balkan insight Archives - Page 13 of 24

From Bulgaria, Connecting Refugees to Remote AI Jobs around the World

Posted on November 4, 2020January 26, 2023 by BIRD

Two years into the Syrian war, in 2013, Shyar Ali fled his native Aleppo, ending up in a refugee camp in Iraq where he worked as a labourer to make ends meet. Life was hard, the 22-year-old recalled.

His luck began to change, however, in early 2019, when Ali stumbled upon ‘Humans In The Loop’, HITL, a Bulgaria-based social enterprise that links refugees, asylum seekers and others displaced by conflict with work opportunities in the growing industry of artificial intelligence, or AI.

So far, Ali has worked on four data annotation projects via HITL, earning enough money to open a mobile phone repair shop in the camp with a partner. He hopes to open a laptop repair shop one day too.

“It’s tough living in the camp,” Ali said in comments sent to BIRN via HITL, “but my job keeps me going.”

Humble beginnings

Launched without a budget or experience in 2017, HITL now works with more than 300 people across Bulgaria, Turkey, Syria and Iraq, partnering with local NGOs to provide IT and English-language training to ready refugees for remote work with start-ups across Europe and the United States.

Twenty-six-year-old founder and CEO Iva Gumnishka said HITL has found work for ‘conflict-affected people’ across the field of AI and computer vision.

“Our workers have been involved in precision agriculture projects involving segmentation of crops from drone images, insurTech projects related to car damage detection and assessment, facial detection and spoofing detection for CCTV cameras, and many others,” Gumnishka told BIRN.

HITL recently created a specialised team for medical annotation, comprised of Syrian doctors currently in Turkey but who are not eligible to work in the country. Instead, HITL will involve them remotely in medical AI projects in radiology and ultrasound.

“Our supervisor for this team is a Syrian doctor who was at the forefront of medical response teams during the civil war in Syria,” said Gumnishka. “We also have doctors who have cured people with chemical weapon poisoning, and connecting them to work opportunities is something that we are really proud of because they really deserve it.”

“In all of these projects, we involve conflict-affected communities: refugees, internally displaced people and people living in conflict zones.”

‘This job has been my saviour’

Photo: Nacho Kamenov

Registered as a refugee in Sofia since August 2018, Gaza-born Raghda Al-Samman first found out about HITL from a friend who alerted her to one of its English-language training programmes in 2019.

After completing the programme, Al-Samman became involved in a video annotation project for HITL, before Gumnishka offered her the job of supervisor at HITL’s Sofia office.

“I was hesitant initially, but Iva gave me the confidence,” said Al-Samman, who moved to Bulgaria to be with her husband, who is originally from Syria. “When I come across anyone looking for work, I tell them about HITL. It has been great. We are working to make things better every day.”

“Especially in these times of COVID-19, this job has been my saviour. Not only has it continued, but having the option to choose between online and offline work has been an advantage.”

In September, HITL’s work was recognised by the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT, as one of seven winners in the Good Jobs and Inclusive Entrepreneurship category of the MIT SOLVE initiative.

Gumnishka said she hoped the support the award brings with it would help HITL reach its target of “employing 3,000 conflict-affected people over the next five years.”

HITL will also receive funding from the Bulgarian Fund for Women, which will finance two editions of the enterprise’s English and digital literacy skills course for refugee women.

And Gumnishka is already looking further afield, with a pilot project in October with Venezuelan refugees in Colombia.

“It’s also a great topic to do a deep dive in, and we are in touch with large organisations working with refugees, which are very interested in contributing to the local response to displacement,” she said.

Montenegrin Jailed for Insulting Defence Minister on Facebook

Posted on October 30, 2020January 26, 2023 by BIRD

The Montenegrin misdemeanour court on Thursday sentenced Milan Roncevic from Podgorica to 15 days in jail for insulting Defence Minister Predrag Boskovic in a Facebook post.

Roncevic was arrested after he posted a photo of environmental protests against army training exercises on Mount Sinjajevina in Montenegro and said that the minister “is worse than a pig”.

“Roncevic was sentenced to 15 days in prison for violating the Law on Public Order and Peace. This is insulting and insolent behaviour to the detriment of Montenegrin Defence Minister Predrag Boskovic,” the court said.

On October 16, environmental activists and local community members started protests on Mount Sinjajevina, near the town of Kolasin, calling on the government to stop the militarisation of the highland pastures.

Protesters warned that they intended to disrupt a military training session announced for this week, claiming that the explosives used would devastate the local environment.

On October 20, Montenegro’s Defence Ministry postponed the military training exercises on Mount Sinjajevina. On Wednesday, minister Boskovic said that protests were being misused by political parties.

