In January-September 2016, the Institute of Mass Information has registered one murder, 26 cases of assault, 77 cases of impeding journalists’ professional activities and 7 cases of censorship in Ukraine. In the meantime, the recent “Journalists at risk: part of the job?” study, conducted by the Council of Europe revealed that 31% of journalists in the 47 Council of Europe member States have experienced physical assault during last three years, 46% were threatened with force and 69% experienced psychological violence.
Patrick Penninckx, Head of Information Society Department, Directorate General of Human Rights and Rule of Law (DGI) of the Council of Europe said: “In 2015 the Council of Europe launched the internet-based Platform for the Protection of Journalism and Safety of Journalists. Its surveys conducted in partnership with media organisations, reported threats against journalists in the Council of Europe member States. The Platform as well launched calls for action to safeguard media freedom. As of October 2016, the Platform has recorded 218 alerts from 27 countries of what are perceived as serious media threats. Among them 128 alerts are considered to be level 1 - the most severe and damaging violations of media freedom! 13 alerts have been submitted from Ukraine”.
The video of the conference can be viewed at online. The event was organised jointly by the Administration of the President of Ukraine, Parliamentary Committee on Freedom of Speech and Information Policy, NGO “Institute of Mass Information” and two Council of Europe projects - the Project implemented within European Union/Council of Europe Programmatic Cooperation Framework and the CoE “Strengthening freedom of media and establishing public broadcasting system in Ukraine” project*.
There is a positive trend in how the law enforcements agencies react on violation of journalists’ rights: the number of cases on impeding journalists’ professional activities registered during the first nine months of 2016 is higher than in the whole 2015. However the number of cases in which the note on suspicion was served is twice lower in the period of January-September 2016 than during the whole 2015. It means that the quality of the pre-trial investigations remains at the low level. The activity of law enforcement agencies in investigation of such cases cannot be positively assessed, but it is worth noting that the dialogue has been established.
Background Information: : *Council of Europe Project “Strengthening Freedom of the Media and Establishing a Public Broadcasting System in Ukraine” is aimed to enhance the role of media and the public broadcaster in particular as an instrument for consensus building in the Ukrainian society. The Project is implemented in the framework of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine 2015-2017. In 2016 the Project is financed from the budget of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine 2015-2017.
Programmatic Cooperation Framework (PCF) is a joint initiative of the European Union and the Council of Europe intending to strengthen the capacity of Eastern Partnership countries, which are the member states of the Council of Europe, with the exception of Belarus, and to implement domestic reforms to bring them closer to the standards of the Council of Europe and the European Union in the fields of human rights, democracy and the rule of law.
