Social Issues

The region needs more proactive transparency, open contracting and political will to deal with freedom of information, FOI, speakers from the region and internationally told BIRN's panel discussion Platform B: Freedom of Information in the Balkans, held on Thursday.

Holding banners with slogans like "We are Tomas", "How many weren't filmed?" and "I can't breathe", protesters marched from Pristina city centre to the Czech Embassy where they called on the Prague authorities to investigate the death last month of Stanislav Tomas, a Czech Roma man.

He pointed out that until a month ago, he did not know of a case where a man marked "S" sexually harassed girls at a research station Petnica.
Asked how he did not know for four years why "S" was fired, he told TV Prva that "Petnica is a type of instantaneous water heater and many people come and go."

The Government has approved the National Strategy and associated Action Plan to prevent and combat anti-Semitism, xenophobia, radicalization and hate speech, said Alexandru Muraru, honorary advisor to the Prime Minister, special representative of the Government for the Promotion of Memory Policies, Combating Anti-Semitism and Xenophobia.

Turkish riot police use plastic bullets securing an area during a protest against President Erdogan's appointed rector at Bogazici University in Istanbul, 2 February 2021. Photo: EPA-EFE/TOLGA BOZOGLU

In an effort to reassert its authority in combatting the coronavirus pandemic and stem a third wave of infections sweeping the country, Germany's central government agreed today on a set of national measures - including night-time curfews.

Ljubljana – Slovenia enters the red tier of coronavirus restrictions under an overhauled traffic light system on Monday after an eleven-day circuit breaker lockdown has ended. Most notably, the night curfew is gone after nearly six months and schools are once again open.

Fresh lockdowns and curfews were imposed on tens of millions of people from India to Argentina on April 10, as COVID-19 infections surged again and vaccine roll-outs were hampered by shortages and scares over side effects.

A tolerant and open society is based not only on the development projects undertaken, but also on the ability to reject hate speech and to condemn firmly any instance of racism or xenophobia, President Klaus Iohannis said on Tuesday in a message to International Romani Day celebrated on April 8.

Thousands of people once again violated nationwide weeknight curfews and weekend lockdowns in some provinces despite repeated warnings from authorities for the public to follow orders.