A journalist of Radio Sarajevo was attacked and several journalists were threatened by a group of fans of the Football Club Sarajevo on the evening of September 27. The European and International Federations of Journalists (EFJ/IFJ) joined its affiliate in Bosnia and Herzegovina, BH Journalists, in demanding harsh sanctions against the assailants. After breaking into the newsroom, a group of hooligans harassed for more than two hours, including death threats, a radio reporter to remove an article about a fan who had been convicted to a five-year prison sentence for drug possession. He was then forced to call other editorial…

Several journalists were attacked during a violent protest of Army of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Republic veterans on 26th of July, in Sarajevo. A photojournalist of Klix.ba online news portal has been attacked by a group of violent protesters after refusing to stop taking photographs. Reporters from Al Jazeera Balkans TV intervened trying to protect him, but they were also violently attacked by other protesters. The photojournalist was taken to the hospital afterwards. After the incident, one of the protesters, who was filmed attacking the journalists with a metal stick, claimed that “it was not over”, listing other journalists who she…

The General Meeting of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) on 25 & 26 April, 2016 adopted a series of resolutions and statements.   Download  Resolutions Resolutions 2016 by European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) Statements Statements 2016 Sarajevos by European Federation of Journalists (EFJ)

Speech by Mogens Blicher Bjerregård (EFJ President) Ladies and Gentlemen – distinguished delegates, observers and guests! International solidarity among journalist unions and association is of huge importance as cross border activities in Europe are constantly increasing. Being in Sarajevo listening yesterday at the pre-meeting to the challenges and encouragement you have in Bosnia & Hercegovina, the Balkans, The South Eastern Europe, there is an inspiration of hope. You have the severe problems in collective bargaining, in getting journalists to understand at all, that they have rights, but it is impressive to understand how meet this. After several conferences in this region of…

#EFJSarajevo16 The 2016 General Meeting (GM) of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) will be hosted by its affiliate, the Bosnia-Herzegovina Journalists’ Association (BHN) on 25 and 26 April 2016 in Sarajevo. Around 100 delegates and guests from across Europe will be attending the meeting in Sarajevo.   Resolutions The EFJ GM 2016 has adopted a series of resolutions and statements. Download here. Meeting documents All meeting documents will be sent to delegates attending the meeting. They will also be made available on our website exclusively for EFJ members. You shall receive the login password from the EFJ secretariat. If not, please contact…

Following a press freedom mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina from 22-25 October 2023, the partner organisations of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) warn that media freedom in the country is in decline against a backdrop of new restrictive laws, hostile rhetoric and denigration of journalists by public officials, and ongoing systemic challenges to the independence of public service media. While the country had long experienced a stagnation in its progress for freedom of the media and freedom of expression, the situation has seen an overall decline, even as the country was granted candidate status for accession to the European…

Partner organisations of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) will travel to Banja Luka and Sarajevo from 22 to 25 October 2023 to assess the current state of play for media freedom in the country and start a dialogue with the authorities, less than a year after the European Union decided to grant Bosnia and Herzegovina candidate status. The delegation will consist of representatives of the MFRR partners, including ARTICLE 19 Europe, the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF), the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), Free Press Unlimited (FPU), the International Press Institute (IPI) and the Osservatorio Balcani…

Kurdish journalist Perihan Kaya, who found refuge in Switzerland, is facing deportation to Croatia as her asylum request has been rejected twice. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins its Swiss affiliate impressum and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) in asking the Federal Supreme Court (BVGer) to refrain from deporting the journalist, who faces imprisonment in Turkey. Perihan Kaya risks deportation to Croatia, the first country through which she travelled when fleeing Turkey. Going back to Croatia would be extremely dangerous for the politically prosecuted journalist, who had been detained for two days there, where she was subjected to inhumane treatments similar to torture by Croatian police…

Speech by Maja Sever (EFJ President) on 11 May 2023. Thank you for your kind words of support, welcome, and hospitality. My dear friends and colleagues, Unfortunately, our journalistic work has become such that, despite the pleasure of meeting and the hope that we will discuss and work successfully to strengthen journalism during these two days, I have to start with some sad news from Ukraine. One of us is gone; our college Arman Soldin, a 32-year-old French journalist born in Sarajevo, was killed while reporting in the war zone of eastern Ukraine. I invite you to pay tribute to Arman…

