →A group of Serbian CSOs and media filed a complaint with the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection for the incomplete response of the Institute of Public Health of Serbia concerning health data of Serbian citizens. According to the Coalition for Freedom of Access to Information, the public has a right
Read more →ECNL welcomed the adoption of the first-ever General Comment No. 37 on Article 21, ICCPR (Right to Peaceful Assembly). The final text adopted by the Committee took stock of all the detailed analysis that ECNL and other CSOs across the world, and experts provided and facilitated in the last two years. They notably contributed on
Read more →The paper presents key findings from FRA’s second consultation of its Fundamental Rights Platform, focusing on the experiences of CSOs working on human rights. The second annual consultation shows that many of the human rights organizations that FRA cooperates with continue to face challenges in their daily work. Some of the finding demonstrate that more
Read more →Protests started out in Serbia, after President’s announcement that new lockdown measures would be reintroduced amid increasing coronavirus cases. During two consecutive nights of protests, violent attacks were recognized against journalists which caused concerns among The European and International Federations of Journalists who condemned the attacks. In a statement, Human Rights House also condemned police
Read more →A group of MPs from the United Patriots Parliamentary Group submitted a Draft Law amending and supplementing the Non-profit Legal Entities Act in the Bulgarian Parliament. The Draft Law proposes an amendment to the Non-profit Legal Entities Act in two parts – the part regarding the functioning of the Civil Society Development Council, as well
Read more →The policy brief underscores outstanding issues that emerged during the COVID-19 crisis with possible long-term consequences on democracy’s functioning and the rule of law in the six countries of the Western Balkans. The paper addresses the impact of the crisis on democratic institutions’ operation, the judiciary, fundamental rights and freedoms, transparency, civil society, and the
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