“The protests in Sinjajevina are not environmental. Some people are just trying to threaten our pro-Western policies,” Boskovic told Radio Monenegro.

Since January, there have been several arrests in Montenegro linked to posts on social networks.

On August 26, police arrested a suspect identified by the initials R.R. from the town of Danilovgrad for insulting Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic and ruling Democratic Party of Socialists MP Petar Ivanovic on Facebook.

On April 9, police arrested an opposition Democratic Front activist for posting fake news about the health of President Djukanovic, claiming he had the coronavirus. Radovan Rakocevic, from the town of Bijelo Polje, was put in custody for 72 hours for spreading panic.

On July 20, Montenegrin police questioned a civic activist and member of the Odupri Se (Resist) movement, Omer Sarkic, for a Facebook post about the anti-government protests in Serbia.

In an ironic post, Sarkic called on the pro-Serbian Democratic Front to stage protests in front of the Serbian embassy in Podgorica over police brutality against protesters in Belgrade.

He cited a fictional press release which claimed that the Democratic Front was was vowing to resist police brutality in Serbia as it does in Montenegro.

Serbia ‘Still Investigating’ Police Attacks on Journalists at Protests

Posted on October 27, 2020January 26, 2023 by BIRD

The Serbian Interior Ministry said in a letter to the Council of Europe’s Platform to Promote the Protection of Journalism and Safety of Journalists that it has not yet identified who attacked journalists from N1 TV, the Nova news website and Beta news agency during protests in the capital Belgrade in July.

“Concerning the allegations about the attempt to prevent N1 TV crew and journalist Jelena Zoric from reporting and inflicting injuries to a journalist of Nova portal, we would like to inform that the Sector for Internal Control of the Ministry of the Interior is working on collection information as requested by the competent prosecutor’s office,” said the letter that was sent on October 19 and made public on Monday.

The ministry said that police investigated “allegations related to events of 8 July 2020 (injuries inflicted to Nova portal journalist Marko Radonjic and attack on Nova portal journalists Milica Bozinovic and Natasa Latkovic)” and “established that they were not reported or recorded following the procedure prescribed by the law, and that no further actions were taken”.

“Regarding the injuries inflicted to Beta News Agency journalist, Zikica Stevanovic, we would like to inform that a report on this event was submitted to the competent prosecutor’s office in Belgrade, as well as that additional measures have been taken to identify the perpetrator of this criminal offence,” the letter added.

The protests erupted in July in Belgrade and other cities after Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic announced that a curfew would be reimposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

Protesters clashed with riot police, who used tear gas and cavalry. BIRN mapped major violent incidents that occurred in first two days of protests.

Several journalists were on the receiving end of attacks from both police and protesters.

Some of them, like Stevanovic from Beta, claimed they identified themselves as journalists and showed identity documents to police, but that did not stop officers beating them. Domestic and international journalists’ organisations urged the authorities to find the perpetrators.

According to the Interior Ministry’s letter, police have found the people who attacked journalists from public broadcasters Radio Television of Vojvodina in and Radio Television of Serbia in the cities of Novi Sad and Nis.

In Novi Sad, police filed criminal charges against two people who participated in breaking glass in the front door of the Radio Television of Vojvodina offices, and caught the person who attacked Radio Television of Serbia journalists Milan Srdic and cameraman Lazar Vukadinovic.

In Nis, the ministry said that Radio Television of Serbia journalist Lidija Georgijeva and cameraman Ivan Stambolic had decided not to file a complaint.

Facebook Urged to Ban Srebrenica Genocide Denial

Posted on October 27, 2020January 26, 2023 by BIRD

After Facebook announced earlier this month that it is updating its hate speech policy to ban holocaust denial, the Institute for Research of Genocide Canada sent an open letter to the social network’s co-founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, asking for a similar ban on the denial of the 1995 Srebrenica genocide.

“We have increasingly witnessed that your Facebook platform is being used for continuous, organised and systematic denial of the Srebrenica genocide,” the Institute for Research of Genocide Canada said in the letter.

The institute’s director, Emir Ramic, told BIRN that this would do a lot for truth, justice and the culture of remembrance.

“Attempts to deny or mitigate the genocide in Srebrenica should be banned, just like the glorification of violent events including the Holocaust,” Ramic said.

Facebook told BIRN that it could not give an official statement on the initiative to ban Srebrenica genocide denial, but pointed out that it already has policies that prohibit the praise of any hate crime or mass murder, the mocking of victims of such crimes, and the promotion of the organisations or individuals that perpetrated them.

“We also remove attacks against people based on their protected characteristics, including ethnicity and national origin,” Facebook said in response to BIRN’s inquiry.

“The change we announced… is to acknowledge that Holocaust denial is a type of hate speech that goes beyond denying and distorting facts about a genocide and is used to attack and direct hate at the Jewish people,” it added.

