News and updates from BCSDN and the region
From smear campaigns to funding restrictions, governments across the EU are increasingly trying to silence human rights defenders. While the situation in Hungary is particularly severe, having in mind the recently launched ‘Stop Soros’ package of draft laws targeting civil society, Hungary is not the only EU country in which civil society groups face enormous difficulties in
Read more →The International Center for Not-for-Profit Law‘s (ICNL) Civic Freedom Monitor provides up-to-date information on legal issues affecting not-for-profit, non-governmental organizations on 51 countries and 8 multilateral organizations around the world. As part of this initiative, TUSEV provides an overview of key legal issues relating to civic freedom, with a focus on legal barriers to civil
Read more →TACSO Turkey Office published the “State of Play on CSOs Data in Turkey” Report which is prepared in cooperation with the TUSEV and Civil Society Development Centre (STGM) with contributions from Ministry for EU Affairs. The report indicates sources of available official civil society data collected, managed and disclosed by relevant public authorities. The report
Read more →The Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) published its latest report, “Challenges facing civil society organisations working on human rights in the EU”, which looks at the different types and patterns of challenges faced by civil society organisations working on human rights in the EU. The report notably recognises CSOs in the EU playing a crucial role
Read more →On January 18, the Hungarian government introduced a package of three draft laws targeting CSOs under the title “Stop Soros”. Following the 2017 law on transparency of foreign-funded organisations, this package of draft laws is yet another restrictive measure Hungarian CSOs have to face. It fits into the EU-wide pattern of threats and pressures targeting
Read more →The European Union is setting a bad example by allowing some of its members to stifle human rights groups, which is encouraging crackdowns elsewhere in the world, a top United Nations official charged with defending rights activists said. Michel Forst said officials in Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Israel and other countries pointed at recent
Read more →From rising repression on the streets to the battle for the internet, in 2018 the spaces where citizens seek to freely express themselves and organize are increasingly contested. What was a trend has become a global emergency and “‘a universal phenomenon, no longer restricted to autocracies and fragile democracies,” writes Danny Sriskandarajah, Secretary General of
Read more →As countries around the globe contend with the threat of terrorism, the challenges to civil liberties and civil society have never been greater. Acknowledging the threat posed by violent actors in many parts of the world is not a carte blanche to crackdowns on legitimate dissent, on protest, on the freedom of assembly and freedom
Read more →Recent scandals about the role of social media in key political events in the US, UK and other European countries over the past couple of years have underscored the need to understand the interactions between digital platforms, misleading information and propaganda, and their influence on collective life in democracies. In response to this, the Public
Read more →The policy paper “From Aiming EU Accession back to Albanian Participative Decision Making– Policy analyses and options to improve public participation practices in environmental decision making”, represents the final and among the most important outputs of EDEN Center within the project “Horizon to EU accession – engaging civil society and active citizenship in environmental policies.
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