Category: Media freedom

Turkish Journalists Targeted by Prosecutions, Fines, Jail Terms: Report

Posted on by Ivana Jeremic

A report published on Monday by Turkish independent media website Bianet said that in 2021, the Turkish government mobilised supposedly self-regulating and impartial institutions to “bring journalists and media outlets that are critical, investigative and inquiring to their knees”.

The BIA Media Monitor 2021 Report said that 35 journalists in Turkey were sentenced to a total of 92 years in prison in 2021.

Charges included “insulting the President”, “membership of an [illegal or terrorist] organisation”, “obtaining and disclosing confidential documents” or “espionage” under the Turkish Penal Code, or “propagandising for a terrorist organisation” under the country’s Anti-Terror Law.

Eight journalists in 2021, and 70 journalists in past five years, have been convicted of insulting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The report noted that Turkey has been the “world’s worst jailer of journalists” for years, and the government relied even more strongly on “judicial control” of the media in 2021.

State institutions for monitoring and regulating the media continued yo target independent journalists and media houses “in a mediascape where 90 per cent of national media outlets are controlled by the government”, the report said.

It noted that newspapers including Evrensel, Sözcü, Cumhuriyet, Korkusuz, BirGun, Karar, Milli Gazete, Yenicag and Yeni Asya were barred from carrying advertisements for public institutions in 2021, depriving them of revenue.

It also said that the Radio and Television Supreme Council, RTUK imposed fines on media outlets that aired critical or inquiring broadcasts such as Fox TV, Halk TV, Tele1 and KRT. In total, broadcasters were fined 31,630,000 Turkish lira – more than two million euros – in 2021.

According to the report, 56 journalists were physically attacked and 41 journalists were detained by police, mostly during their coverage of public events such as protests.

Government censorship, particularly of online media, also continued in 2021.

A total of 975 online news articles were censored in 2021, and 5,976 articles have been censored in the past five years, according to the data collected for the report.

Thirty-six journalists won cases against Turkey at the European Court of Human Rights, receiving more than 114,000 euros in compensation in 2021.

Turkey ranked 153th out of 180 countries in 2021 in the latest press freedom index issued watchdog organisation Reporters Without Borders.

Watchdog Marks Worrying Rise in SLAPP Cases in Croatia

Posted on by Ivana Jeremic

The Coalition Against SLAPPS in Europe, CASE, an umbrella group uniting a range of watchdog organisations, on Thursday published a comprehensive study noting a sharp rise in SLAPP cases across Europe over the last four years – with 539 cases across Europe today, a fifth of that number lodged in 2021 alone.

According to the policy paper, “SLAPPs in Europe, How the EU Can Protect Watchdogs From Abusive Lawsuits”, Malta, Slovenia, Croatia and Ireland top the list. Malta had the hightest rate of SLAPP cases per capita, with 3 per 100,000 people, followed by Slovenia at 1.9 and Croatia at 0.6.

More than one in ten cases recorded were cross-border and half the targets noted in the study were either individual journalists or newsrooms.

Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation are civil claims filed against individuals or organisations, often by businesses or government officials, against those who oppose them on issues of public concern, with a view to silencing them. They are widely seen as a a tool of “modern censorship”.

The paper quotes data compiled by the Croatian journalists’ association, HND, which recorded a total of 905 active court cases against journalist and media outlets in the country 2020 and at least 924 cases in 2021.

Of these cases in 2021, it is not clear how many are SLAPPs, but data from previous years showed that only one in ten journalists were eventually convicted or found liable for damages.

The Index.hr news outlet alone faces 65 active lawsuits. “Data from previous years showed that only one in ten journalists were eventually convicted or found liable for damages,” the policy report adds.

The fact that most SLAPP cases are lost in court does not diminish the harm they cause, the paper says, adding: “The litigation process causes the most harm, but also has an impact on society and democracy as a whole, in what has been defined as a ‘modern wave of censorship-by-litigation’.”

At the end of 2021, Croatia’s Ministry of Culture and Media organized a workshop on SLAPPs at which Zagreb County Court judge Krešimir Devcic said more than 1,100 such lawsuits had been brought, seeking over 70 million kune (almost a million euros) in damages.

“This is a critical mass of lawsuits that require an appropriate response from the judiciary. That’s why I think judges should specialise in such matters, or there should be a certain number of judges in court departments to deal with such lawsuits,” Devcic said, the news agency HINA reported.

