Representative of the Committee on Political System, Judiciary and Administration MP Ms Marta Šćepanović participated in the Parliamentary Conference titled “Media Freedom and the security of journalists”, held in Paris, yesterday, on 4 December.

The Conference was opened by Ms Anne Brasseur, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe; Ms Catherine Morin-Desailly, Chairperson of the Committee on Culture, Education and Communication of the European Parliament; and Ms Ana Gutu, Chairperson of the Committee on Culture, Science, Education and Media of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

Within the first session the topic was reinforcing the protection of journalists against physical attacks, discussed by: Mr Claudio Fava, Vice-President of the parliamentary committee on the fight against the mafia, Chamber of Deputies (Italy); Ms Oksana Romaniuk, journalist, President of the Media Institute (Ukraine) and Mr Andrey Lipsky, Deputy Editor of Novaya Gazeta (Russia).  

The second session of the meeting was marked by discussion on the topic “Protecting journalists’ and media freedom from misuse of the law”, with the following participants: Ms Amberin Zaman, journalist, The Economist (Turkey); Mr Jean-Paul Marthoz, journalist (Belgium), and Mr Ales Bialiatski from Belarus. Following that, there was a discussion on signing the Memorandum of Understanding for the creation of an Internet platform to promote the protection of journalists, discussed by: Didier Reynders, Vice- Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of Belgium and Chairperson of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe; Mr Laurent Fabius, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development of France, and Ms Fleur Pellerin, Minister of Culture and Communication of France, as well as Mr Thorbjørn Jagland, Secretary General of the Council of Europe.

The third session was marked by discussion on the topic: “Towards an early warning and rapid response mechanism of the Council of Europe for the protection of media freedom and the security of journalists”, followed by the round table held on this topic.

The closing discussion was held by: Mr Gvozden Flego, Rapporteur of the PACE on the protection of media freedom in Europe; Mr Jérôme Bouvier, Ombudsman of Radio France, as well as representatives of the parties to the Memorandum of Understanding for the creation of an Internet platform to promote the protection of journalists.

The Conference was organised by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in collaboration with the Committee on Culture, Education and Communication of the French Senate, which was also the host.

The Conference is part of the project implemented by the Council of Europe, with the aim of strengthening its role and taking further steps regarding protection and security of journalists.