Western Balkan Journalists Tackle Challenges of Sustainable Development in Awarded stories

As climate change and environmental disasters increasingly dominate the concerns of Western Balkan countries, a significant need remains to raise awareness of future sustainable development.

Once again, media outlets have underscored their crucial role in addressing this urgent matter, with the current edition of the Western Balkans Sustainable Energy Journalism Award acknowledging outstanding stories.

The focus of this year’s Sustainable Energy Journalism Awards centred on energy transition, featuring stories on environmental corruption, greenwashing and the social inequality of green transition.

The 24 applications received for the award came from all six countries in the region – Kosovo, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, and Albania – reflecting the widespread interest of journalists in shedding light on these issues. The awarded stories were chosen by three international and independent jurors.

The two awardees brought attention to unjust practices in their countries’ solar transitions. “Solar Blossoms”, the winning story by journalist and academic researcher Lirika Demiri, portrayed the challenges faced by citizens transitioning to solar energy in coal-dependent Kosovo, revealing broader obstacles and power interests impeding the solar industry’s full potential.

The third-placed investigative story “Solar Boom in Stolac”,  by Naratorium journalists Alena Beširević and Harun Dindarević, focused on energy transition, exposing how laws in Bosnia and Herzegovina favour investors at the expense of citizens.

Themes like climate change, decarbonization and green energy can be difficult to acknowledge. But storytellers like Katerina Topalova made it easier. Her story, “Hard Winter”,  in five short videos, explained problems and solutions related to food and energy after the war in Ukraine and Covid-19 in a way that’s easy to understand. She used videos, graphics, and animation to make it interesting – and won second place in the selection.

Numerous journalist stories adopted an informative approach, such as podcasts on solar energy panels, while one media from Bosnia educated citizens about energy prosumers and opportunities for electricity self-sufficiency.

Other narratives investigated the environmental impact of hydropower plants, such as collaborative efforts by media from Bosnia and Albania, shedding light on the complexities of small hydro plant construction in Albania and their repercussions on communities. Journalists from Montenegro documented local efforts to preserve rivers from destructive mini-hydropower plants in their stories.

Several stories underscored social injustice and energy poverty, exposing challenges faced by impoverished families and marginalized communities in accessing sustainable energy services.

The Green Agenda for the Western Balkans designates this region as among the most severely affected in Europe by the repercussions of climate change, a trend expected to persist.

A 2022 survey in the Western Balkans found that 67 per cent of respondents consider climate change a problem, while 31 per cent do not. An EU survey showed 93 per cent of EU citizens regard climate change as a serious problem.

Through their stories, journalists disseminated information about environmental issues, educated society, demanded accountability and transparency, and advocated for mobilization. This was made possible through the active engagement of stakeholders, communities, activists, experts and local governments.

The Sustainable Energy Journalism Award has emerged as a significant motivator for journalists committed to addressing the challenges of sustainable development facing the future of the Western Balkans. BIRN is committed to furthering the capacity building of journalists and media outlets as they strive to investigate topics related to sustainable energy.

BIRN Kosovo publishes report on the procedures of release of individuals convicted of terrorism

On December 28, 2023 BIRN Kosovo has published a report titled “Conditional Release and Supervision of Persons Convicted of Terrorism” based on its direct monitoring of the advantages and disadvantages of the management of the process of the release of individuals convicted of terrorism.

Kosovo ranks among the countries with the highest number of foreign fighters per capita who have joined the terrorist organization ISIS in the war in Syria and Iraq.

Kosovo also is one of the first countries to accept the repatriation of its citizens who had sided with terrorist organizations in conflict zones. In 2015, Kosovo adopted a specific law to prevent its citizens from participating in foreign conflicts. The justice system responded quickly to the issue, swiftly prosecuting, investigating, and adjudicating individuals involved in terrorist acts.

The Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) has analyzed the conditional release process of individuals convicted of criminal acts related to terrorism. BIRN selected a random sample for analysis, comprising of five cases handled between 2015 and 2020 by the Conditional Release Panel.

Based on the methodology, the analysis focused on five cases of individuals conditionally released, convicted of committing criminal acts related to terrorism, including terrorism with religious motives and other forms of terrorism.

In its analysis, BIRN looked into the conditional release procedure of individuals convicted of terrorism from the initial report of the Correctional Service, the Conditional Release Panel’s decision, to the final report of the Probation Service after the supervision period was concluded.

