Throughout the month of July, the RDN monitoring team has detected a range of hateful narratives and discourse. As we enter the tourist holiday season, there has been a rise in hateful narratives directed towards various ethnic groups including high levels of ethnic discrimination and racism across all six Western Balkan states.

Tourism and the rise of ethnic discrimination

During the peak of tourism season, there has been a rise in cases of hate speech in the Western Balkans in relation to tourists from the region who travel within the region. Such incidents of hate speech helps to uphold negative stereotypes and disinformation.

Luxury resort Aman Sveti Stefan used to be known for its exclusive seaside for elite tourists nevertheless, this year its beaches have now been opened up to the public.

An author of an article that was published on the infoportal, aktuelno.me displayed strong ethnic hatred towards tourists from Serbia and the Republika Srpska (BiH), by using strong ethnic narratives and derogatory terminology to refer to them as “tomato tourists” and “wandering cattle”. Such narratives and negative group labelling increase tension and hatred amongst ethnic groups within Montenegro.

The author of the article goes as far as to accuse tourists from Serbia and Republika Srpska (BiH) of leaving their excrement on Montenegrin breaches – another example of negative narratives being created to stigmatise tourists of Serbian ethnic origin.

Furthermore, the author mocks the statement of the Montenegrin Deputy Prime Minister – Dritan Abazovic- who claimed that this tourist season could indeed be a record number of tourists.

Such articles promote ethnic hatred and uphold stereotypes and hostility between various ethnic communities.

Similarly, in Albania there has been a rise in ethnic discrimination towards Serb tourists in the month of July. An article recently published by Al Jazeera Balkans blog which highlighted the love of Serbians to spend their summer holidays in Albania was picked up by Shqiptarja.com newspaper and posted on Facebook with the title ‘here’s how Serbs fell in love with Albania!’ The Al Jazeera article itself looked at the areas and countries that attract most Serbian tourists and Albania was one of them.

Although the Facebook post itself does not include any hate speech, a comment made by an online account on Facebook included highly insulting, denigrating, and humiliating statements towards Serbs. This individual commented under the article: “a very beautiful thing. After we were killed and our sisters raped in Kosovo, we now have to see them face to face on the beaches, at a time that Croatia doesn’t want to look at them at all”. Not only is this comment highly insulting and problematic as it promotes a further division between Albanians and Serbs on the basis of linking the present day to the past conflict between Kosovan’s and Serbs during the fall of Yugoslavia, but it also further promotes hate speech and xenophobia towards the Serbian population. Such comments uphold ethnic discrimination within the region and lead to further hostility between both ethnic groups.

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the film director Nejra Latic Hulusic who wanted to swim in a burkini in the public swimming pool in Tuzla was denied entrance. She was asked to leave the pool as she was told that she could not swim dressed. As a result, Hulusic took to social media to express her shock and anger which led to the pool manager’s son writing a post on Facebook – “I am sick of these ‘new believers’ who fight for religious rights and freedoms in a country where religious communities have the status of the deity itself and which manage all processes in society such as Bosnia and Herzegovina”.

This comment is highly problematic due to its ethnic, racial, and religious discrimination rhetoric. By banning Hulusic entrance into a public space based on her religion and private belief shows prejudice and intolerance towards people of various ethno-religious backgrounds. Furthermore, by making such swooping comments on social media, further undermines the seriousness of the situation and downplays the level of religious discrimination, which only further upholds such hateful narratives.

Ethnic prejudice and hostility in Kosovo

The info portal kosovapress, published an article about a recent case of water poisoning in the Decan region where over 1,500 citizens have sought medical help. While it was still not clear if the cause of the poisoning was water, Naim Muçaj, the owner of a restaurant which is located approximately 500 meters away from the water well, stated that a few days before the first cases appeared two young people in a white SUV with Serbian, Novi Sad, license plates visited his restaurant and had asked him about the road leading to the Deçan monastery. “[T]hey came out of their car, with a car registration from Novi Sad, they entered like gangsters…they looked suspicious to me,” the owner commented.

