Journalists Azra Husaric Omerovic and Lejla Memcic Heric are this year’s recipients of an award for professional reporting given by the Nas Most Association, for a photographic report on Srebrenica mothers who restored their village by their own will and means.
At the award ceremony in Zenica, the jury stated that this was a powerful and emotional report that documented the resistance, dignity, and perseverance of elderly women in the process of returning to and rebuilding a ruined village.
Memcic Heric said this recognition was significant for them both professionally and personally, explaining that she and Husaric Omerovic made the story as part of Detektor’s reporting on the 30th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide and that, while doing that, they came to a village where they met two women who were among the few still living there.
“We wanted to write this story so as not to present the two elderly women as victims, but as women who had rebuilt that village by their will, strength and financial investments, portraying them as they deserved,” Memcic Heric said.
Husaric Omerovic added that Detektor reports on elderly people on a daily basis, because they are part of society and drivers of certain changes through transitional justice and culture of remembrance.
“These are mostly returnee villages, where elderly people have returned, trying to sustain life, just like the two women in our story who wanted to bring life back to the burned village in which all the men were killed in the genocide, and the women and children were expelled. They returned with a desire to bring back life and memory of what it looked like while their loved ones were still alive,” she said.
Husaric Omerovic added that they had tried to bring back and preserve this memory for the sake of future generations, and also to leave a permanent monument in some way.
“We wanted to show the true strength of an elderly person to preserve what they know was valuable while alive,” Husaric Omerovic pointed out.
Zdena Saric, president of the Nas Most Association, which seeks to socially engage the elderly through culture and art, presented plaques to the winners on behalf of the Association. They were also given paintings created by members of the Association.
In addition to this award, recognition was given to Mirjana Pavlovic, a journalist from Nova TV, for continuous reporting on the elderly through a series of television coverages.
The Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) Albania held two lectures at Albanian universities in December, focusing on digital rights and freedoms and drawing on findings from its monitoring and reporting work.
The first lecture took place on December 2 at Aleksander Xhuvani University in Elbasan, where BIRN Albania’s Programme Manager, Bylyre Serjanaj, presented key findings from BIRN’s monitoring of digital rights violations in 2025. The lecture was attended by 38 students from the Departments of Journalism and Information Technology.
The second lecture was held on December 12 at the European University of Tirana, where experts Megi Reci and Daniel Prroni introduced law students to BIRN’s work on monitoring and reporting digital rights violations. The event was attended by 33 students.
The lectures were part of BIRN’s three-year project, ‘Reporting Digital Rights and Freedoms’, funded by the European Union and implemented by BIRN Kosovo together with its regional partners: BIRN Hub, BIRN Albania, BIRN Bosnia and Herzegovina, BIRN Macedonia, BIRN Montenegro, and BIRN Serbia, across the Western Balkans region and Turkey.
The project aims to strengthen the capacity of media and civil society to document and report violations of digital rights and freedoms.
On December 12, the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network launched SPEAK, a new platform designed to report abuses of surveillance and censorship in the Western Balkans.
The region faces a surge in surveillance and censorship practices that have profound implications for freedom of speech, human rights and democracy. BIRN’s report from April 2025, “Surveillance and Censorship in the Western Balkans”, highlighted the urgent need for a safe and accessible reporting mechanism. SPEAK was created to meet this need – a secure space where individuals can report abuses of surveillance and censorship.
What is SPEAK?
SPEAK allows users to safely and anonymously report abuses of surveillance and censorship across the Western Balkans, in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia. As BIRN also monitors digital rights violations in Romania, Hungary, Turkey, and Croatia, submissions from these countries are welcome as well.
The platform empowers users to speak out against illegal surveillance and censorship. All submissions are reviewed by BIRN, which may further investigate relevant information and include them in in-depth stories or ongoing research projects. This approach ensures that critical issues are brought to light and further examined.
How to report?
