Chair,
I am delivering this statement on behalf of the Informal Group of Friends on the Safety of Journalists Austria, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the United States of America and my own country Montenegro.
Today we commemorate the 10th anniversary of the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists to highlight the indispensable role of journalists and media actors, and to reaffirm our unwavering commitment to protecting journalists and media actors, the champions of truth and accountability. Freedom of expression is not only a fundamental individual right. It is also a means of protecting and enhancing democracy, with free and independent media being at the heart of the public debate. We are therefore strongly committed to combating attacks, restrictions and abusive actions against independent media, both online and offline, which jeopardize not only the right of citizens to be properly informed but also the stability and functioning of our democratic societies.
Journalists are exposed to numerous dangers, both online and offline. We reiterate that journalists must be able to practice their profession freely and safely, including by maintaining their editorial independence, and their ability to investigate and to ensure the confidentiality of their sources. Protecting journalists is a collective responsibility.
As the previous Representative on Freedom of the Media noted in her regular report to the Permanent Council in June earlier this year, media freedom in our region has faced unprecedented disruptions, marked by escalating repression in a broader context of democratic decline and of war and conflict within our region.
The environment for journalists and independent media across the OSCE-region is extremely concerning, as threats to journalists increase, ranging from arbitrary detentions and seizure of journalistic equipment, to physical and online violence against journalists, and to legal harassment, including strategic lawsuits against public participation. In addition, the gendered nature of online violence continues to be alarming, with women journalists facing a significantly higher number of attacks, with increasingly vicious characteristics and tactics. Moreover, UNESCO’s Observatory of Killed Journalists has registered several dozens of killings in the last decade throughout the OSCE-region, with the majority of cases still unresolved.
Chair,
We would like to draw special attention to the systematic heavy attacks by the authorities in the Russian Federation and Belarus on media freedom and the safety of journalist, including in the context of Russia’s unprovoked and unjustifiable war of aggression against Ukraine, a war that has been facilitated by Belarus. As the Moscow Mechanism-report of April 2024 notes, Russia uses arbitrary detention and threats against journalists in the illegally occupied territories to intimidate the population and to eliminate activists. In Ukraine, Russian forces have attacked, abducted and arbitrarily detained journalists. According to UNESCO, at least 14 journalists have been killed since the war began, and many more injured.
Within Russia itself, the systematic crackdown on civil society and independent media is intensifying. By now, there are more than 1400 political prisoners in the Russian Federation, including at least 63 journalists and media actors. Similarly, media in Belarus are facing repression by the authorities at a scale that we have not witnessed since the fraudulent elections of August 2020. In Belarus, at least 36 journalists and media actors are unjustly imprisoned, among the over 1,300 political prisoners. Hundreds more media actors have been forced into exile. We call on Russia and Belarus to stop the criminalization, prosecution, imprisonment, ill-treatment and torture of dissenting voices, to bring domestic legislation into compliance with its international obligations and commitments, and to cooperate with all international human rights mechanisms.
As we noted earlier this year, it remains deeply worrisome that state media in Russia and Belarus are exploited to relentlessly spread state-sponsored disinformation, whereas independent media outlets and media organizations are labeled as “extremist”, “undesirable” or “foreign agents”. We reiterate our call on Russia and Belarus to immediately cease this practice. By depriving their people of the right to seek, receive, and impart information freely, including via independent media , the Russian Federation and Belarus are violating human rights and acting contrary to the OSCE principles they committed themselves to uphold.
Chair,
Let me finally stress that as OSCE participating States we have made commitments to create an enabling environment for media freedom, which includes ending impunity for crimes against journalists and media actors by ensuring swift, effective and impartial investigation into acts of violence and threats against them in order to bring all those responsible to justice. The work of the Representative on Freedom of the Media is crucial in this regard. We hope that a new appointment to this position will be made as soon as possible.