The first cases of poisoning were recorded two days later, prompting the restaurant owner to raise suspicions about the possible involvement of two young men from Novi Sad in the alleged water poisoning. The owner of the restaurant informed the police about the conversation with the two young men, after which he handed over the camera recordings. Investigations have been carried out, while the Basic Prosecution in Peja has issued a statement following the information received about the visit of two persons of Serbian nationality moving towards the Monastery of Deçan. With the authorization of the Chief Prosecutor in Peja and in coordination with the intelligence agency and Regional Directorate of police in Peja, they have taken appropriate steps and the two individuals have been identified. Furthermore, in the recent communique of the Basic Prosecution in Peja, it was confirmed that further steps would be taken if the possible connection between the two individuals and the incident itself were to be confirmed.

Naim Mucaj’s statement was then reported by almost every media in Kosovo, without basic journalistic job to check data was done, thus further spreading stereotypes based on prejudice and accusations. This incident is a clear example of ethnic discrimination and xenophobia by making a connection between two young men who visited the area a few days prior to the water poisoning. By making a clear emphasis that the two individuals came from Serbia, and yet holding no substantial evidence linking them to the incident, this only further maintains hostility between the Kosovo and Serbian population.

Ethnic hatred towards the Roma community in North Macedonia

In an article on sdk.mk info portal, the headline read “we will deport beggars, they come to Struga to make money and are a nuisance to tourists, says Mayor Merko”.

The Mayor of the city of Struga, Ramiz Merko made denigrating comments towards people who beg within the city especially during summer to which the Mayor responded by claiming that he aims to take measures. He went on to call them “boring” and a “nuisance” to tourists and people who are trying to eat lunch in the city but keep being interrupted. He furthermore, added that he plans to deport these beggars even if that meant separating them from their children. He was quoted saying:  

“we determined where to hold them for 24 hours. Of course, we’re unable to do this with the children due to the Law, but we can and will deport the parents to wherever they came from, to reduce the numbers of beggars in Struga”.

He also encouraged people not to give money to beggars so as to not motivate them to return.

In context, beggars across Macedonia often belong to the Roma community. Such comments made in public media can further lead to ethnic discrimination and hatred towards the Roma community. When public officials with a wide audience make such derogatory comments hateful narratives are only further upheld.

Following the incident, The European Centre for Roma Rights submitted a complaint against Ramiz Merko’s statements on the ‘grounds of ethnicity, race and skin color, belonging to a social group, property statues or belonging to a marginalised group’. Despite this, Ramiz Merko defended his statement by adding that the media misinterpreted his words as he did not mean to make any discriminatory statements. Nevertheless, Merko submitted a letter to the Ombudsman of Macedonia in which he states that he ‘regrets if his statement led to a situation where someone in a group or community has to file a complaint and apologises if he offended someone with his statement’.

Overall, the Ombudsman closed the case due to the fact that Merko made an apology and has not followed up with action of deportation of the beggars in Struga. Nevertheless, the media, by such reporting on this issue, have contributed to reinforcing stereotypes against Roma and socially deprived people.

Strong nationalism and ethnic narratives in Serbia

At the anniversary of the Movement of Socialists, the Minister of Internal Affairs, Aleksandar Vulin, spread strong narratives of ethnic discrimination, xenophobia and racism towards people who are not Serbs within the region. Vulin made a comment during his public address regarding the task of this generation of politicians which was quote “to create a Serbian world, to unite Serbs wherever they live”.

He also added that

“because the people who have the experience of the Jasenovac genocide, who have the experience of the operation Storm (Oluja), and who have experience of the March pogrom (Martovski pogrom), have no right to hand over their destiny to others, or be given names by others, to be determined by others (..). they have no right to give up integration and unification, they have no right to give up the Serbian world. And for the Serbian world to emerge, Serbia must be economically successful, well-led to have an army capable of preserving both Serbia and the Serbs wherever they live. In order to preserve such Serbia, we must do everything to continue the policy of Aleksandar Vučić. Only that; only that is victory; only that is a guarantee of the survival of our people and nothing else”.

Such strong nationalist narratives, could lead to the further marginalization of individuals of various backgrounds living in the country.

Such narratives are not only dangerous as they raise tensions and are reminiscent of  the events which took place during the conflict of 1990s, they also undermine the identity of individuals living within Serbia who may be of various ethno-religious backgrounds.

These comments can, furthermore, come across as insensitive and upsetting to those who fell victims to the crimes which took place during the conflict. They further create hostility and tension amongst various communities within the country by recalling moments in history where many people lost their loved ones.

This speech was broadcast on national television RTS and was thereon, shared by all the media further promoting such strong ethnic, nationalistic narratives.

