Monitoring Matrix Regional Report 2016: Violations to Basic Freedoms and Impeded CSO Financial Sustainability

BCSDN has published the fourth Monitoring Matrix Regional Report on Enabling Environment for Civil Society Development in Enlargement Countries, presenting the regional state of play of civil society in 2016 and highlighting the priorities for intervention by national and EU institutions at the regional level towards creating a more enabling environment for civil society. According to the findings for 2016, political crises, elections and economic instability, coupled with increased citizen unrest and the refugee crisis, left little space for civil society development in most of the countries in the Western Balkans and Turkey, despite the relatively stable legal environment. Many CSOs, nevertheless, had pivotal role in organizing peaceful assemblies against political, social and economic injustices as well as actively supporting refugees and migrants passing through the region. The worrisome steps made in several countries in the direction of backsliding and restricting civic space for CSOs and citizens continued throughout 2016. More information is available here.

Source: BCSDN