Dr. Dragan Sekulovski, Council of Europe expert and Executive Director of the Association of Journalists of Macedonia, presented key findings from the Council of Europe Regional Baseline Assessment of Legislative and Policy Needs for Implementing Council of Europe and EU Standards on Countering SLAPPs (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) during the Anti-SLAPP Conference in Belgrade. His presentation shed light on key legal and institutional gaps in six EU-aspiring Western Balkan beneficiaries offering concrete recommendations to align national frameworks with EU standards.

The assessment, which examines the legislative and policy needs for implementing Council of Europe and EU standards on countering SLAPPs, calls for measures such as adopting anti-SLAPP legislation, strengthening regional cooperation and judicial training, and empowering press councils to play a more active role in early dispute resolution.

The conference, organised by CSO Partneri Srbija and Network of the Committees for Human Rights in Serbia (CHRIS) under the Delegation of the European Union to Serbia funded project, brought together judges, journalists, and civil society actors to discuss effective responses to SLAPPs – lawsuits increasingly used to suppress critical voices through burdensome legal processes.

It was also supported through the action “Protecting freedom of expression and of the media in Serbia (PROFREX)”, implemented by the Division for Cooperation on Freedom of Expression, under the joint European Union and the Council of Europe programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Türkiye”.