The Balkan Troll of the Month is an individual, a group of individuals or a media outlet that spreads hate on the internet based on gender, ethnicity, religion, or other diversity categories. The Balkan Troll is selected based on hate speech incidents identified across the Western Balkans region.

Our July Troll of the Month is T7 TV Channel from Kosovo which displayed strong homophobic narratives and hate speech directed towards the LGBTQ+ community.

T7 is a TV channel located in Kosovo’s capital, Pristina – it has a widespread audience and is both aired live and recorded on social media platforms including Facebook. This homophobic incident took place during a live debate on T7 surrounding the Pride Parade taking place in the city. This year’s fifth Pride Parade in Kosovo was part of the culmination of Pride Week activities held across Kosovo’s capital.

As a television company with national coverage and a source of information to the public, T7 has both a responsibility and duty  to censor and monitor the information which they air.

On the show, Gezim Kelmendi who is the leader of the political party “Fjala”  , was one of the  many of the guests taking part in the debate .  The debate which was dedicated to the Pride March in Pristina, lasted for over an hour and a half. During that time, Kelmendi claimed that the LGBTQ+ community is very dangerous for both society and the county’s birth rate as non-heterosexual partners cannot give birth naturally.

Kelmendi even went as far as to compare homosexual couples to animals by claiming that “not even animals have sex with the same gender” which is extremely degrading and humiliating, as well as an unsubstantiated claim. By making such demeaning and dehumanising comparisons between people and animals, it can lead to the exclusion and marginalisation of the LGBTQ+ community from society.

He furthermore went on to add that in addition to being a threat to humans and being a threat to Kosovo’s birth rate leading to a reduction in the population, they carry two other ‘great dangers’. First, that “they are the main carriers of sexually transmitted diseases” – as he claimed that the “the main carriers of AIDS are the LGBT community”. Secondly, Kelmendi went on to add that due to their activities, their partnerships and life choices, they are unable to donate blood. He chose to back this claim by adding that according to the legislation of the European Union, the LGBTQ+ community is forbidden to donate blood. He went on to say that “imagine how dangerous they are for society when they are not allowed to donate blood” creating a false narrative regarding the ‘dangers’ posed by the LGBTQ+ community.

These dehumanising narratives are extremely harmful, because taking away one’s humanity leads to members of the LGBTQ+ community becoming easy targets of hate crime.

Changing the civil code that would allow for same-sex marriage was one of the main demands of the LGBTQ+ community at this years’ Pride Parade. Lendi Mustafa, an LGBTQ+ activist in Kosovo further highlighted this during this year’s Pride Parade as he addressed ongoing efforts to ensure that same sex marriage is permitted in Kosovo by amending the civil code. Kelmendi took to the importance of the issue and claimed that he believes that Kosovo is currently facing more important issues  than the fight for same-sex marriage. Indeed, these narratives are dangerous as they run the risk of undermining the significance of Pride as all individuals deserve to be treated equally.

It seems that the biggest opponents to the LGBTQ+ community, despite many conservative Kosovans being against people of different sexual orientation, are indeed members of religious communities who invoke alleged moral aspects of religious rules. By using homophobic and derogatory terminology including terms and expressions like “patients, directly endangering the human beings” and homosexuals being “the main carriers of sexual diseases” on live TV, this merely spreads homophobia and hate speech against LGBTQ+ community amongst viewers and members of society.

Harmful disinformation and homophobia

A large number of media outlets reported on the Pride Parade in Pristina this year, which led to hundreds of insulting comments on their social networks in regards to the LGBTQ+ community.

Not only are such comments promoting homophobia and anti-LGBTQ+ narratives, but by making such comments on live TV, they are undermining the LGBTQ+ cause and diminishing the real significance of Pride Month and marches that take place to promote equality amongst homosexuals.

Overall, by allowing guests such as Kelmendi to make such comments which promote homophobia and hate towards the LGBTQ+ community, T7 has an obligation to react. 

If such comments are allowed to be made on TV without repercussions this can lead to a very toxic environment and further spur on negative attitudes towards the LGBTQ+ community on the basis of opinion rather than fact.

Throughout the month of June, the RDN monitoring team has detected a range of hateful narratives and discourse. As June was Pride Month, homophobia continued to be present within traditional and social media alongside a large range of hate speech including sexist narratives and ethnic discrimination across all six Western Balkan countries.