For the compilation of this report, BIRN utilized the archives of the Probation Service of Kosovo and the Conditional Release Panel.

Data analysis on the processes carried out for conditional release encompassed the entire chain of institutions, including the submission of requests for conditional release, to the compilation of the case file by the Correctional Service, processing of the file, decision-making by the Conditional Release Panel, and the supervision process and the drafting of the final report on the supervision process by the Probation Service of Kosovo.

The report also includes individual summary analyses of all analyzed cases, chronologically detailing the key moments in the handling of each case.

At the end of the report, BIRN included recommendations to justice institutions, such as the Ministry of Justice, the Conditional Release Panel, Probation Service, courts, etc.

Click here for the report on Albanian and English.

This activity is implemented as part of the “Media as a means to improve the transparency of the justice system and the fight against terrorism and extremism” project, supported by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation through the Italian embassy in Prishtina.

Meet the People Behind BIRN: Aleksandar Djordjevic

Aleksandar Djordjevic has worked as a journalist since 2009, mainly covering politics and public finance.

He joined BIRN in February 2012. Since then he has mainly worked in the field of data journalism and investigative journalism, specialising in public finance reporting.

In 2016, he won first prize in the EU Investigative Journalism Awards for Serbia and an award for best investigative story in print media by the Independent Association of Serbian Journalists and the US embassy in Belgrade.

He was also awarded the best media report on monitoring of public spending in Serbia organized by the United Nations Development Programme, UNDP.

If he wasn’t a journalist, he would be doing some higher-paying but less stressful job. The only condition is that is not morally compromising in any way. Two stories that he worked on recently greatly impacted the wider Serbian public.

Let’s meet him!

  1. Why did you decide to become a journalist? What is it like working in BIRN?

I always wanted to know what was going on around me, questioning what was served as the truth. In this region, the official version of the truth rarely coincides with reality.

Unfortunately, we cannot be proud of our journalistic tradition in the Balkans.

As a child in the 1980s, I heard people arguing with the TV and disputing what they heard there, and with good reason. At that time, there was only one television station, and it did not report in the public’s interest but in one party’s interest.

In the 1990s, we got media pluralism but also the most brutal propaganda. In the noise of war, however, the first free media were born, which I eagerly listened to, read, and watched. That is perhaps the moment when my deeper connection with journalism was born, because I saw that even in the most difficult circumstances, it is possible to report objectively and truthfully.

To this day, in this region, and especially in Serbia, propaganda and the [ruling] party’s version of the truth have absolute dominance over objective journalism. BIRN is one of the few media organisations in this region that maintains professional standards and from which you can hear a version of the reality that is neither propaganda nor directed by interest groups. That’s why I’ve been working in BIRN for 12 years; here I have the freedom to work on stories that are important to the public, which you can’t hear on other media.

  1. A story that you and Gordana Andric worked on regarding how millions of euros for the vulnerable ended up in other people’s bank accounts (people close to the authorities or who are part of it) greatly impacted the country. Tell us about working on that story. What was the most challenging thing?

Behind this journalistic story stands a team of over 20 people who worked on it for four years. Of course, not every day, but starting in 2020, BIRN has been working, together with another non-governmental partner organisation, on a project monitoring state competitions grants.

During that time, the team collected data on 50,000 projects that the state financed with more than 180 million euros in competition grants. All these data are combined in one online database. It is a huge and important undertaking that BIRN has done in order to make the spending of this public money more transparent because the state does not have this data consolidated in one place.

But also in order for the non-governmental sector to be more efficient and spend this money for the general benefit. Imagine the effect on society of almost 200 million euros spent on social protection and improvement of environmental policy, which is what this money was primarily intended for.

Unfortunately, our research shows a significant part of this money was allocated to non-governmental organisations exclusively on a political basis.

BIRN published the first story on this topic two years ago. A month ago, a new story was published where the mechanism of misuse of state money, which was intended for the prevention of peer violence, was thoroughly dismantled and explained.

I think the public recognized our venture because the corrupt mechanism was presented to them in detail. They could also see the face of corruption. Principals of primary schools are shocked by the fact that the state gave more money for fictitious projects than the annual budget of their schools – while their schools have no money for heating.

