Professional media and civil society organizations (CSOs) in Serbia call on Minister Čomić, who is in charge of creating an enabling environment for the work of civil society, to recognize, condemn and prevent attacks on civil society and media which are being perpetrated by the Government.
We also call on the relevant institutions, as well as all actors in society, to join the fight against a new wave of pressure on the media and CSOs, and to oppose these and such abuses, which lead to a further collapse of democracy and the rule of law. We remind that the position of media and civil society in Serbia has long been marked as unfavorable according to the reports of all relevant international organizations.
Professional media and CSOs have once again become the target of a fierce campaign, which, as usual, was led by the President of the Republic, and continued by the media under his control. President Vučić presented numerous untruths about the work of civil society organizations in Serbia, accusing them of working for foreign interests and being under the control of tycoons. Vučić used the decision made by the private company Twitter to put the label “Serbia state-affiliated media” on the accounts of pro-government media in Serbia to launch a broad campaign against the civil sector, as well as against the small number of professional media remaining in the country. One of the most dangerous, and completely incorrect statements said by the President was the accusation that civil society organizations do not pay taxes, and that they protested when asked to pay them. Unlike pro-government media, such as PINK, CSOs in Serbia regularly pay all taxes and contributions and submit financial reports to the Serbian Business Registers Agency, and have never protested against this. Since this information is certainly known to the President of the Republic, we are forced to conclude that this was done in bad faith, and represents another in a series of steps towards the destruction of the part of society that fights for democracy and the rule of law. The Serbian Telegraph and other pro-government media joined the campaign by publishing a special supplement on the funding of media and CSOs and their alleged links to foreigners, announcing that a continuation of the campaign is to come, while television stations TV Pink and TV Happy announced the publication of these articles in their morning broadcasts.
We invite the domestic and international public to join us in our fight for these values, in all available legal ways. We call on the representatives of foreign governments and international organizations to take a stand on this, and all other campaigns against free media and civil society.
We call on Minister Gordana Čomić, who is also responsible for the development of civil society, to immediately focus on stopping attacks and attempts to destroy the sector and stifle freedom of association, and not to initiate processes that have no evident result.
Professional media and CSOs will continue to fight for democracy, the rule of law and the protection of human rights in Serbia with an even greater zeal, and will certainly not give up in the face of hostile campaigns by the regime and its media.
