News and updates from BCSDN and the region
Technology provides states the ability to engage in the mass surveillance of civic participation and activism. Unprecedented concentrations of power and wealth, corruption, and vested financial interests deepen inequality and prevent action from addressing global crises. As a result, the climate and ecological crisis may be irreversible by 2030. The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated these
Read more →The report “Assessment on the State of the Enabling Environment and Capacities of Civil Society against the Guidelines for EU support to Civil Society in Enlargement Region, 2014-2020” for the period 2018-2019 was prepared by a consortia of researchers led by BCSDN. It presents key findings, conclusions, and recommendations concerning the three major areas: a
Read more →The report updates the interim report published in November 2019, and affiliates the main conclusions from the EESC’s high-level Conference on the rule of law, presenting an increasing weakening and stigmatization of civil society in Europe over the last years. Freedom of association, including the right of CSOs to freely conduct their activities and access
Read more →Based on real experiences of Lifeline consortium partners and other CSOs, the guide aims to provide a “menu of options” of various tactics to be used in a difficult or restrictive context. The guide offers inspiring case studies, concrete examples and tools of how civil society can be useful even under significant duress. The guide
Read more →In its submission for the consultation on the EU Artificial Intelligence (AI) White Paper, ECNL urged the EC to prioritize public interest, the protection of individual rights and freedoms, non-discrimination, and equal access to resources and participation, as core concerns of any future strategy and regulative framework on AI. While the EC highlights the potential
Read more →The report is part of an ongoing series that examines employment and wages in private, nonprofit establishments in the USA. The report seeks to explain two aspects of the current nonprofit employment scene. The first aspect is the pre-COVID-19 nonprofit workforce realities. Second is the scale of impacts on nonprofit employment of both the enormous
Read more →The publication is the second in a series of reports which analyzes the effects of the Corona crisis management on institutions, political and civil rights, parties, civil society, as well as external factors. While the anti-Corona measures are being relaxed in most cases, the State of Emergency has not been lifted in all countries of
Read more →The Government of North Macedonia adopted a decision on allocation of funds for financial support of associations and foundations to support the fight with the COVID-19 crisis, in the total amount of 29.519.495 MKD. The sources will be provided to finance program activities of associations and foundations through grants from 600,000 up to 900,000 MKD.
Read more →A number of European organizations signed an anti- Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP) policy paper in Europe, indicating that the EU must end gag lawsuits used to silence individuals and organizations that hold those in positions of power to account. The organizations suggest that SLAPPs are lawsuits brought forward by powerful actors such as
Read more →As part of a coordinated campaign, 9 European members of the Civil Liberties Union for Europe filed a freedom of information requests to national authorities to ensure that governments are abiding by EU data protection legislation. CSOs from Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden, expressed their opinion that they would like to
Read more →The compendium brings together all the opinions and reports which, over the last thirty years, have enabled the EESC and CSOs to strengthen participatory democracy and become a necessary part of the European decision-making process. EESC has played a crucial role in creating a European public forum, growing stronger during the years. Significantly, it has
Read more →The space available for civil society, activists, and citizens have been under attack over the past decade. The report confirms a recent acceleration of the trend of ‘closing’ or ‘shrinking’ civic space. Triggered by both state and non-state actors through legal means like repressive laws, as well as through para-legal tactics, the backlash affect progressive
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