Under the joint European Union and the Council of Europe programme "Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey 2019-2022", and action on "Freedom of expression and freedom of the media in Serbia (JUFREX)" the Guide on protection of journalists has been translated into Serbian.
Violence against journalists is on the rise across Council of Europe member States – attacks are getting more severe and include, in some cases, murders and car bombs, as well as other forms of physical violence and threats. Serbia is no exception to this trend and media freedoms need to be strengthened, as recent cases of intimidation of journalists and breaches of media freedoms have been noted. Thus the translation of the Guide on protection of journalists is of the utmost importance for tackling this issue.
The present Implementation guide, based on the Council of Europe Recommendation CM/Rec(2016)4 on the Protection of journalism and safety of journalists and other media actors aims to provide member States with concrete responses to the question what can and should be done to protect journalists and other media actors. It does so by including references to the case law of the European Court of Human Rights and to other sources.
More importantly, it showcases concrete valuable practices in the area and makes suggestions for implementation of the Recommendation, with a view to removing the issue of safety and impunity from the realm of mere theory and projecting it into actionable measures. A self-assessment tool offered by the Implementation guide is intended to help member States objectively review the state of implementation of the Recommendation in their respective jurisdictions.
The Guide will be disseminated to participants of the JUFREX activities in Serbia, judges, prosecutors, police officers and lawyers but also to students, representatives of civil society and media actors.
Guide on protection of journalists (in Serbian)