In March 2021, a Croatian lawyer specializing in media law, Vanja Juric, who has often warned of the harmful affect of SLAPPs on the media, was elected member of the European Commission’s expert group on SLAPPs.

Both the trade union of Croatian Journalists, SNH, and the Croatian Journalists’ Association, HND, have warned about the damaging affect of SLAPPs on journalists and media.

In October 2021, HND said a businessman, Josip Stojanovic Jolly, had submitted a claim for damages of 300.000 euros against the Telegram.hr portal, claiming damage to reputation and honour caused by a published article.

As yet, no EU country has firm rules in place to stop this abuse, the paper notes. “Given the scale and nature of the problem, the EU has a responsibility to act and is in a key position to make sure governments across the EU take concrete measure to prevent and counter SLAPPs,” it states.

Bulgaria Probes Wave of Threats to Journalists, Activists, Politicians

Posted on by Ivana Jeremic

The Prosecution in Sofia on January 12 confirmed it was investigating several cases of threats and intimidation of journalists, activists and opposition politicians.

They concern journalist Atanas Tchobanov, activist and Sofia City Councillor Boris Bonev, the “We Continue the Change” MP Hristo Petrov, as well as new Interior Minister Boyko Rashkov. 

The Sofia Prosecution said a lack of help from other state institutions had so far prevented more progress from being made.

“In order to preserve the security of the people in question, the supervising prosecutors requested information from the competent structures: the Ministry of Interior, the National Police services, the State Security Agency and the Military Intelligence Service, on whether they have data on threats against them. Unfortunately, so far, no answers to our inquiries have been received, although the cases concern exported data on crimes that could affect the lives of Bulgarian citizens,” Nevena Zartova, from the Sofia Prosecution office, said on Wednesday.

The growing attacks on media freedom in the country have also reached the parliament. b“In Bulgaria, the unreformed special services often turn their back on instances of organized crime and corruption. Investigative journalism remains the only means of investigating the ‘deep state’,” Democratic Bulgaria MP Zarko Marinov told parliament on Wednesday.

Marinov said the threats made to the journalist Atanas Tchobanov needed to be “neutralized”.  Tchobanov said through his social media he had been alerted from abroad about threats to his life.

“Last Friday, at 12:05, I received a call from an official of a foreign government who warned that I was under an immediate physical threat and by law I have to be alerted about this. The threat is said to come from Bulgaria but I’m currently abroad. I immediately informed the Bulgarian [intelligence] services who were unaware of such danger,” he wrote.

After the Prosecution in Sofia started investigating the case, Tchobanov later added that the threat most likely came “from the first row of the parliament”. 

A recent article on website bird.bg, which he co-authored, looked into alleged ties between the mainly ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms’ member, the oligarch Peevski, and American lobbyist Anthony Podesta, who has signed contracts for nearly 2 million US dollars with Peevski-affiliated companies. In 2021, Tchobanov was also involved in the “Pandora Papers” leak, which showed that Peevski had offshore assets. 

On Monday, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms called on the authorities to probe the legitimacy of Tchobanov’s claims. 

On January 9, the Association of European Journalists – Bulgaria, AEJ Bulgaria, called for a rapid investigation of the threats made to Tchobanov and other journalists.

“Due to the nature of their work, which exposes corruption and irregularities, investigative journalists are in a vulnerable position and it is the responsibility of the institutions to protect them from those interested in drowning out their voices,” it said.

One day after Tchobanov revealed the threats he was facing, the activist Boris Bonev also stated that he has been alerted about a threat to him, with this warning also coming from abroad.

Bonev heads an NGO called “Save Sofia” (Spasi Sofia), which focuses on preserving Bulgaria’s capital and is critical of the legacy of Bulgaria’s former ruling GERB party and current Sofia mayor Yordanka Fandakova.

“I’ve always suspected that our fight for a brighter Sofia might cause irritation to some shadowy and wealthy figures in Bulgaria,” wrote Bonev, who ran in the Sofia mayoral elections in 2019 as an independent and won 10.77 per cent of the vote. On January 10, the Prosecution started a probe into his claims, too. 

On December 14 last year, the Prosecution also started looking into death threats made against “We Continue the Change” member and MP and popular rapper Hristo Petrov, also known as Itzo Hazarta.

