On 22-23 June 2017 the Council of Europe Project “Strengthening Freedom of the Media and Establishing a Public Broadcasting System in Ukraine” organised third regional seminar “Protection of professional activity of journalists and freedom of expression in Ukraine: countering impunity” which was held on the premises of Kharkiv National University of Internal Affairs (KNUIA) for over 250 participants:  representatives of the law enforcement bodies – patrol officers, investigators and prosecutors, judges, civil society activists and journalists from Kharkiv, Poltava, Sumy, Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

“Attacks against journalists and other media actors constitute particularly serious violations of human rights because they target not only individuals but deprive others of their right to receive information, thus restricting public debate, which is at the very heart of pluralist democracy. Council of Europe standards aim to protect journalism and safety of journalists and other media actors,in other words - much wider range of persons than officially employed journalists. All attacks on journalists and other media actors should be vigorously investigated in a timely fashion and the perpetrators should be prosecuted”, emphasized Mårten Ehnberg, Head of the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine in his welcome speech.

Yulia Svitlychna, Head of Kharkiv Regional State Administration, underlined the exceptional role of unbiased journalism at the time of military aggression, quoting the words of the President of Ukraine: “Owing to journalists, the society know what those, to whom they entrusted the management of the country, do. It is through the that  the the authorities reach out  to the society, the watchdog function is performed, the truth triumphs and lies become debunked. This is important because journalists are the bridge that connects society and authorities”.

Mykhailo Burdin, Vice Rector of the KNUIA, welcomed the participants of the seminar and noted that freedom of speech was one of the most important European values, and ensuring it was extremely important for everyone.

Yurii Danylchenko, Prosecutor of Kharkiv region, said: “Protection of the professional activity of journalists all over the world is the main sign of a civilized and democratic country. Only if a representative of the media feels protected, one can talk about actual freedom of speech in the state. The important thing is that in the framework of this event, the experts of the Council of Europe will share their countries' longstanding experience in the sphere of protection of the rights of journalists”.

Volodymyr Tymoshko, Head of the Investigation Department of the Main Department of the National Police in Kharkiv region, stated that Kharkiv region was proud of having a small number of criminal proceedings related to attacks against freedom of speech and journalists. "Our attitude towards the fourth branch of power is expressed also by the professional activities of the police, prosecutors and law enforcement agencies on this issue. And this will continue in the future",  he assured.

"Journalists, their family members, colleagues and readers - consumers of their product are all connected. Therefore, the issues of protection of journalistic activity and freedom of expression actually concern all Ukrainian people. These issues are both relevant and painful because they should not exist at all. And this is one of the goals of the seminar - to put the protection of the professional activity of journalists at such level that there would be no cases of interference in any form with the professional activities of journalists", said Olexander Bandurka, academician, member of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine. 

The aim of the regional seminar is to raise awareness of the law enforcement representatives and judiciary on amendments to the criminal and criminal-procedural legislation; to improve the skills of application of the legislation on protection of the professional activity of journalists in Ukraine; familiarization with the Council of Europe standards in the field of protection of the professional activity of journalists, as well as to establish effective communication mechanisms between the representatives of media, civil society and the law enforcement representatives.  All participants of the seminar received the Handbook with the Council of Europe’s recommendations on the topic “Safety of journalists” and methodical recommendations “Countering cases of impeding of lawful professional activity of journalists in Ukraine” as handout materials.

Also, during the seminar the online Platform on the protection of journalism and safety of journalists launched by the Council of Europe in 2015 was presented. In partnership with media organisations, the Platform monitors reported threats against journalists in the Council of Europe member States and launches calls for action to safeguard the media freedom.

The event was organised by the Council of Europe Project “Strengthening Freedom of Media and Establishing a Public Broadcasting System in Ukraine”, Administration of the President of Ukraine, General Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine, Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, National Police of Ukraine, Kharkiv National University of Internal Affairs and non-governmental organisation “Institute of Mass Information”.

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Council of Europe Project “Strengthening Freedom of the Media and Establishing a Public Broadcasting System in Ukraine” aims to enhance the role of media in general and the public broadcaster in particular as instruments 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.

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

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