Ethnic Discrimination between Albanians and Serbs

RDN recently explored the role of the media in creating ethnic tensions and hatred between the Serbian and Albanian population.

Albanian-Serbian relations have been a consistent topic throughout history in which negative stereotypes, prejudice and discriminatory headlines seem to drive a wedge between both populations and fuel ethnic hatred and distrust between both countries.

Recently, in Serbia, Informer.rs published an article titled ‘Arnautovic angry like a lynx! A Serb cursed Shiptar after he tried to hurt him!’. The national football player Marko Arnautovic, who had Serbian roots, cursed racist tones to the player of North Macedonia who has Albanian heritage by using a stereotypically racist terminology ‘Shiptar’. This negative group labelling and inflammatory speech is typically used as a personal insult to humiliate and denigrate people of Albanian ethnic heritage.

Similarly, Albanian news platforms often use derogatory terms such as ‘Shkja’ when referring to Serbs which only supports the notion of the role of media in driving a wedge between Albanians and Serbs leading to ethnic hatred and tension amongst both nations.

Ethnic Discrimination towards the Roma community in North Macedonia

On Facebook, a private user posted a video titled “Roma people are complaining that a genocide is being committed against them, similar to the fascists that built 3-meter walls”. The video which spread on Facebook showed the foundation of what seems to be a wall that was being planned to be built. The social media user published this video with the description that it was believed that the municipality of Gjorche Petrov plans to build a 3-meter wall around a Roma populated area. There was indeed a protest against the building of this wall, but under the video comments there was also a large number of negative stereotypes, hate speech and insults directed to the Roma population.

Roma people are often stereotyped as being “dirty” and “annoying” and indeed the comments below the video seemed to reinforce such sentiments. The supposed wall would block out the Roma populated area from the neighbouring areas populated by non-Roma population. This would only further reinforce the division within the society and the marginalisation of the Roma community.

RDN 2.0 used the occasion to pose a question to its social media users ‘Do you think social media platforms should moderate hate speech more carefully?’, as although some of the commentators may have protested against the building of the wall, ‘for others this was a trigger for numerous hateful comments which perpetuate negative stereotypes and insults directed at Roma community’.

Political Hate Speech in Montenegro

In Montenegro, an article came out on RTCG after a video showing an unknown male person urinating on the monument of the national hero Ljubo Cupic in the city of Niksic was circulating on social media networks. This led to a number of reactions on many social media platforms and included the condemnation from politicians including  Montenegro’s President Milo Djukanovic. President Djukanovic claimed that “this is the most obvious expression of the vampirization of the chetnik ideology that the new parliamentary majority encourages by its inaction”, adding that he expects the competent state bodies to react decisively and adequately. “Otherwise, we will know what to do and how to defend our revolutionary heritage and the most valuable historical values of modern Montenegrin society,” the President of Montenegro concluded.

 When such inflammatory terminology is used, including by powerful and influential members of society such as the President of Montenegro, merely spreads and upholds ethnic divisions and hateful narratives within the region.

Homophobia and anti-LGBTQ+ narratives in Kosovo and Albania

In Kosovo the online newspaper Insajderi published an article titled ‘LGBT community seeking to remove the term ‘mother’. The article reported on recent articles published by some British media (such as the Daily Mail and The Sun) which report that LGBTQ+ charities such as Stonewall sought to changing the term ‘mother’ from work documents and replace it with the term ‘the parent who gave birth’. They furthermore, claimed that the community was seeking to avoid using the term ‘father’ as part of their encouragement towards the use of gender-neutral language.

This article was then posted on Facebook in which it received many hateful comments aimed towards the LGBTQ+ community, going as far as calling to “kill those idiots”. This is highly problematic as such headlines and articles run the risk of spreading hateful comments and narratives which contribute to the negative labelling and strong anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric within society.

In recent years there have been several attempts by various organisations to change the Family Code in order to allow for LGBTQ+ families to adopt children and thereby, gain legal recognition of their relationships. Nevertheless, Kosovo’s traditional society seems rigid about changing their attitudes towards this as they do not seem yet ‘ready’ to accept such demands, including the Government (s) who are expected to address the issue themselves.