  1. Another story was about Milan Radoicic’s involvement with marijuana labs in northern Kosovo. Tell us more about this.

Milan Radoičić is an example from the beginning of our story of how state propaganda misleads the public. He was presented in the state media and by state officials as one of the fighters for [Serb] national interests [in Kosovo].

BIRN, on the other hand, has published dozens of stories in the last couple of years in which it can be seen that Radoičić and Zvonko Veselinović are the opposite of that. The two of them have been labeled by international diplomatic organisations as part of an organised criminal group that is cooperating with the state ruling structure to enrich themselves at the expense of the public interest, not in favour of national interests.

You will not hear that version of the story on national frequencies; it is largely hidden from the Serbian public.

  1. What would you be working on, instead of journalism?

Some higher-paying but less stressful job. The only condition is that it is not morally compromising in any way.

  1. What is your advice to someone who wants to work as an investigative journalist in our region?

Arm yourself with patience. Investigative journalism is a marathon discipline, not a sprint. The strength and endurance necessary for a marathon are acquired through study, work and constant curiosity, and an open mind.

But curiosity must not turn into obsessive digging into the dark holes of other people’s inaction because over time, defeatism and cynicism will overwhelm you. That will have a negative impact on the quality of your work.

Curiosity must be directed towards learning new skills but also towards learning about values. Journalists are not there just to convey dry facts and information (soon artificial intelligence will do that), but to represent values. Only in this way will journalists maintain the capacity and strength to deal with the ever-increasing challenges of distorted values and disinformation.

Digital Rights Violations Surged in Balkans in 2023: BIRN, Freedom House

In a joint X Space event, BIRN and Freedom House digital rights research teams reported a worrying a spike in digital rights violations in the region this year, comprising different types of online threats and methods.

Speakers from Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN’s digital rights programme and Freedom House’s Freedom on the Net project said in a joint X Space event on December 21 that digital rights violations increased in the region this year.

“We saw a rise in different types of violations. This year, we determined 1,427 different types of violations compared to last year’s 782,” Ivana Jeremic, Balkan Insight’s Deputy Editor and one of the editors of BIRN’s recent BIRN Digital Rights Violations Report, said.

Jeremic added that the most common digital rights violations were hate speech and discrimination, digital manipulation and computer fraud.

“Some of the key findings were that regional and international crises increased digital rights violations in the region, such as the war in Ukraine and the ongoing Kosovo-Serbia dispute, which led to a lot of misinformation but also to attacks based on someone’s ethnicity,” Jeremic said.

Jeremic highlighted the need for effective legislation to counter digital violations that most countries in the region lack.

Hamdi Firat Buyuk, a Balkan Insight journalist and one of the editors of BIRN’s recent BIRN Digital Rights Violations Report, said Turkey is using draconian laws to target free speech. “Turkey is one of the countries that passed draconian laws and regulations to target freedom of speech and internet freedoms,” Buyuk said.

Gurkan Ozturan, from the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom and Turkey country author at the Freedom on the Net report of Freedom House, said Turkey was regressing fast in terms of digital rights.

“Unfortunately, I am here to talk about one of the first countries in terms of regression in the field of digital rights and liberties in the past decade” Ozturan said, recalling that only a month after Turkey’s disinformation law was passed in October 2022, authorities limited access to social media platforms following a terror attack.

“Then there were earthquakes [in February] and then the election period [in May] which brought Turkey further down in Freedom House’s internet freedoms index. That was a horrible year,” Ozturan said, underlining access blocks, misinformation campaigns and data leaks from government agencies on citizens’ private data.

Tijana Uzelac, a BIRN Serbia journalist and country monitor of the BIRN Digital Rights Violations Report, said there were more than 100 registered digital rights violation cases in the reporting period from September 2022 to September 2023.

“The most frequent targets of these violations were citizens in more than 50 cases,” Uzelac said and added that the majority of violations in Serbia fell under “threatening content and endangering security”.

Uzelac said a massive school shooting in Serbia had also marked the year. “The number of digital rights violations spiked drastically in May after two mass school shootings in Belgrade and in villages near Mladenovac,” Uzelac added.

Mila Bajic, from SHARE Foundation and Serbia country author at the Freedom on the Net report of Freedom House, said the election campaigns provided an example of the climate in online media in Serbia.