Earlier that month, in a speech in parliament, Petrov claimed he was being intimidated, without providing much information on the threat. In December, authorities were also informed about threats being made against Interior Minister Boyko Rashkov. 

On January 12, AEJ highlighted another case endangering free speech in Bulgaria.

A Sofia City Court ruling on January 8 ordered journalists Boris Mitov and Stoyana Georgieva, editor-in-chief of website Mediapool.bg, to pay 60,000 leva (around 30,000 euro) for insulting and slandering judge Svetlin Mihaylov, described as “controversial” in a 2018 article focusing on various questionable bits in his professional history and reputation. 

“The court decision not only does not comment on the fact that Mihaylov is a public figure, but also does not discuss any of the arguments of the defence”, the AEJ recalled.

“The Association of European Journalists strongly opposes attempts to intimidate journalists through judicial repression for their critical publications, which contain proven and well-known allegations,” it added.

Poles Protest Against Law Silencing Foreign-Owned Media

Posted on by Ivana Jeremic

Poles protested in 126 towns across the country over the weekend against what has been dubbed “Lex TVN”, a law prohibiting ownership of media operating in Poland by companies outside the European Economic Area – the European Union plus Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.

The law only needs the signature of President Andrzej Duda to come into force. In the past, he expressed reservations about greenlighting it straight away.

Ever since it was proposed in the summer, the law was understood to be targeting TVN, the largest private television station in Poland, owned by US company Discovery, Inc. and which often criticises the ruling Law and Justice Party, PiS.

Both the EU and the US have voiced concern. US State Department spokesman Ned Price’s statement on Friday said: “The United States is deeply troubled by the passage in Poland today of a law that would undermine freedom of expression, weaken media freedom, and erode foreign investors’ confidence in their property rights and the sanctity of contracts in Poland.”

“Once this bill becomes a law, the Commission will not hesitate to take action in case of non-compliance with EU law,” Vera Jourova, European Commission Vice-President for Values and Transparency warned in a statement.

TVN is owned by Discovery via a company registered in The Netherlands, but the new bill would make it impossible for TVN to operate as before even with this ownership structure.

Discovery on Friday urged President Duda not to sign the bill. Over the summer, the company had indicated it would fight back, possibly taking legal action under the terms of a longstanding bilateral treaty between the US and Poland.

The adoption of “Lex TVN” forms part of an ongoing assault on media freedom in Poland ever since PiS came to power in 2015.

The governing party first established political control over public media, then rechannelled public advertising away from independent media to the channels it controls; and, at the end of 2020, the state-controlled energy giant PKN Orlen took over the company owning most local and regional media in the country.

By Monday morning, 2 million people had signed an appeal to President Duda not to pass the law, which the text describes as an attack not only on media freedom but also on democracy.

Representatives of all major democratic opposition parties and independent media took part in this weekend’s protest actions.

Turkish Media Overseer Penalising Independent Media With Fines – Report

Posted on by Ivana Jeremic

New research published by the independent online newspaper T24 says Turkey’s Radio and Television Supreme Council, RTUK, the state agency that monitors and sanctions radio and television broadcasts, is deliberately targeting independent media outlets with financial and other penalties to silence them.

“Tele 1 was fined for the same reasons as other media houses. RTUK penalises media houses that report the truth and do journalism. They want us to stop reporting,” Murat Taylan, General Coordinator at Tele 1 TV, told BIRN.

Taylan added that RTUK has become a government mechanism to control Turkey’s remaining independent media.

“We report on poverty, corruption, bans, rights and freedoms, which the government does not want us to report on. These fines will not change our editorial policy – but we have to share a part of our budget for fines, instead of improving our coverage and reports,” Taylan added.

It is calculated that RTUK has this year alone fined media outlets 92 times, with a total of 27 million Turkish lira, equal to 1.8 million euros; also, most of the fines were imposed on independent TV channels; 52 per cent of them on one channell, FOX TV, Turkey’s most watched TV channel.

RTUK has sanctioned news channels 57 times, and again, imposed most of the sanctions on independent and critically oriented media.

Of that number, 19 sanctions were imposed on Halk TV, 18 on Tele 1 and eight on KRT TV.

The pro-government A Haber news channel, by comparison, was fined once, after a court order because of a slander case.

“It is intended to put pressure on organisations that are followed, can form public opinion and, more importantly, can or do try to do journalism and broadcast using universal standards as much as possible,” Okan Konuralp, RTUK board member from the main opposition Republican People’s Party, CHP, told T24.

