News and updates from BCSDN and the region
In a letter of concern, Access Info called Montenegro’s Ministry of Public Administration to postpone a public consultation on reforms to the Law on Free Access to Information that occurred during the first week of April 2020. The letter indicates that the public consultation comes just at a time when people are confined to their
Read more →As the global standard‑setter for combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism and proliferation, the FATF encourages governments to work with financial institutions and other businesses to use the flexibility built into the FATF’s risk-based approach to address the challenges posed by COVID-19 whilst remaining alert to new and emerging illicit finance risks. The
Read more →Launched by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Tracker 19 is a tool made for an unprecedented global crisis. Created in reference not only to Covid-19 but also article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the project aims to evaluate the pandemic’s impacts on journalism. It will document state censorship and deliberate disinformation, and their
Read more →Civil Rights Defenders announced the release of the Internet Freedoms in the Western Balkan Region report. Developed in cooperation with the SHARE Foundation, the report presents in-depth research on the state of internet freedoms in Serbia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Kosovo and Albania. It provides a comparative overview of specific indicators – according to the European
Read more →Covid-19 response is at present an all-consuming effort for governments and people in countries around the world. In a time of urgency, ICNL and ECNL offer a quick guide for authorities striving to protect lives in line with their duty to uphold human rights and protect human dignity, based on international human rights obligations. The
Read more →The coronavirus is a significant threat to public health; swift and effective government action is necessary. ICNL explores this tension and how governments can move quickly while upholding human rights in their response to a public health crisis. Governments can use a crisis as a pretext to infringe rights. In recent weeks, governments around the
Read more →Internet connectivity and use of forms of social media have become increasingly central to many aspects of organizing and exercising the right to freedom of peaceful assembly over the past decade. Over the same period, international bodies have regularly acknowledged the prominent role of the internet and the need to recognize that many of our
Read more →In the last several years, democracy indices have recorded that many EU governments have narrowed civic space. Authorities have used a wide range of tools to constrict the space for dissent and contestation; some of their tactics are blunt, others are more subtle. European civil society has begun to respond to the assault on civic
Read more →The main objective of the study is to analyze the current interaction, participation, and engagement patterns and mechanisms between public institutions and civil society. This is facilitated by focusing on the cooperation of CSOs with decision-makers in Parliament, central government (line ministries), local government, and independent institutions. The study finds that the legal and policy
Read more →Deliberative processes are one of the most innovative methods of fostering citizen participation in government. The OECD has collected a wealth of evidence as to how deliberative processes work across different countries. The analysis of the evidence collected reveals a number of common principles and good practices that may be of useful guidance to policy-makers
Read more →The issues in the publication, addressed by the mechanisms are concerned particularly with issues affecting civil society space (which is undergoing ever increasing pressure, partly attributable to efforts to counter terrorism, the impact of which on NGOs is not always taken into account), the criminalization of some of their legitimate activities, the problems faced by
Read more →Freedom House report monitors the situation in the areas of electoral process, political pluralism and participation, the functioning of government, freedom of expression and thought, the rule of law as well as fundamental freedoms. As stated in the report, 83 countries are ranked free, 63 as partially free, while 49 are free. This year, Serbia
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