“The online media ecosystem is essentially just an extension of the traditional media and the majority of the things we have been seeing is everything we can see on the public broadcasters and in the printed tabloid media. It is essentially copy-pasted to the online environment, which means that the online environment is very biased and in favour of the ruling majority [led by President Aleksandar Vucic],” Bajic said.

Bajic underlined that a lot of intimidation tactics online were deployed against journalists and civil society members, including an attempted spyware attack on civil society using Pegasus-like spyware. “That was thankfully not a successful attack but it does indicate that it was a state-sponsored attack,” Bajic said.

Azem Kurtic, Balkan Insight’s Bosnia correspondent and country monitor of the BIRN Digital Rights Violations Report. In Bosnia, said: “The most common victims [in Bosnia] are unfortunately citizens due to a quite specific ethnic, historic and current political context. For instance, during the commemorations of the 1995 genocide in Srebrenica, you saw a surge in hate speech and discrimination but also genocide denial, which is a criminal offence in Bosnia.”

Kurtic added that an online femicide had also shocked the country and the region. “We had a shocking femicide in August when a man killed his ex-wife in a livestream on Instagram. The video stayed online for more than three hours and it was seen more than 70,000 times,” Kurtic added.

Cathryn Grothe, from Freedom House, underlined a new emerging threat: the malicious use of Artificial Intelligence, AI.

“One of our big findings is generative use of AI supercharges online disinformation space. For decades governments have been deploying methods to manipulate online discussion, whether through pay commentators or automated Twitter bots or trolls or things like that kind, or more of those traditional forms of spreading disinformation, and with the growing power of AI tools those tactics are able to be automated and they are able to spread so much further,” Grothe said.

The joint X space organised by BIRN and Freedom House can be listened to on this link.

More about digital rights violations in the Balkans can be found at BIRN’s Digital Rights Violations Report 2022-2023, “Digital Rights In A Time Of Crisis: Authoritarianism, Political Tension And Weak Legislation Boost Violations” and in Freedom House’s Freedom on the Net 2023 report, “The Repressive Power of Artificial Intelligence”.

Handbook on Reporting on Missing Persons in Bosnia Introduced

The handbook ‘Media Reporting on Persons Missing Due to Conflicts in BiH 1992–1995’ was promoted at the Political Sciences Faculty of Sarajevo University.

Standards on reporting on missing persons, which have been established in Bosnia and Herzegovina, may be applied worldwide, said participants in the promotion of “Media Reporting on Persons Missing Due to Conflicts in BiH 1992–1995” Handbook held at the Faculty of Political Sciences of Sarajevo University.

The Handbook on reporting on persons who went missing during the 1992-5 war is a result of cooperation between the International Committee of the Red Cross, ICRC, the Missing Persons Institute of Bosnia and Herzegovina, INO BiH, the State Prosecution, Balkan Investigative Reporting Network of Bosnia and Herzegovina, BIRN BiH, as well as women and men journalists from all over the country.

The document, as said during its promotion, is intended to assist all journalists in their work: as an incentive for editors and directors of media outlets to bring these topics back to prime time; as a reminder for professors to offer their students practical examples in addition to theoretical lectures; and also for all students and future reporters and journalists.

It is also intended for victims’ families, so they would know what to expect and what obligations the media has, but also for all others willing to learn more about the missing and how the media covers this topic.

Elmir Camic, Head of the ICRC Delegation to Bosnia, said the Handbook was a very high-quality document, which had met a wide response among his colleagues in the Red Cross all over the world, because the question of the missing also concerns areas of the Middle East, Ukraine, Central Asia and South America.

“I am glad that in BiH we are creating new standards that will be applied worldwide in the process of tracing the missing persons,” Camic said.

He recalled that around 7,600 persons, who disappeared due to the conflict are still being searched for in Bosnia, and that the lack of new and credible information on locations of individual and mass graves poses the biggest obstacle to the search process.

“A very high degree of politicization of the issue contributes to that, setting aside the needs and rights of families of the missing persons and coming down to a cheap accumulation of political points at their expense,” said the Head of the ICRC Delegation to Bosnia.

BIRN BiH executive Director Denis Dzidic expressed satisfaction at the fact that his fellow workers, who had been reporting on the missing as one of the segments of transitional justice for years, had a chance to draw up the Handbook to serve as a road map not only to journalists in our country, but also worldwide.