Journalist Arman Soldin was killed on 9 May 2023 in the afternoon in a shelling attack near Chasiv Yar in eastern Ukraine. The 32- year- old was working for the news agency Agence France Presse (AFP). The European and International Federations of Journalists (EFJ-IFJ) join their affiliates in Ukraine and France in expressing their condolences to Soldin’s relatives, colleagues and friends. The attack happened at around 4:30 pm on the outskirts of Chasiv Yar, a town close to Bakhmut, the epicentre of the fighting in eastern Ukraine for several months. Four AFP colleagues and a group of Ukrainian military personnel survived the attack uninjured.…

In Sarajevo, Borka Rudic, the General Secretary of the BH Journalists’ Association (BHN) and professor in journalism Lejla Turcilo, are targeted by nationalistically motivated hateful comments on social networks. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joined its affiliate in Bosnia in condemning the smear campaign and urging the authorities to investigate the case. This campaign is the continuation of coordinated attacks, hateful comments and defamatory statements, which started a year ago on social media against professor Turcilo, led by several media outlets and journalist Alena Lena Demirović. Lejla Turcilo is the head of the Department of Journalism and Communication at…

Deutsche Welle – Belarus charges independent journalists with tax evasion (31.12.2020) Belsat.eu – Press Club Belarus case: Five persons detained (23.12.2020) France 24 – Turkey sentences exiled journalist Can Dundar to 27 years in prison (23.12.2020) France 24 – Turquie : le journaliste d’opposition en exil Can Dündar condamné à 27 ans de prison (23.12.2020) Voice of America – The Infodemic: Social Media Posts Spread Misinformation About COVID-19 Deaths (22.12.2020) Wyborcza – European Federation of Journalists: Media pluralism greatly endangered by Orlen’s Polska Press takeover (18.12.2020) Exit – EFJ: Albanian Journalists Should be “Essential Workers” During COVID-19 Pandemic (18.12.2020) Deutsche Welle…

On this World Press Freedom Day, the undersigned organisations honour those who work tirelessly to help keep the public informed and call for robust support for independent journalism. Millions of people around the world are looking for reliable, fact-based, and gender-sensitive journalism that can help them navigate the biggest shared challenge of our lifetime. The need for trustworthy information has never been greater and more urgent than during this pandemic. Access to timely, high-quality information is imperative during a global health crisis; it is one of the key pillars required to slow the spread of this virus, mitigate its impacts,…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) will start in 2020 the phase 2 of the EU-funded project “Building Trust in Media in South East Europe and Turkey” in partnership with the UNESCO. Together with its members in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Turkey and Kosovo, the EFJ will organise three annual regional workshops to further develop national social dialogues and ensure the implementation of labour rights in the field of media in the region. Strong cooperation with the EFJ Labour Rights Expert Group (LAREG) will be continued to develop exchanges between journalists’ organisations from Eastern and Western…

The International and European Federations of Journalists (IFJ and EFJ) condemned physical attacks & threats against TV journalists by football fans in Belgrade (Serbia), while they were reporting, on Wednesday. The IFJ and EFJ called on the Serbian authorities to identify and prosecute the perpetrators. On 28 August 2019, TV N1 crew, including journalist Mladen Savatovic, and Bosnian TV channel Federalna correspondant Dejan Kozul were attacked while reporting ahead of the football Champions League game between Red Star Belgrade and Young Boys in Belgrade. N1 journalists were shooting a news report outside stadium about a war tank installed by the Red…

Western Balkan’s Regional Platform for advocating media freedom and journalists’ safety, which represents more than 8000 members, calls the Appellate Court of Montenegro to reconsider the first-instance verdict of the Higher Court, which find the investigative journalist Jovo Martinovic guilty, two days ago in Podgorica.  Martinovic was sentenced to 18 months in prison for criminal offenses of creating a criminal organization and unauthorized production, possession and trafficking of narcotic drugs. The judgment is the first instance and an appeal is permitted. Martinovic spent 14 months in detention, and since January 2017 he was allowed to defend himself while at liberty.…