Civil society organizations from the Western Balkans called on the participants of the coming Berlin Process Summit to adopt conclusions which commit them to refraining from applying direct or indirect pressure on civil society organizations, activists, and media in the region.
We call upon Western Balkans six governments to abstain from all types of direct and indirect oppressions towards civil society, activists and media in the region, and to oppose the adoption of restrictive laws and regulations that shrink the space for civil society, reads the proposed conclusion.
From the Civil Society and Think Tank Forum (CSF) in Berlin they called on the participants of the political leaders’ summit due Monday in the German capital to also adopt conclusions of support to the rule of law and democracy in the Western Balkans, as a precondition for the acceleration of the EU accession-related reforms.
Participating in this year’s Berlin Process Summit, which will mark the tenth anniversary of the initiative, will be the leaders of the six Western Balkans states, European Union (EU) institutions, the German government and the governments of the EU countries.
The Summit is preceded by the Civil Society and Think Tank Forum 2024, held on October 9-11.
The initiative was supported by over 20 organizations from the Western Balkans, including the Youth Initiative for Human Rights Serbia, Independent Journalists’ Association of Vojvodina, Renewables and Environmental Regulatory Institute (RERI), Centre for Contemporary Politics, Transparency Serbia, Helsinki Committee for Human Rights, Centre for Investigative Reporting, association of citizens ‘Zasto ne’, Transparency International in Bosnia and Herzegovina and European Fund for the Balkans.