Share Foundation

The Western Balkans has faced ongoing political tensions and "culture wars" that have migrated from the physical world to the digital space, leading to human rights violations in digital environments.

Digital rights violations have been rising across Southeastern Europe since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic with a similar pattern - pro-government trolls and media threatening freedom of expression and attacking journalists who report such violations.

Together with our partners, BIRN is launching a series of online and offline events aimed to amplify the voices of strong and credible individuals and organisations in the region that promote the core values of democracy, such as civic engagement, independent institutions, transparency and rule of law.

Nineteen organisations from Southeast Europe have joined forces 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.

"The threats to Zana Cimili, as to other N1 journalists, are not only threats to the individual reporters but also to freedom of speech and of the media as fundamental democratic rights," said the channel, which has reporters in countries across the former Yugoslavia.

The Novi Sad-based SHARE Foundation NGO warned that the Serbian authorities are pushing through the country's first Law on Critical Infrastructure without a period of public discussion or a clear definition of what exactly is meant by critical infrastructure. 

Ahead of the elections in the Serbian capital scheduled for March 4, Serbia's outdated voting system has one advantage: it is immune from potential hack attacks, experts say.

"The most susceptible system to hacking is the e-voting system, which Serbia doesn't have and will not have any time soon," Bojan Klacar, from the Center for Free Elections and Democracy, CeSid, told BIRN.

If the battle to become Serbia's next president was decided in terms of online activity, spoof character Ljubisa Preletacevic "Beli", played by Luka Maksimovic, would win hands down.

That is the verdict of research carried out by a Belgrade-based NGO, Share Foundation, which shows thatBeli notched up almost 600,000 interactions on his posts on his official Facebook page.