On 28-30 November, Corina Călugăru participated in the work of the Annual Freedom Online Conference held in Berlin. The Permanent Representative of the Republic of Moldova to the Council of Europe also holds the mandate of the Thematic Co-ordinator on Information Policy (TC-INF) of the Council of Europe.

In Berlin, Ambassador Călugăru intervened in the Plenary session 1 on “Tackling disinformation in digital age”, promoting Council of Europe standards, in particular Articles 8 and 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights and ECHR judgements in this regard. She emphasised the Council of Europe’s measures as the report on information disorder and specific recommendations for relevant stakeholders; the setting up in November 2017 of the platform of cooperation between CoE and internet companies and associations; Committee of Ministers recommendation on internet intermediaries with clear rights and obligations for states/governments and internet service providers. She concluded by underlining the necessity to identify all the relevant stakeholders in the Internet field (governments, Internet providers, companies and associations, NGOs, etc.), to recognize the current status and new challenges in terms of rules and standards, and how to improve the cooperation in order to have an adequate response to the current challenges.

The Freedom Online Conference is organised annually by the Freedom Online Coalition as a multistakeholder conference that aims to deepen the discussion on how freedom of expression on the Internet is helping to promote social, cultural and economic development. The forum offers an open platform for discussion among all stakeholders – governments, civil society, the private sector, and others – to share relevant information, develop joint strategies and combine efforts towards their mutual goal of a human rights based Internet.