He added that the ultimate aim of the fines is to silence the independent media.

International rights groups have repeatedly accused the RTUK of going all out to punish independent media in Turkey, and of acting as a tool of the authoritarian government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Turkey ranked in 154th place out of 180 countries in 2020 in the latest press freedom index of watchdog organisation Reporters Without Borders, RSF, which classifies the Turkish government’s control over media outlets as high.

European Court Rejects Romanian Billionaire’s Claim Against Journalist

Posted on by Ivana Jeremic

The European Court of Human Rights, ECHR in Strasbourg on Tuesday ruled that a Romanian journalist did not violate billionaire Ion Țiriac’s right to private and family life with a newspaper report published in 2010.

The article written by the journalist from Financiarul newspaper, identified only as S.M., reported on the fortunes of 15 well-known Romanian public figures including Țiriac and their debts to the Romanian state.

But the ECHR’s judge said they had “ruled unanimously that there was no violation of Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life) of the European Convention on Human Rights”.

The article said that only two of the 15 people listed owed more to the Romanian state than Tiriac.

“The millionaire also has additional debts through the company PAM SA,” the article said. It further alleged that the public figures listed were hiding money in “personal offshore accounts”.

It claimed that most businesspeople with debts to the Romanian state had connections to public procurement contracts.

In his petition to the ECHR, Tiriac claimed 130,000 euros in damages, claiming that the article violated his honour and dignity.

Tiriac argued that the journalist had failed to provide clear and accurate information, and pointed to numerous alleged falsehoods in the article, refuting many of the claims of financial chicanery, according to the ECHR decision.

Before it was brought to the ECHR, the case was previously dismissed by the Bucharest County Court on the grounds of journalistic freedom of expression.

The Bucharest court stated that the journalist had acted in good faith and that the article had been a combination of statements of fact and value judgments.

Tiriac appealed, but in 2015, the Bucharest Court of Appeal dismissed his objection, holding that the article had concerned a matter of public interest.

According to Forbes Romania, former tennis player Tiriac’s fortune was estimated at 1.44 billion euros in 2021. Tiriac has business interests in trading cars, real estate, retail, insurance, banking and various other sectors.

Polish Authorities Intimidate Journalists at Belarus Border

Posted on by Ivana Jeremic

People in Polish Army uniform on Tuesday attacked three photojournalists working in Wiejka, a village near Michalowo, in the Podlaskie region, next to the border with Belarus, a statement put out on Wednesday by the Polish Press Club said.

The three journalists are named as Maciej Nabrdalik, a World Press Photo winner whose photos have appeared in The New York Times, Maciej Moskwa, from the documentary collective Testigo, and Martin Divisek, from the European Pressphoto Agency.

The three said the incident happened after they documented the presence of Polish armed forces around Wiejka – and that they had informed the army before taking any photos. The incident took place outside the state of the emergency zone, which blocks access of journalists to a three-kilometre-wide stretch of land along the border with Belarus.

According to the three, after they had finished their job and got back in the car to leave, people in Polish Army uniform – they never identified themselves, despite requests – blocked their path and dragged them out of the car, using obscenities.

The journalists said they were handcuffed and detained for an hour until the police came. In the meanwhile, the men in army uniforms searched the car as well as the memory cards of the camera, despite the journalists pointing out that this would breach the right to journalistic professional secrecy.

Photos posted by the Polish Press Club clearly show bruises on the wrists of the journalists, where the handcuffs would have been placed.

The incident occurred after, at the weekend, Polish police and border guards in the border area intimidated BIRN’s own team on the ground, made up of this reporter and Dutch-American photojournalist Jaap Arriens.

Early on November 14, a mixed team of both police and border guards (based on their uniforms) pulled over the car the BIRN journalists were travelling in near a checkpoint at Czeremcha, just outside the emergency zone. The uniformed officers demanded the International Mobile Equipment Identity numbers, IMEI, of the two journalists’ phones. The IMEI is a unique identifier for a mobile phone that enables it to be tracked.

When the journalists asked about the legal basis of this demand, the uniformed officers said the journalists were suspected of having stolen the phones. They added that the emergency zone had also expanded to where the journalists were at that moment, which was false: the journalists’ car was outside the emergency zone, before the checkpoint at Czeremcha. The implication was that they could be detained for up to 48 hours and face criminal proceedings initiated for illegally crossing into the zone.

