Even though the year 2023 was marked by mass murders in Serbia, incidents in Kosovo, irregular parliamentary elections, systematic abuse of tabloids to destroy the reputation of our organisation, but also attempted spy attacks on representatives of civil society, we managed to ignite new energy, start conversations on important topics and in that way influence changes.<\/p>\n
With the hope that in the coming year, you will continue being our ally in the fight for a democratic society of responsible institutions where security is a public good, we would like to thank you for the support you have given us every step of the way.<\/p>\n
We encourage you to keep following our work in 2024, participate in our activities, and help us defend democratic values together.<\/p>\n
The BCSP wishes you a happy and safe 2024!\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
Here is a reminder of the greatest BCSP achievements in the year behind us.<\/p>\n
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During this year, which in Serbia was marked by a mass shooting in an elementary school in Belgrade and the villages of Dubona and Malo Ora\u0161je, we continued to fight even more resolutely against systemic problems and for the creation of responsible state institutions. Together with 20 other civil society organisations, we initiated an analysis of the security sector to determine the circumstances that led to the tragic events in May. In this way, we showed that we have the capacities and competence to implement fundamental social changes.<\/p>\n
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We improved the regional influence by organising\u00a0BSC Leaders Meetings<\/a> conferences attended by presidents, prime ministers, and officials from the region’s countries who led constructive discussions about the future of democratic reforms, regional cooperation, and the Western Balkans in global politics.<\/p>\n We are especially proud to have been the organisers of a panel discussion at this year’s\u00a0Munich Security Conference (MSC)<\/a>\u00a0where we discussed Russia’s influence on the Western Balkans with world and regional officials. Regarding the influence of third powers on the region, we are the first think-tank to publish comprehensive analyses of the influence of\u00a0Hungary<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Turkey<\/a>. We will continue to deal with these topics in the future.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n After two mass murders in Serbia at the beginning of May, BCSP became part of\u00a0the network of associations of citizens, journalists, and media against violence<\/a>, which supports the civil demands of the “Serbia against violence” protest. With our active participation, we continue to advocate for the fulfillment of the demands of the protest, as well as for establishing the facts and circumstances that led to these tragic events.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Through public opinion research, analysis, and studies, the BCSP also assesses the implementation and effectiveness of a series of measures adopted by the Government of Serbia after multiple murders, in order to have better control over weapons and improve safety in schools and among youth.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As part of the\u00a0prEUgovor<\/a>\u00a0coalition, which\u00a0celebrated its decade of existence in 2023<\/a>, we continued to advocate for the preservation of rule of law reforms through the presentation of an independent semiannual\u00a0Alarm Report<\/a>\u00a0that monitors the state of reforms in selected areas of Cluster 1.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n By mapping the mechanisms and main points of institutional capture, we continued to shed light on topics such as\u00a0reforms of the Law on Internal Affairs<\/a>, electronic media, and public information, as well as the use of digital surveillance technologies, in this way indicate\u00a0recommendations aimed at the state de-capture<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In mid-October, we successfully organised the second\u00a0Belgrade Security Conference<\/a>, which gathered over 500 participants and over 80 panelists. Among the topics of this year’s conference were\u00a0challenges and proposals for the reform of the UN Security Council<\/a>, the\u00a0current state of relations between Serbia and Kosovo<\/a>\u00a0and other potential sources of instability in the region,\u00a0the future of NATO<\/a>\u00a0and its importance for the security architecture,\u00a0the fight for human rights<\/a>, and\u00a0feminist foreign policy in times of war<\/a>,\u00a0state de-capture processes<\/a>, and many others.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n To continue the discussions from the Belgrade Security Conference throughout the year in all countries of the region, we launched the\u00a0BSC Leaders Meetings events<\/a>, and this year, we managed to gather leaders in the field of foreign and security policy throughout the Western Balkans.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Together with our partners, we have created a regional network that will consist of a total of 120 young leaders from Serbia, BiH, and Kosovo over 2 cycles. Through\u00a0the regional peacebuilding academy<\/a>\u00a0and a series of meetings, young leaders will contribute to suppressing narratives that encourage conflicts and practices of division in the region.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In addition, the novelty of BSC 2023 is\u00a0the BSC Young Leaders program<\/a>, which aims to gather young people from the Western Balkans and encourage them to actively participate in the most important topics of the foreign and security policy of Serbia, the Balkans, Europe, and the world.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We continued to provide a\u00a0safe haven<\/a>\u00a0for foreign and security policy researchers from Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine who, during their stay in Serbia, can continue their research work in the BCSP premises, publish texts and\u00a0analyses<\/a>, and participate in\u00a0public discussions<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n Throughout 2023, the BCSP continued to support activists, whistleblowers, and freedom fighters to further their mission and increase the democratic capacity of society in general. On the first day of the BSC conference, we presented the newly established\u00a0“Lighthouse” award<\/a>\u00a0to Aleksandar Obradovi\u0107, the Serbian whistleblower in the “Kru\u0161ik” affair.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n At the beginning of the year,\u00a0the BCSP became a member of the Southeast Europe Coalition on Whistleblower Protection<\/a>, and at the end of the year, we signed\u00a0an open letter for the protection of whistleblowers<\/a>, which was addressed to all member states of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n BCSP IN NUMBERS\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n \u2022 The BCSP research and analysis were mentioned in the media over 1420 times during 2023.<\/p>\n \u2022 The BCSP team organised over 20 public events.<\/p>\n \u2022 During 2023, the BCSP published over 50 publications, short analyses, infographics, and over 80 video stories on various topics.<\/p>\n \u2022 The BCSP team is the largest so far, and at the end of 2023, it consists of 25 people, including visiting researchers.<\/p>\n \u2022 In the previous year, we provided assistance in 24 cases of pressure and attacks on activists throughout Serbia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the year behind us, we faced great challenges on the road to building a safe and free society. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":33925,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7415],"tags":[10256],"vest_saopstenje":[9454],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-33924","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bscp","tag-bcsp","vest_saopstenje-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bezbednost.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bezbednost.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bezbednost.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bezbednost.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bezbednost.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33924"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/bezbednost.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33924\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33928,"href":"https:\/\/bezbednost.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33924\/revisions\/33928"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bezbednost.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bezbednost.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bezbednost.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bezbednost.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33924"},{"taxonomy":"vest_saopstenje","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bezbednost.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vest_saopstenje?post=33924"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bezbednost.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=33924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}BCSP against violence\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n
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A Decade of prEUgovor\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n
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BCSP and State De-capture\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n
BSC 2023\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n
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BCSP and Young Leaders\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n
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BCSP as a Safe Haven\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n
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BCSP Support for Activists and Whistleblowers\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n
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