News
GOOD DAY, BELGRADE!
WILL IT EVER GET BETTER IN SERBIA? On June 27, 2024, I left Prishtina for Belgrade to participate in this year’s edition of the Mirëdita, Dobar Dan! festival, organized by Integra in Kosovo and the Youth Initiative for Human Rights (YIHR) of Civic Initiatives in Serbia. The festival, now in its tenth edition, serves as a platform …
TELEGRAM GROUPS AS VIRTUAL SAFE HAVENS FOR IMAGE-BASED SEXUAL ABUSE OF WOMEN AND GIRLS IN THE WESTERN BALKANS
Mass cases of image-based sexual abuse highlighted the exploitation, intimidation and humiliation of women and girls across the region. Abusers have found a digital safe space to exploit and intimidate women in the comfort of their anonymity and lack of accountability. The feminist organisation OsnaŽene (Empowered Women), based in Serbia, published an article investigating Telegram …
Monthly Monitoring Highlights June: Telegram groups, sexism and homophobia
Throughout June, the RDN monitoring team has detected a range of hateful narratives and discourse. This month, we have seen hatred based on gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity as well as an incident of image based sexual abuse and genocide denial. Image based sexual abuse in Serbia In Serbia, the feminist organisation OsnaŽene (Empowered women) from …
TROLL OF THE MONTH: Media outlet Informer.rs
The Balkan Troll of the Month is an individual, a group of individuals or a media outlet that spreads hate 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. The month of June saw the start of the UEFA …
ARE KOSOVO AND SERBIA IN A COLD WAR?
THE WAR-MONGERING AND VICTIM NARRATIVES LEAVE KOSOVO AND SERBIA BEHIND. The 25th anniversary of the end of NATO’s bombing campaign against Serbian military, police and paramilitary forces, which marked the end of the 1998-1999 war in Kosovo, is approaching. Today, it seems that the citizens of Kosovo are experiencing a cold war with Serbia. The …
WHO’S AFRAID OF UNMARRIED MOTHERS?
GENDERED DISINFORMATION HAS PLAGUED THE DEBATE ABOUT KOSOVO’S IVF DRAFT LAW. In a TV debate in February 2024, Ferid Agani, Kosovo’s former health minister, declared that “A woman without a partner is mentally unstable.” Agani said this in reference to unmarried women who have a child through in vitro fertilization (IVF) with an unknown donor, as the Draft Law …
Monthly Monitoring Highlights May: sexism and genocide denial
Throughout the month of May, the RDN monitoring team has detected a range of hateful narratives and discourse. This month, we have seen hatred based on gender, sexual orientation, genocide denial, and hatred against political opponents. Sexism in Montenegro, North Macedonia and Kosovo. In Montenegro, during the TV show “Some like it hot” on Adria …
SENSATIONALIST MEDIA COVERAGE DEHUMANIZES EDONA JAMES
CLICKBAIT ARTICLES ARE UNETHICAL AND HARMFUL FOR THE LGBTQ+ COMMUNITY. While sitting at a restaurant in Prishtina this past winter, I overheard a conversation between two waiters. Their discussion was difficult to ignore. “I understand that people are free to live however they want,” said one of the waiters, “but how should we explain it …
TROLL OF THE MONTH: Journalist Darko Momić Čkalja
The Balkan Troll of the Month is an individual, group of individuals or media outlet that spreads hate based on gender, ethnicity, religion or other categories of diversity. The Balkan Troll is selected on the basis of hate speech incidents identified throughout the Western Balkans region. In a column written by journalist Darko Momić Čkalja …