Nowadays we are witnessing a negative trend of violence against journalists, registered in the majority of the Council of Europe member states: since April 2015 the online Platform  on the protection of journalism and safety of journalists of the Council of Europe has recorded 254 alerts from 33 countries which are perceived as serious media threats.16 journalists were killed in the Council of Europe member states since 2015.   Moreover, the recent study “Journalists at risk: part of the job?”, conducted by the Council of Europe in 2016 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.

In Ukraine in 2016 the Institute of Mass Information registered one murder, 30 cases of assault, 108 cases of impeding journalists’ professional activities and 7 cases of censorship.

To address this issue, on 3 February 2017 the international conference “Safety of journalists: an imperative for free media.  Freedom of expression and public order” was held in Kyiv, organised jointly by the Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, OSCE Project Coordinator in Ukraine, UNESCO, Institute of Mass Information and the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine in the framework of the Project “Strengthening freedom of the media and establishing a Public broadcasting system in Ukraine” (hereinafter – the Project).

In the welcoming remarks Mårten Ehnberg, Head of the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine, said: “The safety and security of journalists and media professionals has become one of the main international concerns, unfortunately with reason. In many parts of Europe journalists continue to be intimidated, threatened, deprived of their liberty and even killed while carrying out their duties in performing investigative work, expressing their opinion or reporting. It results with self-censorship, fear and journalists leaving the profession, which is harmful to any democratic society".

“It is of crucial importance for freedom of expression and freedom of the media, as well as the democratic development of any country, that the safety of journalists is ensured at all times and that impunity not be allowed to become commonplace,” the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatović, noted.

During the conference the participants assessed the situation with safety with journalists in Ukraine, focusing on the developments since the end of 2013, discussed judicial measures in cases of violence against journalists as well as the need for changes to increase the effectiveness of the court system in the protection of media freedom underlining the necessity to introduce a systematic approach to the provisions of the Criminal Code on freedom of expression among all the actors involved. As a result, the Resolution to the Conference on ensuring cooperation for safe implementation by journalists of their professional activities has been prepared.

The Council of Europe has a prominent role for addressing threats to the freedom of media across Europe owing to reach normative base and operational tools, cooperation activities and political dialogue with national partners and international organisations. The Council of Europe online “Platform to promote the protection of journalism and safety of journalists” was presented during the conference by Ricardo Gutiérrez, General Secretary of the European Federation of Journalists. It lists a high number of cases which have given rise to alerts on serious threats to media freedom in Europe. The Platform alerts and governmental responses should be used for in-depth analysis of serious cases of attacks on journalists and media freedom. The information published on the Platform serves as a basis for action by the Council of Europe as well as for an upstream dialogue with the member States concerned regarding proposals for possible protective or remedial action.

In 2017, the Project plans to organize a series of seminars on safety of journalists in the regions of Ukraine for representatives of the National Police, prosecutors, judges, NGOs and journalists. Also, the Project is ready to provide expert support for to developing changes to legislation on protection of journalistic activities that will improve the law enforcement as well as ensure appropriate mechanisms for implementing existing legislative norms (methodological recommendations, etc.) aimed at accumulating  appropriate enforcement practices of the norms of Criminal and Criminal procedural Codes.

Speakers’ presentations are available here.

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 2016-2017 the Project is financed from the budget of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine 2015-2017.

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To find more information visit the web-site of the Council of Europe office in Ukraine: https://www.coe.int/en/web/kyiv/freedom-of-media-in-ukraine