Civil society

To defend the Balkan rivers, it was first necessary to make people aware that they were in danger. An interview with Ulrich Eichelmann, founder of the NGO RiverWatch and one of the coordinators of the campaign Save the Blue Heart of Europe

For nearly two weeks Bulgaria has been shaken by street demonstrations against the Borisov government. The heart of the mobilization is the center of the capital Sofia, where thousands of citizens are demanding the resignation of the executive, fighting corruption and the uncontrolled power of the oligarchs. The faces of the protest in the photos of our correspondent

A real diplomatic race between the US and the EU has recently started on the Serbia-Kosovo negotiations. The opinion of Lulzim Peci of the Kosovar Institute for Political Research and Development and Sonja Biserko, founder and president of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia

Together with more than 40 ngos, we call to the Turkish authorities to free Kurdish journalist Nedim Türfent, who is in jail since May 2016 for false allegations of "terrorism": his only fault was to report on Kurdish issues and on the abuses of Turkish special forces. After almost 1500 days of detention, we invite everybody to sign this call

Lisičići, halfway between Mostar and Sarajevo, was submerged by an artificial lake in the 1950s. After nearly 70 years, the inhabitants still await justice. Meanwhile, the village has been reborn, and the lake has become its best ally

In the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, under fierce lockdown measures, Albania’s socialist government performed the last act of the power play on the demolition of the National Theatre. At the expense of democracy

Six years ago, Bosnia and Herzegovina experienced a catastrophic flood. Today the country remains among the most exposed in all of Europe. Efforts have been made to reduce these risks, but they are often limited to international projects, without local institutions really taking charge of them

Are the histories of the former Yugoslavia and Albania finally entering Europe’s space of memory? A constantly increasing number of Italian school trips to the region gives us reason to hope so

The Council of Europe and media freedom international organisations call on European States to defend independent journalistic work and not to exploit the Coronavirus crisis to further limit free access to information

Dozens of activists from South Eastern European countries, under the name of "Transbalkan Solidarity Group", have launched an appeal to the European Union, the Commission, the governments of EU member states and the Balkan countries, in order to safeguard refugees and migrants without any discrimination or esclusion

Many European organisations have made an appeal to the European Parliament in order to stop violence and the use of force against defenseless people at the EU-Turkey border and to restore legality and respect for human rights, including the right to asylum

Two Turkish sociologists and journalists went to see with their own eyes what is happening on the border between Turkey and Greece. An intense reportage

Graffiti on the walls of Yerevan are both art and political activism. A reportage

More than 100,000 migrants and refugees are still present in Greece. Many of them live in refugee camps, which are not appropriate accommodation solutions because of their location in faraway, poory connected areas

A new wave of protests is expected to mark the beginning of 2020 in Albania. With a fragmented opposition and a non-representative Parliament, civic protests may serve as a catalyst for further democratisation and freedom of speech

The 20-month long protests against the demolition of the National Theatre reflect not only the need to protect the country's common historical and cultural heritage, but also citizens’ demands for further democratisation of Albania

It has operated for over ten years alongside Ukraine's LGBT+ community. A meeting with some Insight activists and their views on Ukrainian society and the slow progress on rights in post-Soviet Ukraine

Combining scientific research, dissemination, and participation; telling the story of Rijeka in multiple languages. These are the objectives of an international project of which OBCT is a partner, in view of Rijeka – European Capital of Culture 2020

According to the World Health Organisation, the seven INSPIRE strategies are the most effective in reducing violence against children. ChildPact and its members surveyed 296 child focused organisations and institutions across South-Eastern Europe and the Caucasus to find out who's working on the INSPIRE package

OBCT is among the founders of ECPMF, a media freedom centre based in Leipzig – just where the demonstrations that would lead to the collapse of the Wall started in October 1989. Thirty years later, one of the slogans of that revolutionary autumn has become an angry claim on the electoral posters of the far-right AfD party

According to the decision in the third hearing in the case Gezi Park, Osman Kavala has to remain behind bars. OBCT joins other international organisations to call for his release. The full text of the statement

A walk in the centre of Rijeka on the centenary of D'Annunzio's enterprise: politics, the work of historians, memory, and democracy

For three days our partners of ECPMF joined 7 other freedom of expression organisations on a joint mission to Turkey, led by the International Press Insitute. Despite some glimmers of hope, press freedom in the country remains in crisis. Here the final statement, released on 13^th September

Less than two months after acquittal in the first instance, two journalists and an activist find themselves accused of "terrorist propaganda": Erol Önderoğlu, Ahmet Nesin, and Şebnem Korur Fincancı will have to face the appeal trial

In 2008, the first LGBT public initiative in Bosnia and Herzegovina suffered a harsh aggression which caused 15 injured and the cancellation of the event. On September 8^th, the opportunity is coming to overcome this trauma, with the country's first Pride

Every year, in Ptuj, Slovenia, a poet writes a "letter to Europe". This year it is signed by Ilija Trojanow, writer, translator and publisher

Concerns persist over the approval of the new package of amendments aimed at modifying two important laws on the Albanian media, the so-called "anti-defamation package"

The deaths of Dženan and David are just some of the "silenced cases", the many episodes of bad justice that have shaken Bosnia and Herzegovina in recent years. Hence arose one of the few mobilisations capable of crossing the administrative and so-called "ethnic" borders of the country after the war

In several cities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, from May 28th to June 2nd, an important history festival was held which brought together about 100 historians from the region. This year, however, the History Fest has become a case of ethno-political tension

Montenegro remains plagued by major issues of crime and corruption, which directly involve the ruling elite. An interview with Dejan Milovac, deputy director of the MANS NGO