Reporting through SPEAK is simple and fully anonymous, using BIRN’s Engaged Citizen Tool (ECR) a dedicated questionnaire consisting of basic questions in required fields, where the user is asked to provide information describing the incident they are reporting. The ECR tool does not collect or store IP addresses or any personally identifiable information, ensuring full anonymity and data protection. Users are not required to provide any personal details, guaranteeing complete identity protection.
By using SPEAK, journalists, human rights defenders, civil society organisations and the general public can report violations without fear of retaliation. Highlighting and reporting these abuses helps to increase transparency, raise awareness, and strengthen human rights in the region.
Visit our new platform and learn how to report, what can be reported, and how the whole process works here.
This website was produced with the support of the Open Society Foundations – Western Balkans, as a part of Surveillance and Censorship in the Western Balkans project. The thoughts and opinions expressed herein belong to the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Foundation.
The documentary showcases how foreign information manipulation, interference and hate speech target Kosovo’s electoral processes. It illustrates the ways in which such campaigns undermine public trust in institutions, intensify polarization, and create additional obstacles for women participating in political life.
The film aims to increase awareness among citizens and within institutions about the scale and consequences of disinformation and to contribute to strengthening society’s resilience to manipulation. It also serves as a source of evidence that can support public dialogue and shape practical solutions.
The screening was followed by a discussion with the British Ambassador to Kosovo, Jonathan Hargreaves, the Director of NDI Kosovo, Ambassador Nancy Soderberg and Jeta Xharra, Executive Director of BIRN Kosovo.
Referring to the documentary’s findings, Ambassador Hargreaves stated that the situation represents a serious warning, emphasizing the importance of exposing this issue. He noted that this challenge is neither unique to Kosovo nor unfamiliar to the United Kingdom.
Ambassador Soderberg said what stood out most to her was the extent to which Russian authorities operate openly in their disinformation campaigns, while stating the importance of media literacy in mitigating the challenges of today’s information space.
This event was organised in partnership with the National Democratic Institute in Kosovo, under the framework of the Information Integrity Conference DISICON.
Photo: BIRN Kosovo
The documentary was produced and published under the “Media Integrity and Disinformation Watch” project, with the support of the British Embassy in Kosovo.
Ada is a reporter with more than a decade of experience covering breaking news and writing long-form stories for outlets including The New York Times, The Guardian, The Boston Globe, and Gazeta Wyborcza. In 2021, she was selected as the IWMF Elizabeth Neuffer Fellow out of over a hundred applicants worldwide. During the fellowship, she reported for The New York Times and The Boston Globe, and carried out independent research on media freedom at MIT. Before that, she worked as a freelance foreign correspondent based in New Delhi and was part of the editorial teams at NewsMavens and Wysokie Obcasy.
Ada, who is based in Warsaw, has wide experience in a variety of journalistic forms, including investigations, analysis, features, documentary photography, and narrative podcast.
“This is a fascinating time to be reporting on Poland, and I’m thrilled to do it with BIRN. What excites me most is the chance to work alongside journalists across the region and dive into the kind of cross-border stories that are uncomfortable in all the right ways”, she said about her new role.
Ada will be part of the Reporting Democracy team. In this position, she succeeds Claudia Ciobanu, BIRN’s longtime correspondent and Fellowship for journalistic excellence alumna, who established our presence in Poland six years ago.
Reporting Democracy is a cross-border journalistic platform dedicated to supporting independent journalism to scrutinise the issues, trends and events shaping the future of democracy in Central, Eastern and Southeast Europe.
From November 24 to 26, 2025, BIRN welcomed some 120 participants – journalists, civil society activists, tech experts, academia, relevant institutions’ representatives and citizens at large – in Prishtina (Kosovo) for a regional annual conference and the Internet Freedom Meet event on digital rights and freedoms.
What unfolded was more than a presentation of cold statistical data. We witnessed a collective reckoning with how rapidly emerging technologies are advancing, and with how weak oversight and shrinking civic spaces are reshaping – and often endangering – people’s everyday lives across the Western Balkans and beyond.
