Human rights

The COVID-19 outbreak has worsened divisive and irresponsible public discourse in Moldova, an expert monitoring hate speech from Promo-LEX organisation tells BIRN in an interview.

A total of 75 signatories, including Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN, have signed a letter asking social media and content-sharing platforms to preserve all data they've blocked or removed during the coronavirus pandemic and make it public for researchers and journalists in the future.

The Ekyklos think tank is organizing an online public debate titled "Privacy and Personal Data at the Time of Coronavirus," featuring the president of the European Court of Human Rights, Linos-Alexandre Sicilianos.
The debate will be screened live on Youtube, Facebook and ekyklos.gr on Thursday from 7 p.m.

Mobile apps to track coronavirus cases in Europe should keep as much data as possible on the user's device rather than in a central server to best maintain individual privacy, an EU document says.

European countries hope that rolling out mobile apps to track coronavirus cases will make it easier to lift the lockdown orders that have crushed European and world economies.

Albania Prime Minister Edi Rama speaking in parliament on March 5 2020. Photo: LSA

"International rights organisations recommend decreasing the prison population due to the elevated danger that the COVID-19 disease poses to them. However, proposals running against these recommendations are being discussed in the parliament of Albania," their joint letter reads.

A delegation from Parliament's preliminary inquiry committee into the handling of the Novartis bribery case by the previous administration petitioned the Supreme Court on Thursday to look into the status of its three key whistleblowers.

The second of two protected witnesses who had alleged that politicians had taken kickbacks from pharmaceutical giant Novartis did not keep a scheduled appointment with the parliamentary committee probing the handling of the Novartis scandal.

The Cypriot soccer league got back on track Monday after referees ended their walkout following assurances about their safety in the wake of a bombing attack against a colleague's car.

Despite the development, there are still lingering allegations of match-fixing.

The European Court of Justice should uphold its 2016 decision that personal data cannot be seized and held indiscriminately by governments even on national security grounds, the court's advocate general said in an opinion on Wednesday.

Following the publication of the girl's personal information, her photographs and health information in some media, the Ministry of Information reacted, as well as the profession.