“They lied to us and treated us as criminals, despite us clearly identifying ourselves as journalists,” Jaap Arriens said.

“They intimidated us in order to get the IMEI numbers. We felt that if we refused, we could be detained for up to 48 hours. This kind of behaviour means your rights are thrown right outside the window,” he added.

BIRN has heard of cases of other journalists being intimidated using similar techniques. We will return to the topic in the future.

Greek Intelligence Service Accused of ‘Alarming’ Surveillance Activity

Posted on by Ivana Jeremic

Greek journalist Stavros Malichudis has described the activities of the country’s National Intelligence Service, EYP as “alarming” after a report alleged that he and others were put under surveillance.

“In theory, the National Intelligence Service is tasked with protecting the national security of the country. But journalism does not threaten society, it serves society,” Malichudis told BIRN.

The report by Greek journalist Dimitris Terzis for the newspaper EFSYN on Sunday presented evidence that journalists, civil servants and lawyers dealing with refugees, as well as members of the anti-vaccination movement, are being monitored by the EYP.

Terzis’ report alleged that wiretapping of telephone conversations and the creation of “ideological profiles” are some of the measures that have been used by the EYP, which comes under the control of Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’s office.

The report claimed that Malichudis, a BIRN contributor, was targeted over his report for the Greek investigative media outlet Solomon about a 12-year-old refugee child from Syria who was forced to live for months in administrative detention with his family on the island of Kos.

Terzis alleged that the EYP knew the content of conversations between Malichudis and an employee of the International Organization for Migration, IOM who helped him with the report for Solomon.

Malichudis questioned the EYP’s motives for the surveillance.

“The question that needs to be answered is why was the EYP interested in the work of Solomon, and to whom is the intelligence that is collected provided?” he asked.

The International Press Institute said it was “deeply concerned” by the report that Solomon and Malichudis were “secretly monitored by the National Intelligence Service”. Greek media outlets such as Reporters United and Inside Story also expressed concerns.

Terzis said that his in-depth investigation gained him access to secret documents.

“It’s unquestionable that the secret service monitors people and it cannot deny this. In the last two-and-a-half years, with the transfer of the Secret Service to the administration of the prime minister’s office, and in combination with the general context of state repression, the instrumentation of the secret service by the state is obvious,” he said.

At a press briefing on Monday, government spokesperson Giannis Oikonomou indirectly confirmed the claims that the EYP monitors specific citizens because of risks to public safety from “internal or external threats”.

The Greek government’s spokesperson did not respond to BIRN’s request for a comment.

SYRIZA, the main opposition to the right-wing ruling party, has asked for parliament’s Special Standing Committee on Institutions and Transparency to be convened and the commander of the EYP to be summoned for a hearing.

Women in Balkan Media ‘Must Speak Out’ Against Sexual Harassment

Posted on by Ivana Jeremic

Despite that the majority of journalists in the Western Balkans are women, they still face gender-based discrimination and abuse and often do not feel secure in speaking out due to fears of losing their jobs or reputation and not receiving the necessary support, an online panel discussion organised by BIRN was told on Thursday.

Media organisations in the Balkans should have proper codes and procedures to follow in cases of sexual harassment or other kinds of gender-based discrimination, said BIRN’s project coordinator Sofija Todorovic, who moderated the debate entitled ‘#MeToo in Journalism: When Will Balkan Journalists Speak Up?’

This would “enable that every journalist at the media outlet where she works to be aware of the steps she can follow”, said Todorovic.

Dafina Halili, contributing editor at online magazine Kosovo 2.0, spoke of the difficulty of speaking out in a small country such as Kosovo.

“Women journalists are often harassed in the newsroom in front of journalists who then speak in public and on live TV about sexual harassment [as phenomenon] but do not intervene in cases when their colleagues are being harassed [while they are present,” she said.

Halili said that Kosovo has yet to witness a #MeToo movement, as no public figures have yet spoken out about the harassment they have suffered. But she said that it is positive that young people in Kosovo are organising protests and other events for women rights.

Jelena Jovanovic, a journalist at Montenegrin news outlet Vijesti, said that a patriarchal mindset often stops women from speaking out, particularly in rural areas where even domestic violence is kept hidden.

Jovanovic explains the situation is not much different for women journalists who often are faced with gossip that they achieved where they are by sleeping their way up.