In Albania, on the online news portal exit.al, a headline read:  “Albanian Journalist Uses Homophobic Slurs on Live Television” whereby the article discussed how on national TV, Blerta Tafani used negative hate speech and inflammatory speech aimed towards the LGBTQ+ community in conversation with LGBTQ+ activist Xheni Karaj. The debate surrounded the topic of introducing the term ‘parent’ rather than the traditional ‘mother’ and ‘father’ in order to allow legal recognition and acceptance of same sex families and couples. Blerta Tafani went on to negatively label same sex couples as part of a “degenerate society’ in which she added that “it’s a great misfortune [that an LGBTQ+ person] gives birth to a child”. She furthermore, went on to compare same sex couples to traditional heterosexual couples by adding that “same sex couples should not start a family” and indeed “cannot start a family” as a “life with two fathers doesn’t work, like with a gay family ends, this is offensive”.

Such inflammatory hate speech aimed at the LGBTQ+ community can be seen to spread hate and negative stereotypes within society who may become opposed to same-sex couples and families on the basis of misinformation and negative labelling.

Sexism in Bosnia and Herzegovina

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, during the European Championship, the women’s basketball team achieved significant success. In an article on archive.vn, the basketball player Irena Vrancic, who missed two games after her injury but nevertheless, appeared in a warm-up session with her colleague was applauded on her perseverance by making a direct comparison to other male players. The title read “in the 1^st round she was taken off the field, and what she did today many men would not even think about” – this was a clear example of the success of a women being spoken about exclusively in comparison to the success of men. By positioning women’s success on a scale of comparison to that of their male counterparts, this only further reproduces sexist connotations and discourse whereby a woman is not given a platform of her own on which her success can be judged upon.

Another similar situation occurred when B&H Sports posted a picture on Facebook of one of the female basketball matches against France with the title ‘pure craftmanship that many NBA players would envy..’ This was another example of the success of women being compared to that of men as the NBA League is exclusively played by men.

Such titles and headlines uphold sexism within society.

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The Balkan Troll of the Month is an individual, a group of individuals or a media outlet that spreads hate on the internet based on gender, ethnicity, religion, or other diversity categories. The Balkan Troll is selected based on hate speech incidents identified across the Western Balkans region.

Our June Troll of the Month was TV Happy which displayed misinformation, strong sexist narratives and misogyny against women and victims of domestic violence.

The incident occurred on Nacionalna Televizija Happy (National TV Happy), a privately owned Serbian TV channel with a national frequency, during the morning show ‘Dobro jutro, Srbijo’ (Good morning, Serbia). This TV show is broadcast both on TV Happy and uploaded on YouTube in which it has received over 8, 421 views.

During the morning show, Vladimir Djukanovic a politician of the Serbian Progressive Party spoke about gender-sensitive language and the issues surrounding this topic. He went on to say that gender-sensitive language was what he classified as ‘language rape’.

He also added  that quotas in parliament aimed at promoting equality amongst both sexes were unnecessary as according to him, “we gave women a chance everywhere” suggesting that enough efforts from both society and parliament have been taken to promote gender equality.  

Djukanovic also talked about women’s inequality and argued that job interview questions deemed sexist and unfair such as asking a women if she plans to have children which could potentially affect their employment is evidence of inequality in certain fields of society. However, according to him “it does not mean that you should now rape the laws in place and make up that there is some inequality..”

As a conclusion on the adoption of such laws, he commented that “this was an absolute rape of society and the rape of language itself”. He furthermore, went on to accuse many women who reported their husbands for violence as merely doing so to have the weekend free to go out with their female friends. He went on to say that “domestic violence is most often reported in police stations on Thursdays. And do you know why? Because when she reports him, there are 48 hours of detention and he can’t go out until Monday and during that time she goes out and spends time with her friends”. In addition to this comment, the host went on to agree and add “or male friends”.

Spread of harmful lies and misinformation

Regardless of Vladimir Djukanovic’s statement regarding women’s position within society and the steps taken towards gender equality, recent studies have shown to disprove such statements, highlighting the continuing gender gap within Serbia.

According to UN Women, “despite laws and policies promoting gender equality, women are under-represented in decision-making in all spheres of Serbia’s social, economic, and political life. Studies have found that half of women in Serbia have experienced domestic violence, and women and Roma are considered the groups most subject to discrimination”.

Furthermore, despite the Serbian governments promise to take greater efforts towards gender equality and fight against sexism within the workplace, “the growing number of femicide, the gender pay gap, and sexual harassment in the workplace (even by government coalition officials), there are many examples of discrepancies between what the Serbian Progressive Party claims to stand for in terms of women’ rights, and what it actually practices”. This further highlights the gap between what the level of gender equality and women’s rights that is promoted versus its actual implementation within society.

