Knowledge & Analysis

2025 Assessment – Report for Serbia

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The 2025 assessment finds a widening gap in Serbia between a largely unchanged legal framework for civil society and a rapidly deteriorating environment in practice. The year was marked by the largest wave of protests in over a decade, following the collapse of the railway station canopy in Novi Sad in November 2024, and by increasing pressure on civil society organisations.

Key findings

Monitoring by Civic Initiatives recorded 554 violations of the freedoms of association, assembly and expression in 2025, more than in 2022, 2023 and 2024 combined. In February 2025, police searched the offices of five prominent CSOs, citing alleged misuse of foreign funds.

46% of CSOs reported that their organisation or members had faced threats or physical attacks, up from 19% in 2024, and 49% reported government decisions that negatively affected their work, up from 21%.

Restrictions linked to funding sources rose to 18% of CSOs, from 6% in 2024, and only 14% of CSOs rated public funding as transparent and fair.

Only 9% of CSOs took part in a consultation that gave access to the draft from the start and at least 15 days to comment. CSO members froze their participation in the Council for Creating an Enabling Environment for the Development of Civil Society in January 2025, and the Council held no further sessions.

Communication and evidence-based work remained strong, with 80% of CSOs using research to inform their work. The share of CSOs employing paid staff fell to 58%, from around 70% in previous years, following the suspension of USAID funding.