“Last week, a Detektor and Balkan Investigative Reporting Network team went to Ukraine, where we trained a group of journalists on how to report on transitional justice processes and we had a chance to introduce this same Handbook to them. There is a huge interest because journalists around the world lack the experience which Bosnian journalists have in reporting on this topic,” Dzidic said.

INO BiH spokeswoman Emza Fazlic said the Handbook was a leap forward when it comes to reporting on missing persons due to the sensitivity of the topic and its importance in society.

“Regardless of the passage of time and the fact that the families are searching for their missing members for 30 years, many stories have already been told, but, unfortunately, many still remain to be told. Only by covering this topic in the media will the process be accelerated in a certain way,” Fazlic said.

She added that the issue of missing persons falls also within the 14 priorities set for Bosnia on its road to joining the European Union.

Lejla Turcilo, a professor at the Sarajevo Faculty of Political Sciences, also expressed satisfaction that such content could be included in faculty curricula, because it was important to develop responsibility and sensitivity for reporting at the Department of Communication Studies / Journalism, and for journalists to begin their journalistic practice as prepared as possible.

“The Faculty of Political Sciences of the Sarajevo University truly seeks to enrich with practical experience what we teach our students in theory, and this is a good opportunity for our male and female students to hear and get first-hand material from which they will learn on how to report on this important but also very sensitive topic,” Turcilo explained.

During the promotion of the Handbook, which she developed jointly with her fellow worker Lamija Grebo, BIRN BiH journalist Emina Dizdarevic Tahmiscija said the objectives were primarily to save stories from oblivion, but also to leave a trace so those who once lived and were now considered missing could be talked about.

“With this Handbook, we can significantly impact the conscience of people who potentially know the locations of mass graves, so they would reveal their whereabouts. Likewise, it will help journalists achieve communication with families of the missing,” Dizdarevic Tahmiscija said.

As part of the promotion, an expert panel was held on the importance of reporting on missing persons in Bosnia, at which participants presented information on problems and shortcomings facing INO BiH staff members, challenges facing journalists and the fact that a high percentage of families of the missing have expressed dissatisfaction with the reporting on these issues.

The Handbook is available here.

BIRN Holds Digital Security Training for Balkan Journalists

BIRN organised four online training sessions to give journalists and journalism students from across the Balkans the most important tips and tools for staying safe in the digital environment.

The Balkan Investigative Reporting Network held four online digital security training sessions on December 14 and 15 for around 20 journalism students and journalists from media outlets in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia.

The goal of the sessions was to equip participants with practical tips and tools on how to stay safe online. They were told how to protect a computer and how to create strong passwords, as well as how to avoid surveillance, how to counter malware attacks, how to safely communicate with sources and how to handle devices in courts, airports and public spaces. They were also taught about ethical considerations in the digital sphere.

The trainer was Milica Stojanovic, an award-winning BIRN journalist and digital security expert. She has also been running digital security sessions at BIRN’s Summer School of Investigative Reporting since 2022.

Stojanovic talked about the importance of using secure communication channels that have end-to-end encryption as standard default mode, meaning communications are completely secure.

She also warned participants about dangerous behaviour on social media that can endanger both journalists and their sources.

“If you are traveling for work, especially to meet sensitive groups of people, you should never post photos on social media, especially not with the location, name of hotels, etc. You are journalists, not celebrities, and dangerous behaviour on social media can endanger not only you but your sensitive sources and others you interview as well,” she said.

Stojanovic also introduced the participants to browsing security and document security, urging them to respect some ground rules such as regularly backing up devices and having several copies of important documents on at least two different devices.

BIRN has been training journalists across south-east Europe about these topics for several years to raise awareness about the importance of staying safe online and about the concepts of secure internal communications and safety while searching and browsing the internet. BIRN also has daily coverage of cyber security across south-east European countries.

This workshop is part of BIRN’s project ‘Paper Trail to Better Governance’, funded by the Austrian Development Agency (ADA), the operational unit of the Austrian Development Cooperation since 2013. Among other things, the project aims to increase the capacities of journalists, media outlets and journalism and communications students in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia.

BIRN Macedonia Launches Media Ownership Monitor Database

The Media Ownership Monitor (MOM) database for North Macedonia, with information about 11 television channels, five radio stations, 13 online media outlets and five newspapers, was launched in Skopje on December 14 by the non-governmental organisation Global Media Register, GMR and BIRN Macedonia.

