At the invitation of OSCE partners, Hilde Haug, Deputy Head of the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine, took part in the conference “Integrity-Driven Media: How to Preserve Democracy in a Digital World”, dedicated to media literacy and information resilience.
In her speech, Hilde Haug stressed that the Council of Europe’s normative framework for media literacy and information integrity is grounded in its core legal and policy foundations, including Committee of Ministers recommendations on media pluralism and transparency of media ownership (CM/Rec(2018)1), on the rights of the child in the digital environment (CM/Rec(2018)7), and on combating hate speech (CM/Rec(2022)16). These standards consistently recognise media and information literacy as a key democratic competence that supports freedom of expression, media pluralism and the protection of human rights.
Building on these standards, Hilde Haug outlined the Council of Europe’s principles for developing media literacy and strengthening information resilience. Particular attention was given to the need to expand access to media literacy programmes for residents of communities, small towns and rural areas, to develop modern curricula for different age groups, to support youth-led initiatives monitoring local media, and to promote high-quality Ukrainian-language content.
As part of the event, Hilde Haug and Olena Demchenko, Senior Project Officer of the “Safeguarding Freedom of Expression and Freedom of Media in Ukraine – II Phase” (SFEM-UA – Phase II) also met with Ambassador Jan Braathu, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media. They discussed current challenges in the fields of freedom of expression, journalist safety and media development in Ukraine, as well as ways to further strengthen cooperation between the Council of Europe and the OSCE. Particular attention was given to supporting regional media, media literacy, media monitoring, the protection of journalists.
The Council of Europe Project “Safeguarding Freedom of Expression and Freedom of Media in Ukraine – Phase II” (SFEM-UA - Phase II) is implemented by the Council of Europe Division for Co-operation on Freedom of Expression in the framework of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine “Resilience, Recovery and Reconstruction” 2023-2026.