From Project Roots to Regional Reality
The third and final annual conference is built on BIRN’s three-years project, Reporting Digital Rights and Freedoms, funded by the European Union and implemented by BIRN Kosovo and its regional partners BIRN Hub, BIRN Albania, BIRN Bosnia and Herzegovina, BIRN Macedonia, BIRN Montenegro and BIRN Serbia in the Western Balkans region and Turkey. The project aimed at strengthening media and civil society capacity to document and report digital rights and freedoms violations. Through training, capacity building online and offline events, fellowships, subgranting as well as editorial and other technical support, the project equipped newsrooms and individuals, journalists and activists with tools to first and foremost understand and then monitor and report about issues such as online abuse, to challenge disinformation, and bring somewhat hidden digital violations into public debate and for institutional reaction.
BIRN Kosovo director Jeta Xharra opened the conference and noted that there was very little knowledge about digital rights and that the project has contributed to educating both journalists to report on and the public to understand digital rights.
In a high-level speech, Kosovo’s President, Vjosa Osmani, sent a strong message of support towards the internet as a free space, and on the importance of exposing tech-facilitated abuse, be it online manipulation, promotion of hatred, violence against women or harassment of children.
The Deputy Head of the EU Office in Kosovo, Eva Palatova, emphasised the EU’s commitment to a human-centric digital environment, noting recent key policy instruments, the Digital Services Act, the AI Act and the European Democracy Shield, aimed at protecting users.
The work done throughout the project pointed to the importance of addressing internet governance-related topics systematically. The latest BIRN regional report, launched at the opening of the conference, documented 1,440 violations from September 2024 to August 2025. Over the three years of the project, based on BIRN’s monitoring methodology, we captured over 4,000 cases of digital rights and violations mapped.
From September 2024 to August 2025, the most frequent types of trending violations include misuse of artificial intelligence (AI) to facilitate sexual, gender-based violence and fraud, threats to the freedom and pluralism of information, attacks on digital assets and economic rights and harmful and threatening online behaviour.
The conference was attended by around 120 participants including 30 Internet Freedom Meet fellows from the Western Balkans region selected following a public call for participation.
Throughout the three-day event, the fellows played a dual role. They followed conference panels on the main stage, bringing sharp questions and contextual knowledge; and in parallel, they immersed themselves in dedicated workshops with international trainers, diving deeper into some of the most urgent challenges shaping the digital landscape.
In these workshops, fellows confronted real-world dilemmas: how to investigate online harassment while keeping victims safe; how to trace disinformation networks across borders; how AI-generated deepfakes and algorithmic bias threaten vulnerable groups; and how online/street surveillance erodes civic freedom. Fellows additionally enriched the discussion with local knowledge and lived experiences.
Photo: BIRN Kosovo
Humans Behind the Numbers
The conference focused heavily on the human impact behind the numbers – giving a platform to stories of and about real people – journalists, activists, citizens’ – whose lives were impacted and shaken by digital abuse, such as threats, surveillance or disinformation.
Participants heard worrying testimonies: journalists recounting smear online campaigns after exposing corruption, activists exposed to harassment and doxxing following their online advocacy, and citizens becoming victims of AI-driven scams, identity theft or deepface-based abuse.
Speakers emphasized a critical truth: digital rights violations are rarely isolated incidents. They are more often than not entwined with inequalities – especially in terms of gender, LGBTIQ+ persons, minorities, people with disabilities and other vulnerable groups. As Albanian technology policy expert Alba Brojka noted on the panel about gender-based violence, “It is a mirror of what is happening in the society and is amplified online.”
Photo: BIRN Kosovo
New Technologies, Same and Worse Dangers
Emerging technologies, such as generative Artificial Intelligence, are accelerating threats, while legislation and institutional oversight – and to a valuable extent also the media and civil society pace of understanding technological changes – lag dangerously behind.
Experts on the panels warned of AI-facilitated fraud, voice-cloning scams, deepfakes and more – noting that they are all increasingly used to exploit individuals’ vulnerabilities, especially women, young people and children. We heard how deepfakes have become so realistic that more and more people, especially with the information overload, cannot differentiate between real news, manipulated content or disinformation – which directly leads to undermining public trust and discourse influencing democratic and public informed participation.