The database covering media in North Macedonia is available in English and Macedonian, and will soon be available in Albanian too.

Over the past six months, BIRN’s team, with the help of experts and in cooperation with GMR, collected publicly available data and financial information about the media outlets and their owners, as well as details of the owners’ business connections.

The database findings mapped high, medium and low-risk areas for media pluralism. They indicated that there is a high risk that media ownership, audiences and readerships and markets are overly concentrated.

The findings also showed a noticeable gender imbalance in the industry.The most influential Macedonian media are mainly run by men, for whom the media they own is often not their main business.

David Geer, the EU ambassador to North Macedonia, opened the event with a speech emphasising the public’s right to know who owns the media that produces the news they consume.

This was followed by a discussion moderated by Ana Petruseva, BIRN Macedonia’s director. The speakers included Olaf Steenfadt, GMR’s founder and managing director, Snezana Trpevska, co-founder of the Resis Institute, Dragan Sekulovski, the director of the Association of Journalists of Macedonia, ZNM, and Magdalena Dovleva, a representative from the Agency for Audio and Audiovisual Media Services.

They spoke about the key problems facing the country’s media industry, the legal changes that will bring back state advertising in the media, subsidies for print media and the dilemmas surrounding the announced regulation of online media.

MOM was initiated by the German branch of Reporters without Borders with the aim of defending freedom of the media, as well as the right to inform and to be informed everywhere in the world.

In 2019, the project grew into the Global Media Registry, GMR, an independent non-profit organisation registered under German law. In Western Balkan countries, GMR cooperates with BIRN. Along with North Macedonia, MOM databases have been published by BIRN in Serbia, Albania, Montenegro, Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The project is funded by the EU.

BIRN Launches Media Ownership Monitor in Montenegro

Balkan Investigative Reporting Network in Montenegro on Friday presented a register of media owners in Montenegro compiled through a regional project of monitoring media ownership done in collaboration with the Global Media Registry, GMR.

It is available here.

Montenegro is one of the few countries that lacks publicly available basic information about its media market. This information is crucial for objectively assessing the size of the media market and determining who holds a key share in it.

Currently, no state authority, independent regulator or independent institution has data on the size of the media market, especially the advertising market, which is essential for planning the further development of the media community in Montenegro.

There is no independent and objective institution or organization measuring the audience, readership or listenership of media in any format. While some telecommunications operators measure the viewership of certain television programs, these data are not publicly available, are owned by companies, are based on samples exclusive to those companies, are not publicly validated and cannot be considered entirely independent and objective.

There is no publicly available unified metric for online media, forcing citizens to use various internet tools that do not guarantee the accuracy or credibility of the obtained data. Radio stations and newspapers lack any measurement of listenership and readership.

On the other hand, Montenegro is a country with significant foreign ownership of domestic media. Most key media in the country are majority or entirely owned by foreign owners. Simultaneously, the media market in Montenegro is highly exposed to media from neighbouring countries, due to a shared or similar linguistic area. This situation raises significant concerns.

However, media in Montenegro in audio-visual formats (television and radio stations) are under the jurisdiction of the regulator, the Agency for Electronic Media, and so must adhere to all laws and rules applicable in Montenegro, regardless of the owner’s origin.

In this unregulated media market, Montenegro has many media outlets in various formats, with internet portals dominating in terms of quantity. Although there are over 180 registered media outlets in the country, the media themselves often emphasize that survival in the market is impossible without significant state support, even for the largest media. All of this raises concerns that the number of media outlets in Montenegro is disproportionate to what the market can sustain. On the other hand, it is unquestionable that citizens of Montenegro must have access to diverse and pluralistic media content.

Research data indicate that, concerning several media owners in Montenegro, because basic public data is unavailable, it is difficult to assess whether they are the actual owners, or if someone is using them to conceal their real ownership.

The risk indicators compiled through the research on media ownership and the market show that the overall media scene in Montenegro requires serious reforms. The collected data and conclusions from the research can serve as a foundation for changes in media legislation and policies that the European Union, in its latest progress report on Montenegro, has called for.

BIRN Publishes 2023 Report on Handling of Workers’ Rights Cases in Kosovo

On December 14, BIRN held a conference in Kosovo to launch a report, “Victims of Injustice”, which covers the performance of institutions such as the judiciary and the Labour Inspectorate in handling workers’ rights in Kosovo.

