Digital Freedom Fund (DFF) - Support Centres

The Digital Freedom Fund supports Europe’s digital rights litigators – NGOs, pro bono lawyers and sometimes regular litigators – enabling them to become more effective in their work. They do this in a number of ways:

- through grants to support the legal, advocacy, research, and other costs involved in litigation;

- through facilitating digital rights actors’ access to pro-bono legal support.

DFF is supported by Open Society Foundations, Adessium Foundation, Omidyar Network, Renewable Freedom Foundation and the Democracy and Media Foundation.

E-mail: grants@digitalfreedomfund.org

Montenegro: the fight against impunity begins in the courtroom - Legal Resources

Two recent landmark judgements in Montenegro seek to end impunity for crimes against journalists, reversing a long-lasting trend and holding authorities responsible for failing to investigate attacks against journalist Tufik Softić

Media before Serbian Courts: A Struggle to Reach European Standards - Legal Resources

In the field of the media law, Serbian courts are reluctant to adapt to European Court of Human Rights case-law. Serbian NGO YUCOM identified a number of gaps in the jurisprudence and formulated recommendations to address them

State Sponsored Trolling - Reports

The report published by the Institute for the Future explores how governments are deploying disinformation as part of broader digital harassment campaigns

International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) - Stakeholders

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) is the world's largest organisation of journalists. First established as the Fédération Internationale des Journalistes (FIJ) in 1926 in Paris, it was relaunched as the International Organization of Journalists (IOJ) in 1946 but lost its Western members to the Cold War and re-emerged in its present form in 1952 in Brussels. Today the Federation represents around 600,000 members in 140 countries.

IFJ promotes international action to defend press freedom and social justice through strong, free and independent trade unions of journalists. Its Safety Programme includes casework, protests, campaigns, information and production of various publications. The Safety Fund, established in 1992, is an integral part of this programme that provides immediate financial relief to journalists in financial straits as a result of work-related reasons, such as:

• Forced exile due to threats at home
• Litigation
• Medical Expenses
• Travel costs

The request for assistance has to be submitted either to the IFJ regional offices in the applicant’s region or directly to the IFJ Human Rights and Communications Officer in Brussels.

Southeast Europe Coalition on Whistleblower Protection - Stakeholders

The Southeast Europe Coalition on Whistleblower Protection is a regional organization dedicated to strengthening legal protections and rights for whistleblowers. It does so by investigating whistleblower cases and raising awareness of the value of whistleblowing to fight crime and corruption. The Coalition is comprised of more than 30 NGOs and other groups from 13 Southeast Europe countries.

Protection of journalistic sources is a basic condition for press freedom - Legal Resources

The new judgment Becker v. Norway by the European Court of Human Rights strengthens the protection of journalistic sources

Journalists dismissed from Polish public radio return to work - Legal Resources

Two journalists were dismissed in December 2016 from Polish Radio for "disciplinary reasons". Both filed a court action against the dismissal and are now reinstatement to their job

Restrictions on parliamentary reporting violates free expression: MLDI files intervention at European Court - Legal Resources

MLDI and four other NGOs have filed a third-party intervention in the European Court of Human Rights case of Iván Szabolcs Mándli and Others v. Hungary. The Court will examine the circumstances under which journalists may be forbidden from entering and reporting from public fora, such as parliamentary premises

Sindikat medija Crne Gore - Trade Union of Media of Montenegro - Stakeholders

The Trade Union of Media of Montenegro (Sindikat medija Crne Gore) deals with contractual disputes between staff and employers and provides journalists legal support, but it also participates in public-awareness campaigns around specific policy or regulatory issues that impact journalists’ reporting practices and rights.