First published on Građanske inicijative (Civil Initiatives)
The Serbian government’s “foreign agent” law, enacted in February 2025, mandates that non-profits receiving foreign funding and engaging in advocacy or human rights monitoring register under stigmatizing labels and submit to invasive financial reporting. Failure to comply risks dissolution—a move critics condemn as a targeted effort to silence dissent under the pretense of financial transparency. The law’s broad definition of “political activity” criminalizes routine civic engagement, such as proposing legal reforms or documenting rights abuses, while exempting pro-government groups. This selective enforcement directly contravenes FATF’s explicit guidance that anti-money laundering (AML) measures must adhere to a risk-based approach and avoid blanket restrictions on civil society.
FATF’s Recommendation 8, while intended to prevent terrorist financing abuses in the non-profit sector, lacks binding safeguards against its weaponization. This legislation exemplifies this gap: authorities invoke AML frameworks to justify punitive financial surveillance, including unrestricted access to NGO banking records, despite FATF and MONEYVAL’s 2021 declaration that such practices are “categorically unacceptable” if used to violate human rights.