Mark Zuckerberg announced the ban on holocaust denial in a post on Facebook on October 12.

“We’ve long taken down posts that praise hate crimes or mass murders, including the Holocaust. But with rising anti-Semitism, we’re expanding our policy to prohibit any content that denies or distorts the Holocaust at all,” Zuckerberg wrote.

“If people search for the Holocaust on Facebook, we’ll start directing you to authoritative sources to get accurate information,” he added.

Numerous groups distorting the facts about the Srebrenica genocide remain on the social network, spreading misinformation, using hate speech in posts and allowing hate speech in comments. The phenomenon is particularly prominent around the anniversary of the genocide in July each year.

The Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatovic, told BIRN that it was positive for Facebook to treat holocaust denial as hate speech and that she hopes that the social network and similar companies will adopt the same approach to content “denying other genocides, including the Srebrenica genocide”.

“However, those companies should not be the only ones making an effort, but governments and judiciary should do their part as well,” Mijatovic said.

“Some countries, like Germany, have already adopted laws tightening the rule on how social network platforms must oppose hate speech and other illegal content. Some countries also ban genocide denial, online or offline,” she added.

The massacres of more than 7,000 Bosniak men and boys from Srebrenica and the expulsion of tens of thousands of women, children and elderly people have been classified by Bosnian and international courts as genocide.

However, Bosnia and Herzegovina itself does not have legislation criminalising Srebrenica genocide denial, and Bosnian Serb political leaders in the country refuse to accept that the massacres constituted genocide.

North Macedonia’s 5G Plans Put China’s Friendship at Risk

Posted on October 27, 2020January 26, 2023 by BIRD

North Macedonia on Friday signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the United States on security issues linked with new telecommunications technologies, which is expected to indirectly bar China’s tech giants, Huawei and ZTE from the race in the country to build 5G.

“We have an obligation to align our telecommunications development policies with those of the EU as well as to align the security aspects of the implementation of the 5G network with our strategic ally, the US. This memorandum is of vital importance for the economic development and the security as North Macedonia and the United States accent the importance of encouraging participation of relevant and trustworthy network suppliers of 5G hardware and software”, North Macedonia’s Prime Minister Zoran Zaev said during the signing ceremony with the US Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy and Environment, Keith Krach.

The authorities also say that parliament by the end of this year should change its Electronic Communication Law and other accompanying legislation to embed stricter rules against acquiring 5G equipment from so-called “untrusted” sources.

While leaders of North Macedonia, which only joined NATO earlier this year and is looking to start EU accession talks by the year’s end, say they will strictly abide by the alliance’s security protocols on 5G, the message will not resonate well with traditionally friendly China, whose firms, including Huawei, have a significant stake in its economy.

NATO membership puts security issues under spotlight

Digital security generally, and China’s role in the development of the 5G network and infrastructure specifically, became an issue towards the end of last year, as North Macedonia awaited ratification of its NATO accession protocol.

When NATO membership became reality in March this year, these concerns continued to make themselves felt, especially because the majority owner of North Macedonia’s largest telecom operator, Makedonski Telekom AD, is the Hungarian firm Matav, which in turn is part of Deutsche Telecom – a company that has cooperated extensively with Huawei.

By the start of this year, Makedonski Telekom had started preparing a tendering procedure to acquire 5G equipment, and Huawei was, and seems to remain, an important possible supplier.

As only a minority owner of Makedonski Telekom, the North Macedonian government had only limited influence in any decisions on development of a 5G network.

But this may change, authorities recently hinted, when announcing tougher rules on who might be allowed to supply 5G equipment to operators.

The decision to sign the memorandum with the US was reached at the most recent meeting of the National Security Council last month, chaired by President Stevo Pendarovski and attended by Prime Minister Zoran Zaev. It also saw an action plan laid out in broad terms.

The plan says that North Macedonia should now change its Electronic Communication Law and accompanying legislation, hopefully by the year’s end, so that the state Agency for Electronic Communication, AEK, can launch a tendering procedure for offering 5G bands to telecom operators under the new, stricter rules.

“All operators in this sphere should take into account our national interests and obligations,” the President’s office said, adding that the Memorandum of Understanding with the US is setting the main political path that the country will follow, in other words, expressing a political will.

“Then we will need to operationalise it, and change the Electronic Communications law and a series of other laws, because so far they did not contain such restraining acts.

“We will of course also have to remain in line with the [NATO] alliance’s recommendations in future,” the presidential cabinet said.

Informal pressure on North Macedonia to align itself on 5G with its allies seemed to intensify after neighbouring Kosovo and Serbia signed US-brokered agreements on economic normalisation on September 4 in the White House.