The report is drawn from direct monitoring of workplace accidents and an analysis of records archived in both the Labour Inspectorate and the Kosovo courts.

The findings reveal that the authorities and the judiciary have made little progress in addressing issues related to labour rights, especially related to safety at work regulations, while fatal accidents in the country continue to increase.

Between 2021 and 2023, a total of 33 workers died from 763 accidents at work. The statistics for the first half of 2023 alone reveal nine workplace fatalities, indicating an increase in worker fatalities as a result of workplace accidents.

The conference started with speaker notes from Jeta Xharra, Executive Director at BIRN Kosovo, and Johannes Madsen, Head of Cooperation at the EU in Kosovo.

Madsen said that “the protection of labour rights is not an option, it is a commitment to the principles that define a just and humane society”.

The findings of the report were presented by Kreshnik Gashi, Managing Editor at KALLXO.com and Jetlira Buzhala, a monitor and researcher at BIRN. Afterwards, the report was also discussed by a panel, including different actors from public institutions and civil society.

The panel included: Hekuran Nikçi, Chief of the Labor Inspectorate, Eros Gashi, Advisor at Ministry of Justice, Adnan Konushevci, Head of the Civil Department at the Basic Court of Prishtina, Fahret Vellija, Member of the Kosovo Judicial Council and Arif Kadriu, Project Manager at Solidar Suisse.

A total of 51 participants took part in the conference, 19 of whom were women.

The report was published under the “Protection and Promotion of the Labour Rights of Vulnerable Groups in the Labour Market” Project, financed by the European Union Office in Kosovo.

This aims to improve the working conditions for vulnerable categories of workers in Kosovo, especially within the private sector, including health and safety in the workplace for women and men, through the promotion of social dialogue between workers and duty bearers.

The overall report can be found at these links:

Report in English language

Report in Albanian language

Report in Serbian language

 

BIRN BiH Presents ‘Verdict against Stanisic and Simatovic’ Digital Narrative

The Balkan Investigative Reporting Network of Bosnia and Herzegovina presented a multimedia research into Serbia’s role in the Bosnian war through international tribunal verdicts – with reference to the verdict against former Serbia State Security officials Jovica Stanisic and Franko Simatovic.

BIRN BiH Deputy Editor Dzana Brkanic pointed out in her opening remarks, that, besides presenting a digital narrative, the conference held in Sarajevo also aimed to start a discussion on whether there were potential implications for Serbia in the verdict – such as the possibility of payment of compensation to victims, and how facts from the verdict could be used to face the past and future processes.

“The page we are presenting today will also remain as an excellent source of facts for future students and researchers but also as a tool for combatting crime denial and glorification of criminals,” Brkanic said, recalling the tough and long-term journalistic work on the character of the conflict in the country through international verdicts.

Journalist and author of the research on “Serbia’s Role in the War – A Jigsaw Puzzle Through Court Verdicts” Haris Rovcanin, said that the initial Hague verdicts had addressed the question of whether the war in Bosnia was a conflict of international or internal character, primarily due to the role of the Yugoslav National Army, JNA, and its participation in the war.

“Some chambers determined that the war was of international character up until mid-May 1992, but only in a certain area, while some determined that it was of international character throughout the period covered by a specific indictment, usually the entire 1992,” he noted.

All the chambers determined, and it was not disputed by parties to the proceedings, that an armed conflict existed and that the crimes committed were related to that conflict, Rovcanin said.

During the research, Rovcanin spoke to victims who expressed readiness to sue Serbia for reparations should an opportunity arise, for the sake of the truth and future generations, also saying that while no verdict or punishment can bring back their loved ones, this type of satisfaction would suffice.

Klaus Hoffmann, prosecutor in the Stanisic and Simatovic case, who only spoke in a private capacity at the conference, stated that the final verdict against the former leaders of Serbia’s State Security Service was of great importance, as the two men are the only Serbian state officials convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Bosnia and Croatia during the wars that followed the collapse of Yugoslavia.

Although dissatisfied with the level of the prison sentences, Hoffmann determining the role of Stanisic and Simatovic in crimes was of extreme importance.

As he explained, the State Security Service of Serbia, under the leadership of its former head, Stanisic, played a crucial role in the wars in Croatia and Bosnia.

