Safety of journalists under threat in large parts of OSCE region, media freedom representative reports to OSCE Permanent Council

Violence and threats against journalists are on the rise in large parts of the OSCE region, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Désir stated today in his report to the OSCE Permanent Council. The report took place on the 20^th anniversary of the adoption of the Mandate of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media by OSCE participating States.

Désir recalled the four journalists killed in the OSCE region since he became Representative in less than four months : Kim Wall in Denmark, Orouba and Halla Barakat in Turkey, and Daphne Caruana Galizia in Malta. He stressed the urgent need for OSCE participating States to fight against impunity and step up their efforts to protect and promote media freedom, specifically in regard to the safety of journalists.

“Since the adoption of the Mandate 20 years ago, many participating States have strengthened their legal framework to protect media freedom and seized opportunities offered by the digital media landscape to increase civil society participation, plurality, and access to information. But in many ways, media freedom is now under greater threat that at any time since the establishment of the Office,” he said.

Désir took office on 19 July 2017 and has since intervened on 109 cases of media freedom violations in 31 of the 57 OSCE participating States. The vast majority of these interventions concerned the safety of journalists and their right to work freely.

“Safety of journalists is my first priority. I intervened on cases in which journalists were severely threatened or physically attacked, not to mention the countless online threats against journalists which have become a daily reality. Female journalists face a double-burden: being attacked both as a journalist and as a woman. The threats they receive are appalling, both in quantity and for their explicit nature.”

He stressed the need to protect media freedom in the fight against terrorism and extremism, citing how accusations of support for terrorism are used to arrest and prosecute journalists. “Freedom of the media and security must not be in opposition at the OSCE. Today, more than 170 journalists are currently in detention throughout the OSCE region, though concentrated in a few countries. I will relentlessly call for their release,” he said.