US President Donald Trump on that occasion praised both sides for committing themselves not to use 5G equipment from China, saying they had helped make the region and the world more secure.

This was seen as sending a message to other Balkan countries as well.

While the debate on China and 5G is ongoing within the EU, where some major countries, like Germany, are reluctant to cut ties to China’s technology giants, NATO’s Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, has been clear. All member states need to align themselves on the issue and exclude “suspicious” tech companies from the 5G area, he has said.

North Macedonia’s pro-western PM reflected that message last month.

“We are the newest NATO member and will act according to NATO’s security standards. Institutional decisions are yet to follow,” Zaev told the media when asked about the matter.

Silhouette of visitor next to the logo of Huawei at the International Consumer Electronics Fair in Berlin in September. Photo: EPA-EFE/FILIP SINGER

Huawei’s likely success in tender worries government

North Macedonia has no active 5G network in use as yet. Makedonski Telekom and A1, the two main telecom operators, “currently … are only conducting testing of this new technology”, Saso Dimitrijoski, head of the AEK, said.

But the country as yet has no legal restrictions on which equipment telecom operators should use. That is why, when Makedonski Telekom earlier this year launched a tendering procedure for such equipment, Huawei was seen as a prime contender.

This raised concerns in the government, with its 35 per cent stake in the Makedonski Telekom, and among its members on Telekom’s supervisory board.

“We are not the dominant owner but we are still taking this matter seriously,” a senior representative from the Ministry of Information Technology told BIRN on condition of anonymity.

Unofficially, after receiving reports that Huawei was the best-positioned company to win the Telekom tender, the government’s members on the Telekom board last month raised this issue with the company, calling for restraint until the new, expected legislation is passed.

Dimitrijoski, from the AEK, called on the country’s telecom operators “to practice restraint for now and not rush decisions on purchasing equipment, as this might prove counterproductive if they have to replace it”.

He said AEK plans to organise a public tendering procedure to allocate currently available radiofrequencies to operators – hopefully by this year – but only once all regulation in this field is completed.

A government source speaking under condition of anonymity said the new legislation would likely not explicitly exclude China, or any other named companies, but set rules effectively barring companies with dubious images from applying.

“This could be done by simply setting the rules for participation of companies to a higher standard,” the source noted.

“For instance, it could prohibit companies that have conducted themselves unethically in the past, have no clear ownership structure or which come from the countries lacking proper democratic oversight,” the source concluded.

North Macedonia’s Vice Prime Minister Artan Grubi (right) discussed 5G with the Chinese ambassador, Zhang Zuo (left) on September 21. Photo: gov.mk

Ambassador rails against US interference

The task of relaying the potentially unpleasant news to China has fallen on Vice Prime Minister Artan Grubi who discussed this issue with the Chinese ambassador, Zhang Zuo, on September 21.

China has traditionally good political relations with North Macedonia, and some of its companies are involved in key infrastructure projects.

North Macedonia tapped into a Chinese loan of 574 million euros fin 2013, to build two important stretches of motorway, for example.

The Chinese construction company, Sinohydro, is still involved in building 57-kilometre highway from the southern lakeside resort of Ohrid to Skopje via Kicevo.

A short government press statement from that September 21 meeting said only that Grubi had “expressed interest about the … motorway and asked for all obstacles to be overcome for the project’s swifter completion”.

It added: “Grubi and Zuo also talked about the strategic electronic communication, the 5G network and the obligations we [North Macedonia] have as a NATO member country towards strategic partners.”

The government is under pressure to finish the highway rapidly after inheriting this long-overdue project from the previous government, which was accused of making many technical omissions during the planning stage.

In an interview for the daily Sloboden Pecat newspaper on September 21, the day of the meeting, Chinese ambassador Zuo made clear his unhappiness.

He accused the United States of trying to supress China’s development by finding excuses to sanction Chinese companies like Huawei, which, as he recalled, had operated successfully in North Macedonia for almost ten years.

“We are firmly against this [US pressure],” the ambassador warned. “China hopes for cooperation with all the countries, including with North Macedonia, not only for constructing 5G networks but also in the area of network security.”

Romanian NGOs Condemn Threat to Limit Access to Information

Posted on October 16, 2020January 26, 2023 by Ivana Jeremic

Five leading NGOs in Romania on Friday in an open letter condemned legislation tabled this week in parliament by an opposition Social Democratic Party MP – initially supported by the chief whip of the ruling National Liberal Party – that would reduce the state’s obligation to supply public information.

The legal amendment would make those requesting information liable to cover the financial costs of the process of collecting and releasing information, such as scanning and making copies of documents and other operations.

If the legislation is adopted, authorities could deny information requests on the basis of their volume – if the requested information or data exceeds 50 pages – or by invoking the request’s allegedly “malicious intent”.

