Civil society organisations, journalists, and human rights defenders across the Western Balkans and European Union (EU) are operating in a digital environment defined by raising threats and inadequate protection. This analysis presents findings from a needs assessment survey conducted within the “Defending Digital Freedoms: Strengthening Civil Society Resilience against Digital Repression in Europe” project, gathering 239 responses from 11 countries (six Western Balkan and five EU member states).

At the panel discussion “Freedoms Under Pressure: Civil Society and Digital Oversight in Serbia and Abroad”, organised by the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy (BCSP) on 31 October in Belgrade, speakers warned that digital surveillance and spyware use are rapidly becoming tools of political control in Serbia and across Europe, posing severe risks to human rights and democracy.

Organised by the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy (BCSP), the Sandbox Conference titled "Human Rights Defenders Under Attack" concluded earlier this week.

Human rights defenders are people who act, individually or jointly, to advance human rights and fundamental freedoms and fight for their protection at the local, national and international levels.

The Network of Citizens, Journalists, and Media Organizations, fervently urge you to direct your attention to a deeply disconcerting incident in Serbia. Ms. Sofija Todorovic, Programme Director of the Youth Initiative for Human Rights (YIHR), was deliberately targeted in an alarming attempt to intimidate and undermine the fundamental rights of civil society activists. This act not only dehumanizes our defenders of liberty but ominously heralds potential harassment and threats they may face in the future.

Which international mechanisms for protection are available to human rights defenders? President of the Committee of Lawyers for Human Rights YUCOM and a member of the Civil Committee for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Whistleblowers Katarina Golubović offers the answer to this question in the working study.