In a new case study, Dina Djordjevic, a journalist of the Centre for Investigative Reporting, presents how local actions against small hydropower plants in Serbia have turned into a mass environmental revolt at the national level.

This document aims to positively address the legal framework of four basic rights that are necessary for human rights defenders to be able to perform their activities, to point out problems in legislation, but also to present a real picture of the position of activists in Serbia who encounter direct or indirect violations of these rights on a daily basis.

Regarding the frequent official and informal calls on civil society organizations to get involved in the consultation process with the Ministry of Human and Minority Rights and Social Dialogue for drafting The National Strategy for an Enabling Environment for Civil Society Development in the Republic of Serbia, we remind that the intolerant atmosphere towards civil society, due to which civil society organizations made their decision not to participate in this process in April of this year, has not changed.

The working conditions deteriorated significantly in 2020 – not only those of civil society organisations (CSOs), but of all social actors who, in performing their activities, express critical views of the current political or social situation in Serbia. More about this topic, find out in the case study written by Bojana Selaković from Civic Initiatives.

How did the Regulatory Institute for Renewable Energy and the Environment (RERI) manage to prevent the preparatory works for constructing the cable car terminal on Kalemegdan? Find out in the latest case study written by Jovan Rajić and Mirko Popović.

How the issue of building mini hydro power plants (MHPPs) on the Rakita River has become one of the largest environmental initiatives in recent years in Serbia? Read in the case study written by activists of the initiative " Let’s Defend the Rivers of Stara Planina [Old Mountain]".

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.

What challenges do whistleblowers in Serbia face? Can they count on protection and support? Do their cases have epilogues? Find out in the article of the journalist and member of the Civil Committee for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Whistleblowers Vuk Cvijic.

How the protection of whistleblowers in the security sector is legally regulated, what obstacles they encounter, and how their position can be improved, read in the article by Sofia Mandic, a lawyer and member of the Civil Committee for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Whistleblowers.