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

Hungary violated EU state aid rules: a letter to the Commission - Article

The MFRR partners sent a new complaint to the EU Commissioner for Competition, asking for action against the deteriorating environment for media freedom las other countries like Poland are following the path established by Hungary

Media and artistic freedom under attack: Europe has to act - Article

The General Secretary of the European Federation of Journalists Ricardo Gutiérrez gave the keynote speech today at the Socialists & Democrats online event on media freedom and artistic freedom. He called on MEPs to push member state governments to adopt concrete measures to protect journalists

Slovenia: media freedom at risk - Article

Journalists say that personal attacks both from senior officials and the pro-government press have put a strain on their work. An analysis by Lili Bayer, published by Politico

Democracy Declining: Erosion of Media Freedom in Poland - Reports

Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) press freedom mission to Poland (November-December 2020) was lead by IPI. Here the Mission Report

Shelter City - Support Centres

Shelter City is a nationwide initiative of Justice and Peace Netherlands to protect human rights defenders, in cooperation with a growing number of Dutch cities and local organizations.

Human rights defenders defend the rights of themselves and of others. Through their work they play an important role in the promotion of democratic values, political freedoms, and civil rights. This is a challenging and dangerous fight: they are often silenced, threatened, arrested, tortured and sometimes they disappear.

Justice and Peace established Shelter City in 2012 on the request of their network of international human rights defenders. After the first Shelter City in The Hague, Middelburg joined in 2014, followed by Nijmegen, Maastricht, Utrecht, and Amsterdam in 2015, Tilburg and Groningen in 2016 and Zwolle and Haarlem in 2017. In 2018 Deventer also joined the Shelter City network. Rotterdam followed in 2020. Tbilisi & Batumi (Georgia), Dar Es Salaam (Tanzania), Cotonou (Benin) and San José (Costa Rica) have joined the network as International Shelter City Hubs. The expectation is that other cities (in or outside the Netherlands) will join in the future as well. The growing number of applications from Human Rights Defenders under threat shows that new Shelter Cities are strongly needed.

In every Shelter City the municipality, local organizations, universities, and Justice and Peace provide the shelter and take care of the program for the human rights defender. Together with the human rights defenders they organize meetings and workshops that contribute to the raising of awareness about human rights issues among the inhabitants of the Shelter Cities.

Shelter City is affiliated with the EU Human Rights Defenders Relocation Platform

Mapping Fake News and Disinformation in the Western Balkans and Identifying Ways to Effectively Counter Them - Reports

A study requested by the European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs, concluding that the European Union should focus on the role that it can play in bolstering the quality of democracy and governance in the Western Balkans, as the most powerful potential bulwark against disinformation

Regardless of Frontiers. Global Freedom of Expression in a Troubled World - Books

A collection of essays where the authors also consider ongoing and new challenges to global norms on freedom of expression and information, from conflicts over hate speech and the rise of populism to authoritarian governments, as well as the profound disruption introduced by the internet

France: one defamation action dropped, but the threat remains - Article

The MFRR welcomes the dropping of the defamation action against Inès Léraud but vexatious legal threats continue to threaten media freedom across Europe

CINS Center for Investigative Journalism of Serbia - Stakeholders

Center for Investigative Journalism of Serbia – CINS (Centar za istraživačko novinarstvo Srbije – CINS) is a non-profit, non-governmental organization committed to investigative journalism according to the internationally recognized standards, including the use of new tools and techniques.

The goal is to continuously offer important facts about Serbian society that were hidden or unknown. CINS hopes to help citizens reach informed decisions in this manner.

Center for Investigative Journalism of Serbia was founded by the Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia with the aim to show that independent journalism in line with the highest professional standards is possible in Serbia.

CINS is funded by donations in order to avoid the influence of funding sources originating from business and politics.

CINS supports the inclusion of vulnerable groups and the equality of all Serbian citizens, regardless of their gender, race, national, religious or political affiliation and other diversities. CINS also supports the right of citizens to transparency of the work of public bodies and the right to be informed about all the facts important for our society.