Panelists looked into [weak] legal frameworks and selective enforcement, which make digital space a fertile ground for censorship, repression, threats and surveillance. We heard from several speakers sharing stories from Serbia or Turkey of unlawful surveillance, spyware deployment and non-transparent use of digital technologies and tools to intimidate critical voices of activists, journalists or even whistleblowers. While on one side, we see an “implementation gap” of those appropriate laws that exist, on the other side, in many places, we encounter outdated institutional settings, limited resources or political pressure, which stays unbothered while critical voices under attack stay unprotected and often with severe online or offline consequences.
Photo: BIRN Kosovo
Digital Rights are Human Rights – Not Optional Extras
One underlying message seconded by all participants – and participation was truly multistakeholder – is that digital rights are human rights, and are not marginal issues for tech-savvy urbanities but fundamental rights, deeply tied to dignity, security and democratic participation. Beyond the number of captured digital rights violations, those numbers represent people. At least one person per case. At least one more friend or family member was affected by it. And often entire communities.
Numbers cannot tell the whole story. Data reveals patterns to which the BIRN team, together with our partners, fellows, subgrantees, gave context. Living in the online space is not abstract – it shapes people’s safety, identity and freedom. Every violation is a life interrupted, a voice shaken, a right diminished. By documenting abuses, amplifying testimonies and exposing the systems that allow them to keep happening, the project brought human stories back to the centre.
Photo: BIRN Kosovo
From Talk to Action: What Needs to Happen Now
By the end of the conference, participants agreed on several urgent and concrete steps for the region:
Update and enforce legislation regionally, looking into good practice, to keep pace with technological change: laws should address AI-driven abuse, data protection, online harassment and digital surveillance
Support for victims/survivors, ensuring accessible reporting mechanisms, provide legal, psychological and social support, including protecting anonymity whenever needed
Empower independent media and civil society, including sustained grants, training and mentorship, so that civil society and journalists (media) can continue documenting abuses safely and effectively
Promote digital literacy and public awareness, as a necessary continued effort to educate citizens at large about ever-evolving online risks and understanding their rights
Fostering regional cooperation, as digital threats do not respect borders – cooperation among media, civil society, institutions, technical community and academia across countries is essential.
Why This Matters and Appreciation Words
For many years we have lived in a world where technology evolves fast – outpacing our social, legal and institutional capacity to adapt. As the closing conference in Prishtina underscored, these are not abstract policy questions. They are about people’s lives, freedom, trust, safety and dignity. They are about our future.
By bringing together journalists, experts from different fields and policymakers, over the three-year project we jointly took responsibility for protecting digital rights not as a niche project but as a core human-rights obligation that shapes people’s realities in the digital age. The Reporting Digital Rights and Freedoms initiative proved that when knowledge, evidence and human stories are brought together, digital rights can no longer be dismissed as technical issues “in the cloud”. They become what they truly are – essential rights that protect the very fabric of democratic society.
BIRN Kosovo wishes to extend its gratitude to project partners, coordinators, editors, monitors, journalists, researchers and authors, subgrantees, fellows, participants of physical and online training and community meetings, and the colleagues and individuals who contributed to the project’s delivery and success.
The Annual conference and Internet Freedom Meet were organised within the framework of the Reporting Digital Rights and Freedoms project, implemented by BIRN Kosovo and supported by the European Union.
More than 20 young people from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia gathered for a three day regional workshop dedicated to media, art and dealing with the past, organised by BIRN and the Youth Initiative for Human Rights.
Between 2 to 5 December participants explored how journalism, creative practices and digital media can contribute to dialogue and understanding in post-conflict contexts. Through interactive sessions, they gained hands-on experience in intercultural reporting, storytelling and artistic activism (known as ‘artivism’). They learned how creative tools can support processes of remembrance and reconciliation.
As part of the programme, participants worked in small groups to develop their own video installations, addressing themes of memory, dealing with the past and the role of memorials in divided communities. The artworks reflected their perspectives on shared histories and the possibilities for building bridges through creativity.