The executive director of the Centre for Independent Journalism, CJI, Cristina Lupu, told BIRN that the spirit of the proposed legislation suggested that “the person who requests information is seen as an enemy of the state, not as someone exercising a fundamental right”.

The CJI along with other human rights groups such as ActiveWatch and the Centre for Public Innovation has signed the open letter.

Some MPs are already backing away form the law change. Soon after the media raised the alert about on the legislation being tabled, the chief whip of the ruling centre-right National Liberals, Florin Roman, announced on Facebook that he no longer supported the initiative.

“I have made a written request to withdraw my signature for this draft legislation,” the MP said. He said he had changed his mind after receiving “signals” from various “people of good faith” who warned him of its potentially “abusive interpretations”.

He announced that his party would vote against the legislation in parliament, which substantially diminishes its chances of ever being adopted.

However, although it is in opposition, the Social Democrats still have the largest number of seats in parliament, and could still seek the support of smaller parties to get the amendment adopted.

In their open letter, the five NGOs said the proposed legislation would undermine transparency and curb rights to free speech and free access to information, highlighting that these rights are protected by the Romanian constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights.

Lupu of the CJI warned that trust in the state recently “has diminished, and attempts to limit transparency are further reducing trust”.

She recalled that Romania’s government had temporarily limited access to information amid the COVID-19 pandemic by concentrating the supply of information in central institutions.

Lupu advocated boosting digitalization of the public administration as a way to optimize resources and overcome the logistical problems officials can face when responding to information requests, instead of refusing to answer them, or charging citizens for exercising their rights.

Romania is not the only country in the region experiencing the same worrying trend observed by Lupu. Activists across Central and Southeast Europe have warned of similar limitations on transparency in their countries, often under the pretext of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Montenegrins in Self-Isolation Sue State for Publishing Names

Posted on September 30, 2020January 26, 2023 by Ivana Jeremic

More than 300 citizens of Montenegro have filed lawsuits against the state for publishing their names on lists of people ordered to self-isolate. On Wednesday, a Podgorica-based lawyer, Dalibor Kavaric, who represents some of the citizens, said the government had violated their human rights.

“By publishing the names and personal data of persons in self-isolation, the government stigmatized them and unnecessarily exposed their privacy to the public … the government has unnecessarily caused material damage to the budget of Montenegro just because it didn’t respect the constitution,” Kavaric told BIRN.

The government published the names on March 21, despite warnings from opposition parties and civic society organisations that it risked violating constitutionally guaranteed human rights. They also warned that citizens whose names were published might sue the state before the courts.

The government said it had a right to publish the names because some citizens were not respecting self-isolation obligations. It also said it had approval for its actions from the Agency for Personal Data Protection. It stressed that the security forces could not control every citizen who should be in self-isolation, and that anyone who failed to self-isolate posed a threat to the entire community.

The Head of the EU Delegation to Montenegro, Aivo Orav, called on the authorities to find the right balance between protecting the health and respecting the confidentiality of health information and the right to privacy of citizens.

Danilo Papovic, from the Civic Alliance, said citizens had every right to to seek legal protection of their civil rights.

“The lawsuits are completely justified … This government action indicates the absence of responsibility both in the legal and financial sense, bearing in mind that the consequences of illegal actions are ultimately borne by the citizens, because any compensation is paid from the budget,” Papovic told BIRN.

On March 22, Prime Minister Dusko Markovic said no compromises would be made with those who violated preventative measures amid the COVID-19 pandemic. He also warned that the government would continue to publish the names of citizens who had been ordered to self-isolate.

“The lives of our citizens are the priority. We have estimated that the right to health and life is above the right to unconditional protection of personal data,” Markovic said.

But after the Civic Alliance submitted an appeal to the Constitutional court on March 23, on July 23, the court annulled the government decision to publish the names of citizens ordered to self-isolate – though it did not rule that the government had violated their human rights. The government then removed the list from its website.

A lawyer from Bijelo Polje, Milos Kojovic, said the Constitutional Court had confirmed that the government had violated basic human rights and freedoms by publishing the names of persons ordered to self-isolation. “The government didn’t respect their right to a private and family life,” Kojovic told the daily newspaper Dan.

“Persons on the list published on the official government website, then transmitted by all electronic and print media, are entitled to fair compensation for violation of their personal rights,” he added.

Governments Continue to Undermine Right to Information Under Cover of COVID-19

Posted on September 28, 2020January 26, 2023 by BIRD

The coronavirus pandemic has had a chilling effect on people’s right to information in Central and Southeast Europe, with many countries adopting legal measures which temporarily altered or even suspended obligations regarding the public’s right to information.

Thankfully, many of these measures have since lapsed with the end of the states of emergency and lockdowns, though there are other pieces of legislation in the works that could hinder people’s right to information.

