Full Coverage: South East Europe

31.03.2006 After three years of successful work in the region, beginning of 2006, OneWorld Southeast Europe registered as a non profit foundation named “oneworld – platform southeast europe” (owpsee), based in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. On April 3 and 4 (Monday, Tuesday) there will be a launch event hosted in Sarajevo to mark the ocassion.

31.03.2006 Since the establishment of democracy in 2000, the media reforms in Serbia have been both slow and inconsistent. In order to expedite the approximation to requirements presented by the future EU membership, Serbia needs to give up on its arbitrary media policies and legislation and commit itself to implementation of adopted regulation.

31.03.2006 The internet forum of the “Stormfront” neo-Nazi organization in Serbian language again carried threats and calls for concrete direct action against the activists of several NGOs in Serbia.

30.03.2006 The Croatian Anti-War Campaign (ARK) and the Centre for Peace Studies will organize a round-table discussion ARK Legacy 1991-2005: How to Preserve and Present Material and Immaterial Records of the Work of the Greatest Peace Network in Croatia. The discussion will be held on Wednesday, April 12, 2006, at the National and University Library in Zagreb, from 11:00-14:00 hours.

30.03.2006 Macedonian media paid the greatest attention to Macedonian relations with Kosovo and the Hague Tribunal (ICTY), as well as the EU initiative to create a free trade zone in the Balkans. These were the conclusions of the February 2006 “Media Mirror” report, prepared under the programme for qualitative monitoring of the media in Macedonia.

29.03.2006 The policy study Macedonian Clothes for Europe, prepared by the Center for Research and Policy Making, offers a general analysis of the clothing sector in Macedonia. It does so by looking both at a crucial sector (clothes or apparel production) and at trends in one of Macedonia’s seven regions (Eastern Macedonia).

29.03.2006 The World Economic Forum, in cooperation with INSEAD, published the “Networked Readiness Index” of the Global Information Technology Report 2005-2006.

29.03.2006 The Helsinki Committee for Human Rights published the fourth miscellany of essays Helsinki Files, under the auspices of the “Serbia in Modernization Processes in the XIX and XX Centuries” project. The miscellany was dedicated to women and children during this period.

29.03.2006 The Skopje United Nations Association (SUNA) presented yesterday several concrete proposals for changes in the Draft-Law on Donation and Sponsorship in the Public Domain.

29.03.2006 The Youth Initiative for Human Rights submitted its request to the Serbian Skupstina (the Parliament) for urgent appointment of Citizens’ Advocate, an institution that would lay the ground for the establishment of the Office of the Ombudsman.

28.03.2006 The European Roma Rights Centre, the National Roma Centrum and the Croatian Law Center invite for applicants from Croatia and Macedonia to apply to participate in a media skills training workshop in Skopje, Macedonia, on Tuesday, April 25, 2006.

28.03.2006 Gjakova/Djakovica Municipality and UNDP Kosovo launched a new project that will include the Millennium Development Goals in the Municipal development strategy, in an event that took place in Gjakova/Djakovica, on Monday, 27 March 2006.

27.03.2006 The cooperation between the environmentalist groups and the media in providing information to the public about environmental protection was the topic discussed in the workshop held on March 24 in Slavonski Brod, held by representatives of Osijek Greens, on invitation by BEUZ (Brod Environmental Association “Zemlja”).

27.03.2006 The Coalition for Women and Youth Participation in Politics and Women's political groups, with the support by the Group of Women Members of Parliament of Albania, submitted a petition to the Office of the President of the Republic Alfred Moisiu, Jozefina Topalli, the President of the Parliament, and the Leaders of Political Parties in Albania, expressing their concern and demanding greater representation of women in Albanian politics and decision-making processes.

27.03.2006 The Kulturpunkt Portal reports that the European Cultural Foundation, HIVOS and the Open Society Institute established a new fund for financing of NGOs active in the cultural sector in the Western Balkans countries.

24.03.2006 The Board of Kosovo Women Members of Parliament organized a national conference on the topic: "How are we organized to fight the trafficking with human beings in Kosovo". A number of international and local representatives and entities that work on treatment as well as fight against trafficking in human beings took part in the conference. The conference emphasized that Kosovo is moving from a transit country, which it was before the war, to a destination country of trafficking.

24.03.2006 UNDP Bosnia and Herzegovina with the support of the Ministry of Defence of BiH organised the Donor Conference on Small Arms and Ammunition reduction and control in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The main purpose of this event was to introduce the donor community on Small Arms Control cycle, management and exchange information on Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) issues. The goal of the meeting was also to encourage further engagement of the donor community in the SALW process.

24.03.2006 According to the information collected by the Union of Women’s Organizations of Macedonia (SOZM), the trafficking in human beings in the country has increased over the past several years.

24.03.2006 The Belgrade School of Security Studies (BSSS), research unit of the Centre for Civil-Military Relations (CCMR) will hold a regional conference entitled “Safer Balkans Network”, to discuss how security studies has been developed in the Western Balkans in the last decade and to explore the current state of academic and non-academic educational programmes in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, and Serbia and Montenegro.

24.03.2006 The IMOR – Interactive Network for Education and Resources started its new Local Self-Government in Your Community project, which aims to involve the youth in the development of their respective local communities.