The workshop concluded with the public opening of an exhibition in the Historical Museum of BiH showcasing participants’ video installations. The event was followed by a panel discussion featuring visual artist Anita Karabašić, who presented her work on artistic commemoration practices, including memorial projects dedicated to children killed in Prijedor and the victims of the Srebrenica genocide.
The initiative aimed to empower young people to engage critically and creatively with the region’s past, while fostering dialogue across borders and communities.
Photo: BIRN
The project REPORTING CULTURE – Connecting Communities for Change is implemented by Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN Hub and Youth Initiative for Human Rights, in cooperation with the Regional office of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation in Tirana. It is run within the framework of “Culture and Creativity for the Western Balkans”, a project funded by the European Union that aims to foster dialogue in the Western Balkans by enhancing the cultural and creative sectors for increased socio-economic impact.
Vuk Maras is the Director of BIRN Montenegro. Although the youngest member of our network, BIRN Montenegro has already been recognised for its investigations, which have led to significant changes in Montenegrin society.
This year marks BIRN’s 20th anniversary. From exposing corruption to promoting human rights, BIRN’s investigative journalists collaborate across borders to find out the facts and tell people’s stories.
It all started in 2005, when five women from countries recovering from brutal wars defied the odds to establish what would become a major independent media organisation, the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, in the traditionally patriarchal region of the Western Balkans.
Maras recalls how he first heard about BIRN and what his initial impressions of the organisation were at the time.
“I heard about BIRN a long time ago. I was a civil activist and one of the leaders of the most influential anti-corruption NGOs in Montenegro. BIRN was a synonym for investigative journalism and quality reporting in the Balkans and beyond,” says Maras. “At that time, I also met my first BIRN person, Albulena Sadiku from BIRN Kosovo, with whom I partnered on a project.”
However, before becoming the Director of BIRN Montenegro, he worked within the regional office (Hub) . That experience shaped his understanding of BIRN’s mission and way of working.
“Sometimes it is easier to understand BIRN from the outside than when you join the team. At first, the complexity of the structure and procedures was a bit frightening, but it made me realise it is the only way to maintain such a complex yet effective network, which covers so many topics and areas. I could not be more grateful to Regional Director of BIRN Marija Ristic and Managing Editor of Balkan Insight Dusica Tomovic for all their help and assistance to blend in, despite their busy schedule and the amazing job they were doing,” says Maras.
In 2022 the decision was made to open the BIRN Montenegro office.
“When starting BIRN Montenegro, our idea was to create the most influential investigative outlet in the country, which would be able to tackle all the important topics others cannot, or are simply not willing to do, due to the fear of politicians, advertisers, or others. The idea was simple, and so far, nothing has changed that will drive us off that mission,” Maras recalls.
Looking back over the past three years, Maras shares his perception of whether the BIRN Network has changed.
“Like in every big family, there are always challenges that people with goodwill overcome easily. I tend to believe that most of us, if not all, really do our best to make this big family work as well as it can,” says Maras.
He sees BIRN Montenegro’s biggest strengths, but also where it still needs to grow and invest more effort.
“While BIRN Montenegro is the youngest member of the network, I am lucky to have colleagues who are experts in their respective fields and who have a lot of professional experience. Heading such a team makes it way easier to achieve goals we put in front of us. That is to make Montenegro a fairer, freer, and more democratic country, which will serve the needs of its citizens, be a proud member of the EU and NATO, and embrace western standards,” Maras explains.
“Of course, with developments happening in the digital world, IT, including AI, global disinformation campaigns, and other problems we are facing, it has been harder than ever to reach the truth. We have to make sure that more effort, work and expertise is put into each and every assignment we start doing,” says Maras.
And speaking of his team, there are some investigations from BIRN Montenegro that he wants to highlight.
“I am proud to say that despite being a new media outlet and a small team, we were able to cover a number of issues and create positive social change. BIRN journalists have already received several awards and fellowships, which point out how quickly we have become the most credible media outlet in Montenegro.
But, it is essential to emphasise that investigative journalism isn’t the sole activity of BIRN Montenegro.