On the annual International Day for Universal Access to Information, BIRN has released data showing dramatic drops in responses to freedom of information (FOI) requests by official bodies, either in time or in their entirety. BIRN keeps track of its FOI requests and produces reports on the topic, because the information gleaned from these requests enables it to produce investigative pieces and expose wrongdoing by governments, companies and powerful individuals.

“In a world where COVID-19 has caused chaos and complexity, access to reliable and verified information is more important than ever… As these last few months have shown, public health requires transparency – whether this means statistics on the scale of the pandemic, or data on public spending. Access to accurate and trustworthy information ensures accountability for actions undertaken in response to the challenges caused by the virus, as the global community works to ‘build back better’,” Audrey Azoulay, director-general of UNESCO, wrote on the occasion of the International Day for Universal Access to Information.

Since the beginning of the year, the data shows that BIRN journalists have sent at least 366 FOI requests to various public institutions in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia and Turkey. So far, just 123 requests, or 33.6 per cent, have been answered, either fully or partially, while the remainder are either rejected or still not answered.

By comparison, between January 2017 and June 2019, BIRN journalists submitted 854 official requests to access public documents in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia, with slightly under half (408) approved; 224 were partially approved, meaning the institutions provided only technical information; and 221 requests were either rejected or no answer at all was received, despite repeated follow-ups from the journalists.

At the time, BIRN concluded that while FOI laws in the region are among the most liberal in Europe on paper, implementation of these laws is well below European standards – a situation that has deteriorated with the spread of the pandemic.

Public institutions that so far have been most likely to answer FOI requests are the Trade Ministry and prosecutors’ offices (Serbia), the Judicial Council (North Macedonia), the Kosovo Judicial Council and local municipalities (Kosovo).

BIRN also tests the transparency of public institutions by analysing their compliance with the Open Government Partnership (OGP), an initiative that aims to secure concrete commitments from national and subnational governments to promote open government, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance. So far, four Balkan states have joined the OGP: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia and Serbia.

Some of the commitments each state proposed in their Action Plans are related to: open data, anti-corruption, public procurement, developing e-governance, adopting laws to support transparency of public institutions etc. But despite their promise to be more transparent and open, these countries are still struggling to meet the commitments.

Albania, the oldest OGP member since 2011, has been shifting the OGP leadership from one institution to another, thus failing to fully implement its own commitments: fiscal transparency, public services, access to information, public administration and anti-corruption.

Bosnia and Herzegovina, which joined OGP in 2014, has not moved a step forward in fulfilling the commitments. Independent published reports note no improvement.

Montenegro, which joined in 2012, is still facing difficulties on internal leadership to deal with OGP and track the developments of the already committed institutions.

Serbia, which joined the partnership in 2013, has the highest number of set commitments. From a total of 14, it failed to develop an IT system to support e-governance, and failed to implement proposed amendments to the laws that were supposed to improve governmental transparency.

All four countries have failed in becoming more transparent and digitally accessible. Publishing the latest updates on their websites, such as financial reports, ministry meetings minutes, or other current and important public documents, seems like too long a process to be ever fully implemented.

COVID measures

Citing the fight against COVID-19, authorities in a number of Central and Southeast European countries extended the amount of time that state bodies had to respond to FOI requests, which media watchdogs warned at the time was part of a worrying crackdown on press freedom since the onset of the pandemic.

“We are concerned that in some cases, the suspension or delay of FOI deadlines is being used to hinder media access to information and thereby shield the government from domestic scrutiny or criticism over its handling of the outbreak,” warned Scott Griffen, deputy director of the International Press Institute (IPI).

Among those countries extending and suspending deadlines for FOI requests were Bulgaria, Hungary, Moldova, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia, while Poland passed a law suspending the activity of courts that would rule on issues related to FOI requests.

Most of these laws have since been revoked as the states of emergency and lockdown ended, however experts are warning about other legislation in the pipeline that could have a similar detrimental effect on the right to information.

In Poland, for example, legislation has been proposed by MPs from the ruling party that would exempt officials from punishment for breaking the law if they did so as part of efforts to tackle the coronavirus pandemic.

The World Health Organization advises that, instead of absolving of liability, it is important to, among other things, produce conditions for better public oversight of the various public decisions made during the pandemic.

“This… recommendation could be implemented by facilitating access to public information via digitising, obliging institutions to proactively publish information online, shortening dates for information access etc… Yet the current government is not making access to public information easier, but complicating it further on the pretext of battling the pandemic,” Grzegorz Makowski, an expert at the Batory Foundation’s ideaForum, wrote.

