MONITORING REPORT ON HATE SPEECH IN THE WESTERN BALKANS 2025

On a regional level, a total of 611 cases of hateful and harmful speech were recorded during this reporting period. Ethnicity and gender remain the two most targeted identities on a regional level, as has been the case since RDN began monitoring in 2021. Together, these two categories still make up more than half of all recorded cases, while the share of cases in each of these categories remains almost unchanged compared to the previous reporting period. Cases against ethnicity made up 27.06% of all cases, while those targeting gender made up 25.44%.

Ethnic hate peaked in Bosnia and Herzegovina during this period, as it was recorded in more than half of all national cases (53.57%). In Montenegro (31.48%) and North Macedonia (30.77%), ethnic hate was recorded in almost a third of all national cases. In contrast, gender-based hate speech prevailed in Albania (46.36%), making up almost half of all recorded cases in the country, and in Kosovo (26.95%), making up a fourth of all cases. However, in Kosovo, ethnic hate (24.82%) was also found in only slightly less than a fourth of cases.

It is essential to note that 22.75% of documented cases on a regional level included hateful and discriminatory discourse intersectional in nature. In such cases, groups and individuals were targeted for multiple overlapping identities. This is mainly reflected in cases where someone’s gender, ethnicity or sexual orientation plays a role in the discourse used against them, even if it is not the sole reason why they are targeted. As in the previous report, these cases were included in calculations of other individual categories in the quantitative analysis to create a clearer picture of the results.

According to this calculation, in Serbia, almost a third of all cases (28.40%) included elements of political targeting, making those deemed political opponents the most targeted group.

The main generators of hate speech in the region during this period were private persons (29.96%), namely users on social media platforms or anonymous commentators spreading hate speech on online portals. 

Insults were the dominant type of hateful and discriminatory discourse recorded, making up more than a third (34.76%) of all cases regionally. 

You can find the whole report below.

Download MONITORING REPORT ON HATE SPEECH IN THE WESTERN BALKANS 2025