“BIRN Montenegro has a strong monitoring and analytics component, which allows us to track expenditures in several sectors – energy, transport, and with independent agencies and regulators. Additionally, based on our initiatives, several high-profile events were organised, including parliamentary hearings, meetings with key ministries, the President of Montenegro and national anticorruption forums,” Maras explains.
One of the key aspects of BIRN Montenegro’s work is the Open Data Portal.
“BIRN Montenegro partnered with the Government of Montenegro and the UN’s Development Programme regarding the re-establishment of the Open Data Portal, which should serve as a focal point for citizens, businesses, and organisations in need of access to different data. The portal was launched a year ago, and so far has been updated with different datasets,” adds Maras.
When he thinks about the media landscape in Montenegro, he explains the unique role BIRN Montenegro plays and should continue to play in the years ahead.
“BIRN Montenegro is and will remain free from any political or other influence, and this will allow us to be the only ones responsible for our editorial policy. While I am sure the topics we cover will change over time, depending on needs and priorities, our journalists will be among the very few who are fully free to select and investigate any topic or issue, while caring only about the professional standards. It is what we already do and will be doing in the years ahead,” says Maras.
Speaking of his dream scenario for BIRN in the next 20 years, both as a network and in Montenegro, he knows what he would like it to look like.
“I hope that in 20 years Montenegro will not need the form of BIRN there is now, as the country will become significantly more developed, democratic, and advanced, and that those people working in BIRN Montenegro in 2045 will be happy to investigate and cover some lighter and more joyful topics, but with the same level of professionalism,” concludes Maras.
The Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) in Albania held a roundtable on Friday in Tirana to present three monitoring reports on the May 11 parliamentary elections.
During the event, BIRN Albania unveiled its monitoring reports on audiovisual and online media coverage during the electoral period, as well as a report analysing how political parties and candidates used social media platforms throughout the campaign.
The two monitoring reports on audiovisual and online media were produced as part of the project “Evidence-Based Monitoring of Local Public Spending during Electoral Processes,” funded by the European Union and implemented by Qëndresa Qytetare (Civic Resistance) in partnership with BIRN Albania. The initiative aims to strengthen electoral integrity, transparency, and fair competition in Albania’s democratic processes.
The social media monitoring report for the 2025 campaign was published in cooperation with International IDEA and the Rule of Law Centre at the University of Helsinki. The findings emphasise systemic challenges related to transparency, the ethical use of technology, and the growing influence of third-party actors across social media platforms.
The roundtable gathered 44 stakeholders from a wide range of institutions and backgrounds, including journalists, civil society representatives, and officials from the Central Election Commission (CEC), the Albanian Media Authority (AMA), as well as representatives of international organisations.
Following the presentation of the key findings, a panel discussion was held with contributions from representatives of the CEC, AMA, International IDEA, media organisations, and civil society.
BIRN Albania has released a comprehensive monitoring report examining how Albania’s main television broadcasters covered the 2025 parliamentary election campaign, uncovering persistent media imbalances, limited pluralism, and the dominance of major political actors.
Published in both Albanian and English, the report offers an independent, data-driven analysis of audiovisual content aired between 11 April and 9 May 2025 on the 18 central TV stations with the highest national reach. Drawing from the daily monitoring data produced by the Audiovisual Media Authority (AMA), the assessment focuses on political representation in news bulletins, live coverage of campaign events, and prime-time political talk shows, as well as the use of paid political advertising and documented breaches of the Electoral Code.
Key findings point to the overwhelming visibility of Albania’s two main political forces, the marginalisation of smaller parties, the personalised framing of election coverage, and the absence of direct confrontations between candidates. The report also features qualitative insights from 61 political talk shows and provides targeted recommendations to media regulators, broadcasters, and political actors ahead of future electoral cycles.
This monitoring was conducted as part of the project “Evidence-Based Monitoring of Local Public Spending during Electoral Processes”, funded by the European Union and implemented by Qëndresa Qytetare in partnership with BIRN Albania, aiming to strengthen electoral integrity, transparency, and fair competition in Albania’s democratic processes.