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) emphasizes that focusing on ending domestic violence and discrimination is crucial in fighting for women’s rights in Serbia. Therefore, by making such statements on a TV shows that is being broadcast nationally, it runs the risk of downplaying the significance of gender equality and the level of discrimination within both the workplace and private sphere in respects to women’s rights and equality to their male counterparts.

Harmful disinformation and misogyny

These statements and comments regarding domestic violence and abuse including political leaders’ casual remarks of them being a tool for women to get ‘free time in the weekend’ with friends or other men, seriously undermines the importance and seriousness of domestic violence as a topic of issue.

Furthermore, such comments contribute to the spread of sexism and misogyny within society with the spread of harmful misinformation and disinformation surrounding domestic violence and gender equality whilst furthermore, downplaying the significant and seriousness of violence towards women by their partners. By making such harmful comments, the politician as well as TV show undermine the experience of these women and their status as victims of domestic violence whilst ignoring the sense of urgency required in tackling these issues to promote equal rights and women’s safety.

Indeed, it is the responsibility and duty of the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media in Serbia (REM) to react to such sensitive issues discussed on programmes such as TV Happy, especially as this is not the first instance of hate speech, misinformation and disinformation aired on this channel. Unfortunately, REM did not reacted to this one and many other problematic content that undermines some important processes within society, such as work on gender equality and diminishing gender based violence.

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Throughout May, the RDN monitoring team has detected a range of hateful narratives. Due to June being the month that several events take place globally to recognise the impact of the LGBTQ+ community we will have a country spotlight that focuses on homophobia. During our monitoring activities we have also encountered incidents relating to hate speech based on gender and religion within the Western Balkan media.

Homophobia in the Western Balkans

Around the world, LGBTQ+ Pride Month is celebrated in June as a way of raising awareness for the LGBTQ+ community, promoting equal rights and treatment. Throughout the Western Balkans, Pride parades take place in pursuit of celebrating the LGBTQ+ community and raising awareness to the fair and equal treatment of these individuals within society. Despite this, there have been various incidents of homophobia and hate speech directed towards the LGBTQ+ community throughout the month of May.

Homophobia in Kosovo: Threats and assault against LGBT activist

At 12pm, in the middle of Pristina’s main square, Lend Mustafa, an LGBTQ+ rights activist, received death threats and was publicly assaulted by an individual who approached him shouting “I will kill you” and then spat in his ear.

Even though the LGBTQ+ community in Kosovo is protected by law, they are nevertheless subjected to daily assault, threats and hate directed towards them on the basis of their sexual orientation. Such hate speech and negative homophobic labelling is usually directed through comments on social networks; however, they also occur in daily circumstances.

In an interview with ATV after the attack, Lend Mustafa spoke about the problems faced by the LGBTQ+ community in Kosovo, primarily criticising the Prime Minister Kurti, arguing that his  government was characterised by resistance and tension on the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia.

Homophobia in Serbia: Homophobia towards the adoption of the Law on Same-Sex Unions, the Law on Gender Equality and the Law Amendments to the Law on the Prohibition of Discrimination

Since the recent discussions around the adoption of the Law on Same Sex Unions which allows for the legally recognised unions of two people of the same sex or gender to be entered into a civil ceremony, there has been a rise in homophobic hate speech and campaigns opposing such laws.

On a Facebook post, Boško Obradović, the political leader of the political party Dveri, started a campaign called “from family to family” in which he publicly opposed the Law on Same Sex Unions and continued to make homophobic statements towards the LGBTQ+ community. The campaign made claims that such laws and rights were “anti-Christian and anti-constitutional”. During the protest on May 15^th, the campaign went as far as to call on the Government of the Republic of Serbia to withdraw all three laws by claiming that they “would not allow the Constitution to be violated in that way and the definition of marriage and family to be changed”.

This was a clear indication of homophobia and hate speech directed to the LGBTQ+ community against the equal treatment and rights of such individuals within Serbia.