He added that the State Security Service was directly or indirectly heavily involved in the formation of Serbian units in both countries, in the training and equipment of those units, as well as their financing and coordination.

“Evidence has shown that there was an overall plan and a system to set up training camps and to install Serbian units in the targeted areas to become part of Greater Serbia and to expel non-Serbs from these areas. These units were made up of local Serbs, but always trained, equipped and led by members of the Serbian State Security, or at least on its behalf,” said Hoffmann.

He recalled that this included special units such as the infamous Scorpions, the Red Berets and Arkan’s Tigers, as well as units directly led by Simatovic, so-called Frenki’s Men.

In Hoffmann’s opinion, much of the war and many of the crimes would have not been possible without the support and contribution of the State Security of Serbia. It all followed an overall plan to create a “Greater Serbia”, which was shared by the two accused and other key players in Serbia.

He also reflected on the definition of the conflict, pointing out that the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia, ICTY, was not per se a truth commission, to present a full historical record. But he said it was important to understand that many of the early verdicts of the ICTY rendered findings on the existence of the armed conflict and its nature, as well as regarding general historical and political facts.

“In the present case, the evidence therefore did not focus on the nature of the armed conflict but rather on the personal role and contributions of the two accused with regard to the specific crimes as indicted. There was no dispute about the existence of an armed conflict as such. There was also no real dispute about some of the crimes committed in various locations in the two countries,” he said.

The core challenge for the Prosecution in this case, according to Hoffman, was to show that both accused were personally liable for those crimes, although no one ever alleged that either of the accused personally killed any of the civilian victims or committed any of the charged crimes on the ground.

“The fact that the Appeals Chamber after the retrial finally confirmed the charges and the personal responsibility of the two accused as perpetrators shows that the Prosecution team after all was successful in its work over many years,” he said.

As part of the conference, a panel discussion on “What next? – Potential implications of the verdict and impact on facing the past” was held.

This identified the fact that one of Serbian officials was convicted of participating in a joint criminal enterprise aimed at removing the non-Serb population from parts of Bosnia and Croatia as one of the most important facts of this verdict.

Nenad Golcevski, of the Serbian Fund for Humanitarian Law, said the verdict demonstrates the most direct possible connection of Serbia with the war, but also the social importance.

“The conclusion on the character was secondary for the Chamber, but for us it is equally important as the role of Serbia,” he said.

Golcevski pointed out that the facts about Serbia’s involvement in the wars can no longer be disputed, adding that silence had reigned in Serbia after this verdict.

“Not a single official from Serbia said a word about this verdict. That is Serbia’s reaction,” he said, adding that Serbia stopped for a moment only when a video of the Scorpios was published.

He also reflected on the possibility of reparation, stating that victims have the right to compensation because Serbian law recognizes the verdicts of international courts, but that such verdicts must also contain their names.

As he noted, the final verdict against Stanisic and Simatovic named one victim only.

“The Serbian prosecution should prosecute lower ranked perpetrators and then it will be possible to name victims and seek compensation,” he said. He added that this could be done either through criminal or civil proceedings. Civil proceedings are much more exhausting for victims, however, as they must go through traumas again.

Sarajevo-based attorney Sabina Mehic highlighted that the verdict was important both from the social and legal aspect, and that it could contribute to case law for using certain standards.

“It is significant from the aspect of involvement of officials from Serbia in a joint criminal enterprise and units that directly committed crimes,” she said.

She added that the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina should put more focus on compensation for non-material damage.

A video of Berizeta Pitarevic, sister of Sidik Salkic, one of the six men from Srebrenica killed in Godinjske Bare, was played at the panel discussion.

BIRN BiH has analyzed how verdicts delivered by the ITYCY and International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, as well as International Court of Justice, defined the character of the war in Bosnia with reference to the verdict against Stanisic and Simatovic.

Stanisic and Simatovic were found responsible for participating in a joint criminal enterprise and crimes committed in Bijeljina, Zvornik, Bosanski Samac, Doboj and Sanski Most, as well as murders of men from Srebrenica near Trnovo in BiH and on mount Dalj in Croatia.

The verdict also showed the role of Serbia in the war, which is of particular importance as different narratives about the war in Bosnia have co-existed for three decades.

The Global Initiative for Justice, Truth and Reconciliation supported this research and project.

You can find the multimedia page on this link.