In Montenegro, the government has been criticised for pressing ahead during the pandemic with proposed amendments to the Montenegrin Law on Free Access to Information that have raised serious concern among experts, who say that the majority of the proposed changes would have a negative effect and take Montenegro further away from international transparency standards.

COVID-19 Provides New Material for Russian Anti-EU Disinformation

Posted on September 22, 2020January 26, 2023 by BIRD

Russian disinformation in the Western Balkans and ‘Eastern Partnership’ countries has taken “a new turn” with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, portraying the European Union as overwhelmed and unable to support its neighbours, Romanian expert Nicolae Tibrigan told BIRN in an interview.

Tibrigan, a researcher at the Bucharest-based Laboratory for the Analysis of Informational Warfare and Strategic Communication, LARICS, said Russian anti-Western propaganda had fuelled conspiracy theories about the origins of the novel coronavirus and criticism of the EU’s efforts to support the countries of the Western Balkans and six former Soviet republics in the so-called Eastern Partnership.

“One of the main goals of pro-Kremlin disinformation in the two regions is to create and deepen mistrust between the EU and its partners,” Tibrigan told BIRN in an email interview.

“In the context of the health crisis, these disinformation efforts are taking a new turn, in which the EU is systematically portrayed as overwhelmed by the situation and unable to respond to the needs and calls of its eastern neighbours.”

Russia trying to undermine EU via Balkans

Giving the example of a report by Russian state-controlled agency Sputnik from January suggesting the virus originated in a NATO or US laboratory, Tibrigan said that “online sources with ‘alternative content’ and social networks propagated these narratives as indisputable facts, each time adapting the message to the internal context of each state.”

“Local actors were encouraged by the pro-Kremlin media to multiply the message to contribute to a real regional campaign of misinformation, propaganda and spread of conspiracy theories on the health crisis: secret laboratories explain coronavirus outbreaks, while outbreaks of coronavirus would automatically prove the existence of secret laboratories.”

Supporters of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic wave flags and show a portrait of Russian President Vladimir Putin during the ‘Future of Serbia’ campaign rally in Belgrade, Serbia, April 19, 2019. Photo: EPA/Andrej Cukic

In the Western Balkans, he said, the COVID-19 pandemic was “artificially linked to another hypothesis – that the EU would ‘turn its back’ on the Western Balkans, as it has done with other European countries.”

Tibrigan said Russia sees the Western Balkans as “a vulnerable periphery of Europe,” one which presents “an opportunity to undermine the EU and NATO by exploiting local vulnerabilities.”

Sputnik’s Serbian-language outlet, based in the Serbian capital, Belgrade, is the main source of Russian disinformation in the Balkan region, Tibrigan told BIRN, while citing other outlets such as Russia Beyond the Headlines, which translates into Serbian and Macedonian, the newspaper Argumenti i Fakti [Arguments and Facts] and the ‘Ruska Rec’ newspaper supplement.

He said there was a “lack of political will” in the Western Balkans to combat Russian disinformation, while Serbia and North Macedonia have become not just consumers but “exporters” of Russian propaganda.

Tip of the iceberg

In the Eastern Partnership states – Moldova, Ukraine, Georgia, Belarus, Azerbaijan and Armenia – Russian propaganda is more direct, Tibrigan said and does not use one particular state as a platform as Serbia is used in the Western Balkans.

Moldovan President Igor Dodon (L) and Russian President Vladimir Putin (C) take part in the flower-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Moscow, Russia, June 24, 2020. Photo: EPA/GRIGORY SYSOEV

Disinformation has become an essential tool in trying to thwart the European path of these states, where Russian is widely spoken or understood, he said, alongside direct military intervention and the perpetuation of frozen conflicts.

“These propaganda narratives manage to penetrate the information ecosystems of the EaP [Eastern Partnership] states, with the public being ‘warned’ about the ‘lack of sustainability and stability’ of their Western partners,” said Tibrigan.

In Moldova, he said, the government and president actively disseminate pro-Kremlin propaganda, while authorities have not taken any measures to limit the influence of Russian-language social networks.

Notably during the pandemic, the Moldovan Orthodox Church, canonically subordinate to the Russian Patriarchy, has echoed the main Russian propaganda themes.

The Kremlin has earmarked 1.3 billion euros for media spending in 2020 is 1.3 billion euros, compared to the shoestring budget of the EU’s anti-propaganda unit, East Stratcom, of five million euros.

Of the Russian 1.3 billion, 325 million will go to state-controlled Russia Today, which broadcasts in roughly 100 countries around the world, Tibrigan said.

“And that’s just the visible part of the iceberg, given that we can’t estimate the exact value of the propaganda operations carried out by proxies or secret service entities.”

