Serbia
Monthly Monitoring Highlights September: Ethnic and religious divisions alongside sexism in the Western Balkans
During September, the RDN monitoring team detected a range of hateful narratives and discourse fueled by religious and ethnic discrimination and sexism. Religious discrimination in Montenegro On the 4th of September, portal Borba published an article from the unregistered portal Srpska 24, titled ‘Concert for Nermin – Islamization of Podgorica’, in which ethnic and national …
Women may be beautiful, but is that really a topic for discussion in Parliament?
This raises a critical question about how we perceive and treat women in the public sphere, particularly women in politics. Once again, we witness how seemingly harmless comments, such as calling a woman “beautiful,” reveal deep-seated sexism that continues to undermine their participation in public life. In a recent session of the Serbian Parliament, a …
Empowering journalists for responsible reporting on human rights
September 26-27, 2024 – Mokrin, Serbia Taking another step towards responsible and ethical media reporting on marginalised groups in the Western Balkans, the Reporting Diversity Network hosted an impactful training for journalists from September 25 to 27, 2024, in Mokrin, Serbia. This initiative, organised by the Media Diversity Institute Western Balkans in collaboration with the …
Monthly Monitoring Highlights August: Ethnic and religious divisions, attacks against the media, journalists, and activists
During August, the RDN monitoring team detected a range of hateful narratives and discourse. This month, we’ve witnessed hate fueled by ethnic and religious divisions, coupled with targeted attacks against the media, journalists, and activists. Ethnic hate in North Macedonia and Albania This month in North Macedonia, social media users called for the boycotting of …
TROLL OF THE MONTH: Media coverage of Imane Khelif
The Balkan Troll of the Month is an individual, a group of individuals or a media outlet that spreads hate based on gender, ethnicity, religion, or other diversity categories. The Balkan Troll is selected based on hate speech incidents identified across the Western Balkans region. The Paris Olympic Games, albeit a moment to celebrate diversity, …
Monthly Monitoring Highlights July: Relativisation of obstetric violence, sexism and ethnic tensions
Throughout July, the RDN monitoring team has detected a range of hateful narratives and discourse. This month, we have seen the dangerous revitalisation of obstetric violence alongside hatred based on ethnicity and gender as well as hatred against journalists. Revitalisation of obstetric violence in Serbia In the morning show on TV Prva the Minister for …
The Paris Olympics, Supreme Sportsmanship, or Hatred and Insults?
In a better world, Imane Khelif’s success would be celebrated. Throughout history, women have had a lot to prove. Today, they are put positions where they must prove that they are physiologically women. Some arenas would go as far as excluding them from public spaces, just as in the early days of the Olympics, when …
GOOD DAY, BELGRADE!
WILL IT EVER GET BETTER IN SERBIA? On June 27, 2024, I left Prishtina for Belgrade to participate in this year’s edition of the Mirëdita, Dobar Dan! festival, organized by Integra in Kosovo and the Youth Initiative for Human Rights (YIHR) of Civic Initiatives in Serbia. The festival, now in its tenth edition, serves as a platform …
TELEGRAM GROUPS AS VIRTUAL SAFE HAVENS FOR IMAGE-BASED SEXUAL ABUSE OF WOMEN AND GIRLS IN THE WESTERN BALKANS
Mass cases of image-based sexual abuse highlighted the exploitation, intimidation and humiliation of women and girls across the region. Abusers have found a digital safe space to exploit and intimidate women in the comfort of their anonymity and lack of accountability. The feminist organisation OsnaŽene (Empowered Women), based in Serbia, published an article investigating Telegram …