The analysis explores how far-right Telegram channels instrumentalise opposition to the Rio Tinto project and lithium mining in Serbia to amplify their pre-existing nationalist and anti-Western narratives.

For the population of Serbia, this issue is exacerbated by the existing problems of galloping privatisation and destruction of public goods, especially natural resources. In the last decade, two sides of the environment have emerged and intensified in the local public.

The following transcript is from the opening speech by Pieter Omtzigt, former member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) and former rapporteur on Pegasus and other spyware and secret state surveillance. The speech was delivered at the Sandbox Conference organised by the Civil Society Digital Security Network (CSDSN) in Tirana on 27 May 2026.

The Civil Committee for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Whistleblowers strongly condemns the threats directed at journalist Vuk Cvijić, which occurred on December 17 and were allegedly triggered by an article he wrote for the weekly Radar.

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.

The Civil Committee for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Whistleblowers calls on the competent Public Prosecutor’s Office to immediately act upon information about an alleged plot to assassinate student Pavle Cicvarić, as publicly stated on Informer television by Siniša Vučinić, a member of the Main Board of the Serbian Progressive Party.

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.

On February 14, regime-controlled tabloids published articles filled with disinformation, accusing Jelena Jovanović, Operations Manager of the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy (BCSP), of orchestrating local protests allegedly funded through BCSP projects. These accusations are entirely unfounded and represent yet another attempt to criminalise civil society in Serbia.