Another incident of homophobic hate speech within Serbia involved the leader of the Narodna Patrola (the People’s Patrol), Damjan Knežević claiming that LGBTQ+ rights were ‘propaganda’. Narodna Patrola is an informal group which, according to their Facebook page, are openly opposed to migrants inhabiting Serbia and spreading discriminatory hate speech. In a speech given in front of the National Assembly, which was broadcast on Facebook, Damjan Knežević made homophobic claims and directed hate towards the adoption of the Law on Gender Equality, claiming it to be “an attack on our culture and family and all our traditional values” adding that the state “talk a lot about the spread of LGBT propaganda”. This hate speech and misinformation directed towards the LGBTQ+ community leads to negative group labelling and the spread of harmful lies surrounding the community’s attempt at raising awareness and fighting for equal rights surrounding family values, same sex unions and equal treatment within society. Such homophobia merely spreads hate and fear amongst society.

Homophobia in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Hate speech against LGBTQ+ community and anti-migrant narrative

The website antimigrant.ba is used as a platform to spread hateful, insensitive comments and narratives towards migrants and the refugees within Bosnia and Herzegovina. Recently, they posted an IOM post (International Organisation for Migration) promoting LGBTQ+ rights on the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Transphobia and Intersexphobia on the 17^th of May. The headline “No Comment!!!” was placed under the image as a way to undermine the importance of the event and LGBTQ+ rights in general as well as promoting insulting and degrading hate speech and homophobia.

Homophobia in Albania: Hate speech towards the Open Society Foundation

In an article on Frekuenca info portal, the author pointed their finger towards the Open Society Foundation in Albania and FETE as being responsible for destroying democracy in Albania by promoting homosexuals as the highest value of developing societies, amongst others. The author continued to then to direct hate speech towards the Mayor of Tirana, calling him a “mutant” by claiming that he gets support from OSF himself.

Although this incident was not a direct example of homophobia, the article itself had subliminal messages and homophobic tones throughout. By spreading misinformation and disinformation surrounding the Open Society Foundation and the LGBTQ+ community, this article further promotes homophobia and negative group labelling.

Hate speech against individuals in Northern Macedonia: negative group labelling of civil activist Mersiha Smailovic

In an article in MK Denes, civil activist Mersiha Smailovic was referred to as a jihadist as the title read: ‘Scandal: Terrorist – jihadist criminal cell in SDSM’.

The president of the Union of European Federalists of Macedonia and the leader of the political party Macedonian Concept, Petar Bogojeski shared the article which contained claims relating to the activist Mersiha Smailovic in which she was said to be one of the leaders of an ISIS terrorist cell in Macedonia. This claim was not backed up with any facts or evidence and therefore, was a clear example of misinformation and disinformation. It furthermore made allegations that both her and her family were tied up with jihadist terrorist groups in the region – as this was not backed with any evidence it gives impression it is intended to cause harm and another example of hate speech and disinformation in the media.

Additionally, Petar Bogojeski, in several posts on Facebook, continues to claim that Mersiha Smailovic is tied up with jihadist groups and posts information about imminent attacks to be organized on Macedonian soil by such groups.

This raised concerns around the level of professionality amongst journalists and posts published on the basis of assumption and false allegations rather than claims backed up by research and facts.

Sexism and misogyny in Montenegro: Sex selective abortion  

During the debate on child allowances in the Parliament of Montenegro, the MP of the Socialist People’s Party (SNP), Dragan Ivanovic, came out and said that every citizen has the right to influence the gender of his/her child. Despite condemning selective abortions, Ivanovic argued that everyone had the right to influence and decide on the gender of their future child. This dangerous narrative encourages negative social behaviour including selective sex abortions and can be seen as further perpetuating existing sexism within the country by creating a hierarchical division among genders.

Ivanovic’s comment led to much public anger and frustration including many individuals calling Ivanovic out for his opinion and statements leading to him making a public apology aimed at mothers and women within Montenegro. He went on to argue that his words were misconstrued and that those were not his intentions or meaning however, he failed to clarify his true intentions. Nevertheless, despite his public apology, the incident itself was highly problematic and such sexist narratives can be seen as encouraging and promoting dangerous behaviour.

Montenegro has a history and ongoing problem surrounding the abortion of girls and selective sex abortion. Indeed, a campaign called #nezeljena (#notwanted) was created in order to oppose the abortion of girls and raise awareness of these issues within Montenegro. According to them, there are already around 3000 less women in Montenegro then there should be as a result of selective sex abortion.

Furthermore, according to an article in Radio Slobodna Europa, the aftermath and effect of selective sex abortion has taken a toll on the demographic environment within Montenegro whereby today there is a lack of more than a thousand women in their reproductive age due to selective abortion.

