News
- 08 June 2011, 17:38
- The Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation
Today, in the city of Vilnius (the Republic of Lithuania) a two-day Conference on the safety of journalists in the OSCE region completed its work.
The event under the chairmanship of the functioning OSCE Chairman, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Audronyus Ajubalis, was attended by the OSCE Representative on the issues of freedom of the media Dunja Mijatovic, the Commissioner of the Council of Europe for human rights Thomas Hammamberg, the Chairman of the Council under the President of Russia on development of the civil society and human rights Mikhail Fedotov, the representatives of the countries of the OSCE, various organizations and associations of journalists.
The meeting was also participated by the representatives of the General Prosecutor's office of the Russian Federation such as the head of the Department of interaction with mass media Marina Gridnyova, the head of the Department of interaction with the electronic mass media Maxim Filatenkov, the Prosecutor of the Department on supervision over investigation of especially important cases of Lubov Sokolova.
In the course of the Conference the participating States reaffirmed that the freedom of expression of an opinion in the mass media is one of the internationally-recognized human rights and represents a necessary condition for the existence and development of democratic society.
At the session there were presented practical proposals for ensuring of the safety of mass media employees in their daily work and there were discussed the requirements relating to immediate accepting of the measures in cases of incidents related with violence against journalists.
The OSCE representative on freedom of the mass media Dunja Mijatovic in her speech noted that the profession of a journalist remains one of the most dangerous and there is still a lot to do so that the representatives of mass media in the OSCE region could freely express their opinions and cover occurring events without fearing for their lives and health.
Making his report, the representative of Russia Mikhail Fedotov noted that in our country the situation of security of journalists has improved significantly: the number of attacks on mass media representatives reduced, in the years 2008 and 2010 there were not registered any facts of murders of journalists. What relates to the freedom of speech, according to information provided by Mikhail Fedotov, the cases of refusal for providing information by the representatives of authorities in the last 2-3 years also became considerably less. The representative of Russia gave a proposal to introduce compulsory insurance of journalists working in hot spots.
In the course of the Conference the participants exchanged opinions on a wide range of issues, in particular about the role of state bodies in ensuring of the safety of journalists, representatives of civil society and non-governmental organizations. Moreover, there were discussed the legislative provisions, regulating the mass media activities, and the practice of investigation of the cases of attacks against journalists, including preventing the performance of their professional activities.
In the course of the discussion of the mentioned issues the head of department of interaction with mass media of the General Prosecutor’s office of Russia Marina Gridnyova introduced the participants of the Conference with the peculiarities of supervision over investigation of criminal cases of attacks against journalists, which is carried out by the Russian authorities of the Prosecutor's office.
At the end of the meeting a free exchange of opinions has taken place.
As per the results of the Conference it is planned to develop common recommendations on the issues of safety of journalists for all countries of the OSCE.
The Prosecutor General's Office
of the Russian Federation
The Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation
08 June 2011, 17:38
Representatives of the General Prosecutor's office of Russia participated in the Conference on the safety of journalists in the OSCE region
Today, in the city of Vilnius (the Republic of Lithuania) a two-day Conference on the safety of journalists in the OSCE region completed its work.
The event under the chairmanship of the functioning OSCE Chairman, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Audronyus Ajubalis, was attended by the OSCE Representative on the issues of freedom of the media Dunja Mijatovic, the Commissioner of the Council of Europe for human rights Thomas Hammamberg, the Chairman of the Council under the President of Russia on development of the civil society and human rights Mikhail Fedotov, the representatives of the countries of the OSCE, various organizations and associations of journalists.
The meeting was also participated by the representatives of the General Prosecutor's office of the Russian Federation such as the head of the Department of interaction with mass media Marina Gridnyova, the head of the Department of interaction with the electronic mass media Maxim Filatenkov, the Prosecutor of the Department on supervision over investigation of especially important cases of Lubov Sokolova.
In the course of the Conference the participating States reaffirmed that the freedom of expression of an opinion in the mass media is one of the internationally-recognized human rights and represents a necessary condition for the existence and development of democratic society.
At the session there were presented practical proposals for ensuring of the safety of mass media employees in their daily work and there were discussed the requirements relating to immediate accepting of the measures in cases of incidents related with violence against journalists.
The OSCE representative on freedom of the mass media Dunja Mijatovic in her speech noted that the profession of a journalist remains one of the most dangerous and there is still a lot to do so that the representatives of mass media in the OSCE region could freely express their opinions and cover occurring events without fearing for their lives and health.
Making his report, the representative of Russia Mikhail Fedotov noted that in our country the situation of security of journalists has improved significantly: the number of attacks on mass media representatives reduced, in the years 2008 and 2010 there were not registered any facts of murders of journalists. What relates to the freedom of speech, according to information provided by Mikhail Fedotov, the cases of refusal for providing information by the representatives of authorities in the last 2-3 years also became considerably less. The representative of Russia gave a proposal to introduce compulsory insurance of journalists working in hot spots.
In the course of the Conference the participants exchanged opinions on a wide range of issues, in particular about the role of state bodies in ensuring of the safety of journalists, representatives of civil society and non-governmental organizations. Moreover, there were discussed the legislative provisions, regulating the mass media activities, and the practice of investigation of the cases of attacks against journalists, including preventing the performance of their professional activities.
In the course of the discussion of the mentioned issues the head of department of interaction with mass media of the General Prosecutor’s office of Russia Marina Gridnyova introduced the participants of the Conference with the peculiarities of supervision over investigation of criminal cases of attacks against journalists, which is carried out by the Russian authorities of the Prosecutor's office.
At the end of the meeting a free exchange of opinions has taken place.
As per the results of the Conference it is planned to develop common recommendations on the issues of safety of journalists for all countries of the OSCE.
