SRT Newsletter – May

Grantee News

HOPE not Hate continues to uncover racist and extremist rhetoric linked to Reform UK candidates and councillors following the UK’s local elections. The reports have prompted suspensions and resignations among the more than 30 Reform-linked representatives exposed as sharing or engaging with violent racist, anti-Muslim, neo-Nazi and antisemitic material, including individuals in Sunderland, Sheffield, Essex, Plymouth, Dudley, Bolton, and Bradford.

The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) has been designated an “undesirable organisation” by Russian authorities, along with The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), in the latest escalation of the Kremlin’s crackdown on international human rights groups and independent civil society. Activists warn the move further isolates Russian activists and strengthens a climate of fear around documenting torture, repression and abuses linked to Russia’s war against Ukraine.

BIRN Serbia has won two 2026 “Dejan Anastasijević” awards, including for Barbara Matejčić’s investigation into photographs taken during the killing of Bosniak civilians in Brčko in 1992. The reporting prompted renewed scrutiny of a World Press Photo award linked to the images and revised captions identifying a victim as a civilian rather than a “Muslim sniper”. A second award recognised a BIRN Serbia and Nova S documentary investigating the controversial redevelopment of Belgrade’s former General Staff military complex and wider concerns over state accountability in Serbia.

Watershed Investigations has revealed that Gibraltar has spent decades discharging untreated sewage directly into the Mediterranean due to the absence of a sewage treatment plant. The investigation highlights growing concerns over marine pollution and damage to protected coastal ecosystems, after years of underinvestment and regulatory failures.

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism has revealed a sharp rise in UK “battery cattle” farms, with the number of intensive dairy units where cows are kept indoors year-round more than doubling over the past decade. The investigation linked many large-scale dairy farms to pollution incidents and warned that financial pressure from supermarkets and major dairy companies is driving farmers toward increasingly industrialised farming practices.

CAMP Alatoo has opened a new visitor centre in Kyrgyzstan’s Zhargylchak State Nature Reserve to support biodiversity protection, environmental education, and sustainable eco-tourism in the Issyk-Kul region. In a further community-led conservation initiative, local residents and activists also planted 3,600 trees and sea buckthorn saplings to support reforestation, prevent soil erosion and strengthen wildlife habitats around Issyk-Kul Lake.