Full Coverage: South East Europe

30.11.2006 Transparency International Croatia reacted today to the draft-Law on Financing of Political Parties that entered parliamentary procedure earlier this week. TIC believes that the Law is an important step forward in creation of legal framework for fight against corruption, but that this draft has one great defect – it doesn’t regulate the financing of election campaigns.

30.11.2006 Under the “16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence” campaign, the Anima Centre for Women and Peace Studies from Kotor sent an open letter to the Montenegrin Parliament, Government, political parties, the Parliamentary Committee on Gender Equality and the Office of Gender Equality, with the demand that the status of women as constitutional part of the state body is confirmed in the preparation of the new Constitution of Montenegro.

29.11.2006 In commemoration of Universal Children’s Day, some 120 young people from different ethnic groups visited Albanian Mosques and Serbian Orthodox Monasteries, as part of an awareness raising activity promoting respect for religious sites among the youth in Kosovo. Rick Spruyt reports for World Vision from Kosovo.

29.11.2006 U Bosni i Hercegovini je do početka rata u prvoj polovini devedesetih godina prošlog stoljeća postojala izgrađena telekomunikaciona infrastruktura, koja je uključivala telefonsku i telegrafsku mrežu, te mrežu za prenos podataka. Ukupan kapacitet bh. telefonskih centrala bio je 744.000 telefonskih priključaka. Ratna dešavanja su pričinila veliku materijalnu štetu na telekomunikacionim objektima, a sa administrativnom podjelom zemlje na dva entiteta dolazi i do podjela u telekomunikacionom sektoru.

29.11.2006 Kada je u junu 2005. Telekomu Srbija istekao osmogodišnji ugovor o monopolu, poznavaoci tržišta telekomunikacija ponadali su se da će u narednih godinu dana i u Srbiju stići kokurencija u ovom sektoru, a sa njom i pad cena i podizanje kvaliteta usluga. Godinu i po dana kasnije, stanje na srpskom tržištu ostalo je nepromenjeno, a prema Strategiji razvoja telekomunikacija, koju je nedavno usvojila Vlada Srbije, monopol Telekoma Srbija faktički se produžava do 2010. godine.

29.11.2006 Nedostatak informacija jedan je od elemenata siromaštva. Osnovni uzroci zacaranog kruga siromastva su nedostatak obrazovanja i informacija. Uprkos proklamovanoj političkoj volji za smanjenje siromaštva, gradjanima jugoistične Evrope, najsiromašnijeg evropskog regiona, sistematski se uskraćuju prava na informacije, obrazovanje i komunikacije, kroz onemogućavanje pristupa telekomunikacijama. Procitajte vise.

28.11.2006 Between November 22 and December 15, 2006, the Youth Information Agency and the Creative Development Foundation will organize a campaign to collect letters of support for the initiative to establish a special fund for introduction of information science technology in B&H education system.

28.11.2006 The SEE Youth Network annual assembly, held earlier this month in Montenegro, decided, by unanimous decision, to accept the Croatian Youth Network for associate membership. CYN may become full member of SEEYN in a year’s time, if it proves, through its activities and engagement, itself worthy of it.

28.11.2006 Cullen International, Belgian institute that provides monitoring services on telecommunications and electronic commerce, has started a project for monitoring of Development of Electronic Communications Sector in SEE countries. This is the second report released under this project.

28.11.2006 NGO INTEGRA in cooperation with UNICEF HQ Prishtina, Kosovar Committee for AIDS and other local and international partners, continuous hard work to combat the HIV/AIDS.

28.11.2006 Gender equality has emerged as an important social issue in Albania. This is reflected by the new master’s programme on gender and development now offered at Tirana University.

27.11.2006 The On.Net Internet provider and several cable operators may become the first companies to enter the landline telephone services market and compete with “Macedonian Telecommunications” Co. at the start of next year. The potential operators complain of the high interconnection charges as the main obstacle to their entry in the market.

27.11.2006 The legal framework in Albania is covered by the Telecommunication Regulatory Entity, the regulatory body on telecommunications and development policies. Although legally its task was to regulate the telecommunications operations and it aims to protect public interests and create transparent regulatory environment, which assists in inciting investments and free competition situation in the telecommunication market in the country is still monopolized and with many abuse cases and corruptive affairs.

27.11.2006 The Union of Women Organizations of Macedonia – SOZM is involved, once again, in the “16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence” Global Campaign, which is implemented for 2006 under the motto “Violence has Many Faces!” The 2006 campaign is implemented by the SOS Phone for the Youth working with the National Women Council of the Republic of Macedonia.

27.11.2006 The lacking legal framework; exclusion from international associations of postal services and telecommunications due to its unresolved status; delayed transfer of competences by UNMIK to Kosovans; the drag in the licensing of other operators apart from the public one – Post and Telecommunications of Kosovo (PTK); use of foreign telecommunications codes and enormous expenditures it entails; these are all factors that have had to be taken into consideration in the development of telecommunications sector in Kosovo since 1999. The ultimate result of such a situation has been the creation of a monopoly in the sector, detrimental to the users of services in general.

26.11.2006 Compared to the other countries in SEE, the Croatian telecommunications sector is very well developed. The liberalization, i.e. the formal elimination of monopolies, was implemented in all segments of the market, while the state ownership in the incumbent operator is below 50 percent. Furthermore, a stable regulatory and policy framework was established, providing satisfactory levels of autonomy for the Telecommunications Agency (according to the European Commission) and the Central Administrative Bureau for e-Croatia, which has done strong work to increase public access to information and communication technology. Finally, the availability and quality of telecommunication services, as well as the percentage of population that uses them are among the best and highest in the region (according to the comparative report on telecommunications sector in SEE, prepared by Cullen International).

26.11.2006 Before the war erupted in the early 1990s, there was a well established telecommunications infrastructure in Bosnia and Herzegovina that included the telephone and telegraph network, as well as a network for transfer of data. The total capacity of B&H telephone exchange facilities was 744,000 telephone lines. The war caused huge material damages on telecommunications facilities. In addition, the administrative division of the country into two entities created a division in the telecommunications sector.

26.11.2006 The political will to improve the situation in the area of telecommunications and ICT does exist in Macedonia and is getting stronger, judging from the announcements made by the new Government that the Law on Information Society is in the process of being adopted, but also from the intention to establish a Ministry of Information Society, expected to become operational by the end of this year. At the E-Society regional conference that took place just ten days ago, Minister of Transport and Communications Mile Janakievski announced a number of projects that will be implemented next year, including a project to secure free computers for Macedonian schools.

26.11.2006 Back in June 2005, when the eight-year monopoly agreement with Telecom Serbia expired, experts in telecommunications market expressed their hopes that competition in this sector will enter Serbia over the next year or so, increasing the quality of services and reducing the prices. A year and a half later, the situation in Serbian market remains unchanged. Moreover, according to Telecommunications Development Strategy (TDS), recently adopted by the Government of Serbia, the monopoly of the Telecom has been, for all practical purposes, extended till 2010.

24.11.2006 The Parliamentary Sub-Commission for Juveniles and Equal Opportunities in cooperation with the Children's Human Rights Centre of Albania – CRCA, organised on November 21.2006, an open public hearing on children's rights situation in the country. CRCA was supported for this activity by Olof Palme International Center and SIDA Sweden.