Civil Liberties Union for Europe (Liberties) - Stakeholders

The Civil Liberties Union for Europe (Liberties) is a watchdog that safeguards the human rights of everyone in the European Union.

The team is made up of experts in human rights and communications.

Liberties works closely with a network of members in Brussels and across 18 EU countries and is registered as a non-governmental organisation in Berlin with a presence in Brussels.

Here the description ot its methods:

First, we use advocacy. This means we use our expertise to explain to people working in the EU institutions and national governments why and how they should uphold human rights.

Second, we help our members litigate. That means we give our members expertise on EU law to use in court cases, and we help our members take cases simultaneously in different EU countries.

Third, we use public mobilisation. We talk directly to you, the public, about the problems we’re working on so you can spread the word and help us put pressure on the EU and national governments to solve them.

Country factsheet: Bulgaria - Article

Called "the black sheep of EU media freedom", Bulgaria faces a lot of issues related to freedom of expression and safety of journalists. Here a detailed overview made by OBCT journalist Francesco Martino, who lives in Sofia

Extradition proceedings against Jonathan Taylor need to end! - Article

A wide range of organisations calls on Croatia and Monaco to end extradition proceedings and asks the European Parliament to condemn the ongoing harassment of such an important whistleblower

MFRR calls on EU countries to protect Hungarian Journalists in Europe from state monitoring - Article

The EU Ministries of Foreign Affairs haven't answered to the letter of concern sent on 25 September, while the situation in Hungary is getting worse

Slovenia: OBCT joins IPI's statement condemning brazen use of SLAPP - Article

We believe it is abundantly clear that the number and nature of the spurious defamation lawsuits against Necenzurirano are not aimed at achieving justice, but instead at silencing the outlet by forcing its journalists to fight time-consuming and costly legal battles, draining them financially and discouraging them from further reporting

Hungary: new attempts of the government to control journalists - Article

The International Press Institute (IPI) expressed serious concern over reports that the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs requested its embassies in EU countries to deliver information about the activities of Hungarian journalists abroad

Hungary: a letter of concern to EU institutions - Article

Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) partners are profoundly concerned about the latest media freedom attacks in Hungary, which follow only days after the EU Summit, where Prime Minister Viktor Orbán praised the rule of law situation in his country

Spain: a new law against fact-checking - Article

An analysis by Javier Luque, IPI Head of Digital Communications, for Media Freedom Rapid Response: polarization and attempts by far-right party to smear fact-checkers and journalists corner press freedom in the country

Bulgaria: the end of a legal harassment - Article

On 28 June the independent publisher and businessman Ivo Prokopiev was finally acquitted, thus confirming that the charges against him can be considered retaliatory and intended to stifle investigative reporting. The Media Freedom Rapid Response partners are relieved but ask to stop all further legal harassment against him and Economedia. Here the statement that was issued before the trial

Legal threats against EUobserver: an international call for solidarity to stop the use of SLAPPs - Article

We join Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) partners, journalist bodies, free expression and journalist support organisations in expressing our concern about the legal threats made against EUobserver in Luxembourg and Belgium. We call to stop the use of Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP) actions across Europe. Left unreformed, such legal threats will be sufficient to silence media workers and outlets. We stand in solidarity with EUobserver and will continue to monitor developments around the case