The Closing Conference of the joint European Union and Council of Europe action “Freedom of expression and freedom of the media in South-East Europe (JUFREX)” has brought together the main partners and beneficiaries of the action. It was attended by representatives of legal professions and their training institutions, media regulators and media and academic community from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo[*], Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia.
Ardita Abdiu, Head of the Division of Co-operation on Freedom of Expression in the Council of Europe, and Hillen Francke, Head of Sector for Civil Society, Social Inclusion and Human Capital Development, DG NEAR, European Commission, addressed the participants by stressing the importance of a co-ordinated approach and co-operation initiatives under the regional action.
Two parallel sessions hosted the periodic regional conferences organised under JUFREX, for legal professionals and representatives of the regulators, respectively.
The third Regional Conference for legal professionals gathered judges, prosecutors, lawyers, and civil society representatives to discuss trends and problems on the liability of media and users for third-party content on internet websites and platforms. Alongside the developments in the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights, the participants tackled the implications of the approach taken by Recommendation CM/Rec(2022)16 on combating hate speech.
The third Regional Conference for Regulatory Authorities covered co-regulation mechanisms to counter harmful content online. The representatives of the authorities welcomed the focus on this subject while stressing the need to further define responsibilities and competences as domestic legislations in the region are yet to fully regulate the responsibilities of video-sharing platforms in content moderation. While participants agreed that the transposition of the 2018 Audio Visual Media Services directive will bring clarity, they emphasised the need to develop the capacity of regulators through cross-sector activities, working visits and awareness raising on applicable standards, through the regional action.
The final Steering Committee of the action was held in an extended composition. The members of the Steering Committee presented an overview of the results of the co-operation under the action. Several speakers underlined the extensive use at the domestic level in training legal professionals of the methodology, tools and human capacities resulting from the regional co-operation, even beyond the area of freedom of expression and freedom of the media. They also underlined the positive effects observed in the improved application of European standards in domestic case-law on freedom of expression. The representatives of media regulators gave practical examples of the importance and use in their work of the knowledge acquired through the exchange with their peers within the action and the studies produced in this context.
The events were organised under the framework of the joint programme of the European Union and the Council of Europe “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey 2019-2022” and its regional action on “Freedom of expression and freedom of the media in South-East Europe (JUFREX)".
* This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244 and the ICJ opinion on the Kosovo Declaration of Independence