Therefore, such comments and statements made my members of parliament and political leaders alike leads to the spread of hateful behaviour and upholds sexism within the region rather than tackling the issue at hand.

The Balkan Troll of the Month is an individual, a group of individuals or a media outlet that spreads hate on the internet based on gender, ethnicity, religion, or other diversity categories. The Balkan Troll is selected based on hate speech incidents identified across the Western Balkans region.

Our May Troll is Fax.al news which displayed Islamophobic, sensationalist headlines falsely linking a violent attack in the Dine Hoxha mosque in Tirana to extremism.

The incident occurred on the online news portal of Fax.al where the sensationalist headline read: “The attack on the mosque in Tirana can be launched by extremism”.

The story covered an attack by a 31-year-old with a history of mental health issues. He was arrested by the police after stabbing five people who were in the middle of their prayer inside the ‘Dine Hoxha’ mosque. Prior to the attack, he had also injured a person on a bus.

Despite the suspect being brought up in a Christian family, the fact that he had recently converted to Islam was picked up by the media outlet who then went on to label him a “terrorist”, emphasizing that he “committed the attack in the holy month for Muslims”. They furthermore, labelled him as a “Christian terrorist” then progressing to claim that the suspect said that “Muslims must be punished”, and the he should be “investigated for terrorism” by creating claims that the “event might be related to violent extremism”.

This case is an example of hate speech towards religious communities. It specifically includes Islamophobic comments and unfounded claims relating the young man’s actions to the religion of Islam and extremism. The media headlines highlighted the man’s religious background and need for “Muslims must be punished” whilst disregarding the fact that the individual had a history of mental illnesses. By making a casual relation between the man’s actions and Islam, the newspapers were quick to publish Islamophobic and stereotyped headlines which spread misinformation and disinformation regarding the version of events. Additionally, the spreading of harmful lies and negative group labelling increases hostility and hatred towards individuals on the basis of false allegations.

Albania is a country characterised by its peaceful, multi-ethnic and religious diversity. Such Islamophobic headlines and false allegations run the risk of creating hatred and tension between these communities and can almost be seen as an attempt to drive a wedge between such religious groups, increasing fear and hatred towards one another on the basis of false claims and misinformation.

Harmful taboos

Another important issue raised within the article is the taboo around mental health. Within the article there were many references made to the individual being described as a “psychopath”, “crazy” and “mentally sick” – furthermore highlighting the importance around the need of awareness-raising and education when reporting on such sensitive issues whilst minimising the risk of creating negative labels and hate speech.

According to psychiatry.org media outlets should report sensitively around the topic of mental health by paying close attention to their use of phrasing and language in which the mental health condition “is only one aspect of a persons life, not the defining character”.

Furthermore, they should try to avoid and stay away from derogatory language which was evident in this case through the use of terms like “crazy” and “psychopath”. Media outlets should choose their words carefully when reporting on mental health.

Indeed, according to the Albanian Code of Journalistic Ethics, journalists “must avoid, by all means, the discrimination based on race, sex, language, religion, political views, physical handicap, social or national origins”. This article can be seen as an example of a violation of such codes by linking the individuals religion to their mental health.

According to Mohit Varshney et al. in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health:

“In public perception, mental illness and violence remain inextricably intertwined, and much of the stigma associated with mental illness may be due to a tendency to conflate mental illness with the concept of dangerousness. This perception is further augmented by the media which sensationalises violent crimes committed by persons with mental illness, particularly mass shootings, and focuses on mental illness in such reports, ignoring the fact that most of the violence in society is caused by people without mental illness. This societal bias contributes to the stigma faced by those with a psychiatric diagnosis, which in turn contributes to non-disclosure of the mental illness and decreased treatment seeking, and also leads to discrimination against them.”

Harmful false narratives and misinformation

Despite further investigation being carried out into the case following both attacks that the Albanian media described as “acts of terrorism”, it soon became clear that the media made several false allegations and some journalists did not fact check their information before publishing their article.  

This highlights the importance of unbiased and professional journalism as well as the significance of fact checking. News stories should be backed up by evidence, facts, and truth. This was a clear example of misinformation and disinformation in which the journalists rushed into reporting and publishing a version of events, falsely labelling it as a ‘terrorist attack’, without waiting for the incident to be investigated by the police and justice system alike.