Kosovo Lawmakers Play Politics with Personal Data

Posted on September 21, 2020January 26, 2023 by BIRD

Personal data and the right of access to public information remain largely unprotected in Kosovo after parliament failed again to elect a Commissioner for the Information and Privacy Agency, IPA, leading critics to accuse lawmakers of playing politics with citizens’ rights.

The Information and Privacy Agency, IPA, had asked the parliament to give its director, Bujar Sadiku, the powers of the Commissioner of the Agency despite the failed recruitment process for the post.

The request was rejected by the parliamentary Committee on Security Affairs as illegal, however, and civil society groups on Thursday publicly asked the Presidency of the Assembly, especially the Speaker, Vjosa Osmani, to be vigilant and ignore such illegal requests.

On August 14, none of the three candidates for the post received the required 61 votes, the third time in two years that parliament failed to appoint a Commissioner, failure analysts attribute to narrow political interests. The British embassy, which has assisted in the recruitment process, said British experts had been withdrawn.

Flutura Kusari, a legal adviser at the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom, who voluntarily monitored the recruitment process, said the British decision was a good one, but was “bad news” for Kosovo.

“It is not logical financially or politically for an ally to invest this much in a clearly politicised process,” Kusari told BIRN.

In its five years of existence, “the agency has failed from the beginning to protect our personal data,” she said. “If the Commissioner will be politicised, s/he can become a censor of public information, pleasing politicians.”

Starting ‘from zero’

The meeting of the Kosovo Committee on Security and Defence, where the annual report of the Information and Privacy Agency, IPA, for 2019 was reviewed, presented by IPA director Bujar Sadiku, June 16, 2020. Photo: Official Website of Kosovo Assembly.

Without a Commissioner, Kosovo has no institutional mechanism to implement the Law on Access to Public Documents and the Law on the Protection of the Personal Data.

The first two attempts to appoint a Commissioner failed in May and July last year due to the fall of the then government and the dissolution of parliament after the prime minister at the time, Ramush Haradinaj, resigned on being summoned for questioning by war crimes prosecutors in The Hague.

Without a Commissioner, citizens of Kosovo have no institutional means to complain and seek justice if a public or private body violates their rights to protection of their personal data or access to information. Civil society groups say that without an independent overseer, the agency could become biased in fining particular institutions or officials.

British-approved candidates

Twelve people applied for the position, cut down to five after a review of the applications. Each of the five candidates went through a two-day interview process, after which a commission selected three to be submitted to parliament.

They were Bujar Sadiku, Krenare Sogojeva-Dermaku and Muharrem Mustafa. Sadiku and Sogojeva-Dermaku had received the approval of the British Embassy as the best candidates.

The IPA is unable to impose fines on bodies that violate the law due to the absence of certain internal acts that should be signed and submitted to the government by the Commissioner, Jeton Arifi, head of the Access to Public Documents Pillar at the agency, told BIRN.

If a bank, for example, accidentally or intentionally revealed the account details of a customer, that customer would have to take the bank to court, a lengthy and potentially expensive process during which the bank could continue violating the law.

“The persistent failure to select the head of our authority is continuing to cause consequences in the prolongation of internal processes, which should have been concluded within six months from the entry into force of the relevant law,” Arifi told BIRN. The Law on Personal Data Protection entered into force on March 11, 2019.

Politicians can ‘hijack’ process

Without a Commissioner, the IPA is also unable to hire new staff and has had to halt a twinning project with Germany and Latvia.

“Now everything will start again from zero,” said Fatmire Mulhaxha Kollcaku, who heads parliament’s Committee on Security and Defence and led the interview panel for the Commissioner’s job.

“As long as we don’t have an independent institution with a competent Commission, we have two unenforceable laws,” said Mulhaxha Kollcaku, and questioned how the recruitment process would continue without the British involvement.

The British embassy said on August 17 that it would not spend British taxpayers’ money on repeating a process that had been conducted properly but which failed to end in the appointment of a Commissioner. Under the agreement with the embassy, parliament is obliged to endorse an approved candidate.

“The non-appointment of any of them calls into question the stated commitment of political parties to implement the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the British Embassy, but more importantly, it sends a negative signal to independent professionals in Kosovo and their hopes to contribute in Kosovo Institutions,” the embassy said.

“Any public appointment should take into account only the interests of the country and its citizens, and not the narrow party interest.”

Without the British involvement, politicians can “hijack the process and elect politically involved people with no actual skills for the position,” warned Kusari.

Taulant Hoxha, CEO of the NGO Kosovar Civil Society Foundation, which supports the development of civil society with a focus on EU integration, told BIRN:

“It is painful that the Kosovo Assembly has to sign security agreements with foreign embassies in order to be able to elect a Commissioner. It would make sense if only the human, technical, and methodological resources to be provided with funding from the British Embassy because the Assembly of Kosovo is a new institution.”

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