“I took the approach saying ‘yes I did it’ to shut people up and at one point it worked but it did not stop, the gossip moved to other colleagues” Jovanovic explains.

Natalija Miletic, a journalist and fixer who works between Serbia and Germany, explained that despite the #MeToo movement, the situation remains difficult.

She said that in Serbia, despite the fact that some media organisations are overwhelmingly staffed by women, “there is no woman editor-in-chief in the mainstream media”.

Zhaklin Lekatari, a journalist, sex blogger and human rights activist in Albania, said that a #MeToo movement does not exist in Albania either, and that there are two main issues women in the country face when considering speaking out about their experiences of abuse and sexual harassment – fear and lack of trust.

“We don’t have a gap in the gender representation of editors-in-chief in Albania, but the [media companies’] policies are not feminist,” Lekatari said.

The panellists agreed that the problem will not be solved by having more female editors-in-chief, but by improving management practices and editorial policies.

Lekatari advised young female journalists to seek support and solidarity – “find support, identify, link groups together and organise them”.

Urging women journalists to come forward and speak to BIRN about their stories, even anonymously, Todorevic said: “The right time to speak up is whenever the women [who have been victims of abuse or sexual harassment] are ready to speak up and if they don’t speak sooner it is everybody’s fault.”

Reaffirming Freedom of Information in the Western Balkans after COVID-19

Posted on by BIRD

Montenegro adopted national legislation on the right of access to information while Albania improved the way citizens can track their FOI requests. Over numerous action plans, North Macedonia sought to improve FOI legislation, implementation and raise awareness. Serbia improved the amount and quality of information available on government websites, although attempts to reform the FOI law have hit obstacles in recent years. Croatian civil society noted that legal amendments, guidelines and trainings helped to increase the responsiveness of FOI officers while publishing a database on public authorities that are subject to FOI legislation was useful.

Despite having comparatively strong FOI laws according to the RTI Rating, these countries still face challenges in implementing the right of access to information to its fullest extent. The  COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the challenges in implementing these laws. 

Recently, BIRN found that access to information in the region worsened during the pandemic. For example, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and North Macedonia saw notable delays in response times to requests. Serbia even used its state of emergency to extend the time period for responding to access to information requests. 

While BIRN journalists submitted 359 FOI requests in 2020, authorities in the region approved only 173 (48%) of them, and partially approved 15 requests with only technical information. Authorities also said they would answer more queries once the state of emergency was lifted. Despite the state of emergency restrictions, Serbian and North Macedonian institutions were most likely to provide full answers to their requests (53% and 47% of requests received full answers respectively) but no requests from BIRN journalists in Albania or Bosnia and Herzegovina received full answers. Administrative silence remains a major issue for the region. Even after repeated follow-ups from journalists, 160 (45%) requests received no answers at all. In fact, 80% of the requests sent to authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina did not receive an answer.

Notable denials of information occured in North Macedonia such as where political parties did not disclose information about their election campaign costs. Serbian authorities used privacy exemptions to deny access to documents relating to cases against alleged and convicted war criminals. According to BIRN, the restrictive FOI law and the authorities’ reluctance to provide information means journalists in places like Montenegro often use their sources and other connections to get the documents they need.

Western Balkan countries could consider a number of actions to address these issues through their OGP action plans including:

  • Organizing comprehensive, ongoing and effective training on records management and implementing freedom of information laws. 
  • Proactively publishing all their decisions, records, spending and financial budgets free of charge. The data has to be available online, machine readable, and accessible for a broad audience. 
  • Issuing sanctions such as financial fines for officials that reject requests, or who do not respond to requests within legal timeframes without proper justification. 
  • Creating more opportunities for citizens to use published information, develop monitoring systems and provide feedback to citizens.
  • Where amendments to FOI laws in Western Balkan countries – such as Montenegro and Serbia – are proposed, they should ensure that the scope of publicly available information is made wider, that exceptions to access are narrowed, and that the process of making requests is made easier. They should not complicate access or legalise poor practice. 

This year, OGP marks its tenth anniversary and OGP members have been encouraged to co-create ambitious commitments. As most Western Balkan countries will be co-creating their next OGP action plan, this year marks a unique opportunity to turn the needle for enhanced access to information. Whether it be working with civil society to strengthen legislative frameworks, or ensuring the effective implementation of progressive FOI legislation, the Western Balkans can reaffirm their commitment to the essential tools of open government.

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