Following two nights of protests that saw riot police use tear gas and water cannon, the Georgian government announced that it has withdrawn controversial legislation that critics say would set back democratic development in the country and reverse the country’s stated policy of joining the European Union. Photos and text by Onnik James Krikorian, from Tbilisi
In 30 of Europe's biggest cities, streets named after women make up only 9 per cent of the streets dedicated to individuals. The imbalance has started to narrow in some places, but progress is too slow: at this rate, it would take centuries to really close the gap.
In Trieste, the border between Italy and Slovenia crosses the Carso. For some it is a dream territory, for others a nightmare. Interview with Matteo Calore, Stefano Collizzolli, Andrea Segre – the directors of the documentary "Trieste è bella di notte", premiered at the Trieste Film Festival
We were in Kryvyj Rih, an industrial city in central Ukraine, to investigate what the workers' organisations are doing and how they have reacted to the conflict
For over two months, the population of Nagorno Karabakh has been isolated from the rest of the world by the Azerbaijani blockade of the Lachin Corridor. How life is in Stepanakert
After over seven years of judicial ordeal and after spending fifteen months in pre-trial detention on drug trafficking charges, investigative journalist Jovo Martinovic was acquitted for the second time by the Appellate Court on 17 January. We interviewed him while waiting for the final verdict
A new law on social services in Serbia provides for the collection of a large amount of personal data of beneficiaries, to be analysed with an algorithm that evaluates their socio-economic condition. The declared goal is to improve the distribution of resources, but over 22,000 people have already lost the subsidy, without knowing why
A recent report by the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) takes stock of the fight against discrimination in Bulgaria. Progress has been registered in recent years, but many problems remain unresolved
The recent attack in the heart of Istanbul brought the issue of political violence in Turkey back to the fore, but also dramatically exposed the limitations on access to free information in the country
In a country where media freedom and pluralism are formally protected by a solid legislative framework, the ability of journalists to conduct their investigative work still faces several challenges. We discussed these issues in an interview with Lorenzo Bagnoli, IrpiMedia journalist
"The stable emergence of a Russian civic consciousness against the war is inseparable from a collective elaboration of the trauma of belonging to the aggressor country", says Russian sociologist and dissident Alexander Bikbov in this interview
New revelations reopen the surveillance scandal in Greece: dozens of journalists, politicians, and entrepreneurs were targeted by secret services and spyware. Who gave the orders?
The first European conference for the fight against SLAPPs, also known as gag or reckless complaints, was held in Strasbourg on 20 October, organised by the European Center for Press and Media Freedom and the Coalition against SLAPP in Europe. The report of the event
How are anti-discrimination laws enforced in Greece? Are marginalised subjectivities protected? Does equal treatment only apply to European citizens? Is society ready to tackle intersectional discrimination? An analysis
Recent research on menstrual poverty in Croatia, conducted by the PaRiter association, has allowed the issue of menstruation to be addressed by educational institutions. Various initiatives to make menstrual products free
One week after the start of the lessons, on 22 September, the Albanian government suddenly closed the 'Mehmet Akif' Turkish women's boarding school in Tirana. A drastic decision with unclear reasons. The interference of the Turkish authorities is in the shadows
An assembly of citizens in BiH has proposed a way out of the age-old problem of constitutional reform, pending for years after the Sejdic-Finci ruling of 2009. An interview with Nenad Stojanovic
Despite government bans aimed at limiting the LGBT demonstration in Belgrade, over ten thousand people marched through the streets of the capital on Saturday 17 September. Can we therefore speak of a success? Yes and no, as explained by Goran Miletic, director of the Europe and MENA Office at Civil Rights Defenders and one of the Europride organisers
Prohibitions and threats failed to stop Belgrade's Europride and its colourful parade through the streets of the capital. However, there were also accidents, hate speech, and violence. The road to full realisation of LGBT rights in Serbia remains an uphill one
On August 26, Greek journalist Evangelos Areteos was denied entry to Turkey. For more than two decades, he has been reporting to the Greek-speaking public about the transformations of Turkey
A newborn child stolen by deception from his mother, in the hospital, and then sold to an Italian family. He is one of the many children involved in a network of illegal adoptions in Armenia
The recent events in Novi Sad, where a citizens' protest against the application of the new Master Plan was severely repressed by the police and private guards, confirmed the tendency of Vucic's regime to use violence to suppress dissent
For almost two years, the Telecommunications and Information Technology Authority, a Turkish ministerial body, has been requesting the metadata of all their customers' traffic from Internet service providers. This mass surveillance operation was revealed by an investigation by journalist Dogu Eroglu
Istanbul celebrated its annual LGBTI+ Pride March in late June under the shadow of intense police repression, in line with Turkish government’s growing intolerance for any form of LGBTI+ expression, from public marches to popular media
Almost thirty years after the genocide we are very far from starting a dialogue and a public discussion – in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Europe – on the memory of what happened in Srebrenica. An interview with Andrea Rizza Goldstein
In the 1990s Alexander Langer, a South Tyrolean politician and MEP, devoted a great deal of effort to seeking peaceful solutions to the conflict in Bosnia. His writings have now been translated into Bosnian and will be the core of meetings for young people on human rights, ecology, and activism
The second of a series of insights into the digital aspect of the so-called 'Fortress Europe' and of existing and potential abuses: the impact of surveillance systems on vulnerable populations, money for Frontex drones, and monitoring the movement of citizens within the European area
