New HELP online course on Protection and Safety of Journalists is now available in Albanian, Bosnian, Macedonian, Montenegrin and Serbian.
The course was developed by the Council of Europe Information Society Department, in cooperation with HELP Programme (Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals) within the framework of the European Union and Council of Europe Joint Programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey II (2019-2022)”: more precisely the action “Freedom of Expression and Freedom of the Media in South-East Europe (JUFREX 2)”.
Secretariat members from the Council of Europe’s Platform for the Protection of Journalism and Safety of Journalists, the Office of the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, and from the Registry of the European Court of Human Rights have also contributed to the development of this course.
Background and aim
Freedom of expression and free flow of information are cornerstones of public debate and democracy.
Yet, freedom of expression and the safety of journalists continue to fact major challenges in Europe today. Journalists and other media actors’ threats include censorship, political and economic pressure, intimidation, job insecurity, abusive application of legislation on defamation including also physical attacks. These offences are (often) committed in an intolerable context of impunity, which fuels recidivism and has a chilling effect on media freedom.
On the basis of the European Convention on Human Rights and the European Court of Human Rights’ case law, member States have both negative and positive obligations to protect journalists. Not only they must refrain from the use of intimidating political declarations or judicial practices against media actors, but they also have the duty to actively grant them a full protection of the law and by the judiciary in order to create an enabling environment for their journalistic activities.
This free HELP online course aims at assisting legal professionals, but also journalists and law-enforcement officials, in identifying and tackling the threats towards journalists and other media actors. Please read the course brief here.
Course structure
The overall length of the course is approximately 10 hours and is composed of five substantive modules.
Module 1: Key standards and principles. Introduction to the topic. Freedom of expressions. Journalists and other media actors.
Module 2: Threats against journalism. Threats against journalists. Effects of the threats. Response to the threats.
Module 3: Legal frameworks and mechanisms and tools. The United Nations, Council of Europe, European Union and OSCE legal frameworks. Mechanisms and tools for protection of journalists, including the Council of Europe Platform for protection of journalism and safety of journalists.
Module 4: Physical and psychological integrity. Positive and negative obligations of the State to protect journalists and other media actors; substantive and procedural dimension of States’ obligation. Impunity for crimes against journalists and its effects.
Module 5: Journalism in action. Newsgathering: access to places and events, access to public information, protection of sources and whistle-blowers. Publication: substantive and procedural legal limitations. Journalism on trial. Law enforcement and journalists.
At the end of each module there is a quiz and a summary of the module. Upon finalisation, provided the user has successfully passed the course an electronic statement of accomplishment is provided.
Tutored and Self-learning courses
JUFREX-2 project partners will be able to implement tutored courses on Protection and Safety of Journalists containing information on international standards but also on the Western Balkans region’s domestic legislative and institutional frameworks and practices (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia). These courses will be provided/offered by the respective national training institutions for legal professionals (Judicial Academies, Bar Associations) and Universities in 2021/2022 and used as a tool to supplement traditional educational materials used in legal education, also beyond the project’s life time.
Aside from the tutored courses, the self-learning courses are now available at the HELP platform in the following languages:
We invite you to check our course on Protection and Safety of Journalists.
Enjoy learning!
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*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.
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