Digital rights represent an essential segment of modern human rights, and their protection requires continuous learning, adaptation, and cooperation between institutions, civil society organizations, and citizens, it was concluded at a two-day training on digital rights for civil society organizations and activists, organized by the Centre for Civic Education (CCE) in Podgorica on 21 and 22 October 2025.
Throughout the training, participants engaged in both theoretical and practical work, discussing key topics in the field of digital rights and freedoms, with a focus on privacy protection, access to information, freedom of expression, and security challenges in the online environment. Through lectures and workshops led by Bojan Perkov, Digital Policy Coordinator from the SHARE Foundation in Belgrade, they learned about models for monitoring and documenting digital rights violations, as well as examples of good practices from the region. A significant part of the training was dedicated to campaigns and advocacy approaches in the field of digital rights. The participants mapped current challenges, analyzed specific cases, and developed ideas for future initiatives that could contribute to better protection of digital freedoms, concluding that they were leaving the training with greater awareness, tools, and motivation to become the “digital shield” of their communities.
“It is important for young people to become interested in digital rights and freedoms, as this is the space where we live every day. When we better understand the digital environment around us, we can be more active in society and advocate more effectively for our human rights,” said Bojan Perkov.
“The issue of data protection within civil society organizations themselves is extremely important, yet it is still insufficiently discussed in Montenegro. Understanding digital rights and responsibly managing data is becoming crucial for professional, transparent, and secure work of NGO in Montenegro,” emphasized Snežana Milačić from Forum MNE.
“This training was more than just learning; it was like a journey through a world where the boundaries between real and digital life almost do not exist. We learned that the protection of digital rights begins with knowledge, continues with cooperation, and ends with the courage to react,” said activist Sara Iljazi.
“I realized how important digital security and privacy protection are. As a society, we are still not sufficiently aware of the threats in the online space, and this training helped us understand how to recognize and prevent them,” said Bojana Živković from the KOD Organization.
“This was a great opportunity to exchange experiences and reflect on current challenges in the field of digital rights.Constructive discussion helped us better understand how these rights are applied in practice and how important it is to talk about them within the community,” said Nađa Perović from the NGO Alfa Centre.
The training was organised within the programme “Protection of Rights and Promotion of Digital Citizenship: Montenegrin Digital Shield (MDS)”, implemented by the CCE in partnership with the SHARE Foundation, in cooperation with the Agency for Audiovisual Media Services, with the financial support of the European Union and co-financing from the Ministry of Regional Investment Development and Cooperation with Non-Governmental Organizations.
Jovana Radulović, Project Assistant