On September 17, 2020, an online discussion on the safety of journalists in Ukraine was organised by the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy in cooperation with the project “ EU and Council of Europe working together to support freedom of media in Ukraine”.

During the discussion, representatives of public authorities, law enforcement agencies, civil society and international organizations discussed the current situation in the field of safety of journalists in Ukraine, the state of investigations into cases of obstruction of journalists' professional activities and discussed further work in this area.

As of now, 57 alerts to freedom of expression and the safety of journalists in Ukraine have been posted on the Council of Europe Platform for the Protection of Journalism and the Safety of Journalists. The government has responded to 51 cases, 6 cases are pending. The Platform itself aims to protect journalists and provide a better response to threats and cases of violence against media workers and establish an early warning and response mechanism within the Council of Europe. Olena Lytvynenko, Deputy Head of the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine, mentioned this in her speech.

Ms. Lytvynenko also added: "The state's obligation to protect the lives and safety of journalists, as well as effectively investigate crimes committed against journalists, enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights and confirmed by the case law of the European Court of Human Rights, is binding for Ukraine".

More information is available in Ukrainian.