Assessing social progress in the Western Balkans

This briefing paper provides policy recommendations on how to promote human rights and social investment in the Western Balkan region in response to European Commission’s Progress reports on the Enlargement Strategy and challenges 2014 – 2015. Specific recommendations on how to tackle the ongoing migrant and refugee crisis along the Western Balkan route are also presented in this briefing paper. This briefing is based on inputs provided by members of the IRIS Network, a regional network that brings together CSOs providing social services in the Western Balkans. The IRIS network has been founded in the in the framework of the EU-funded project “Improving the provision of Social Service Delivery in South Eastern Europe through the empowerment of national and regional CSOs”, implemented by the consortium of LIR CD BiH, OGI Croatia, EDC Serbia, SOS TELEPHONE Montenegro, CLARD Kosovo, ARSIS Albania, ASYD FYROM, and SOLIDAR led by ASB Germany.

The inputs provided by our partners in the Western Balkans are focused on the following sections:

1. Social inclusion, human rights and protection of minorities;
2. The situation of civil society organizations as service providers;
3. Civil dialogue and the role played by the civil society in the country’s democracy and rule of law.