The European Court of Human Rights released a judgement on 17 July, stating that the investigation of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya‘s murder “failed to look properly into who commissioned the crime”. The Court decided that the Russian government violated the Article 2 (right to life) of the European Convention on Human Rights and therefore, is due to pay 20,000 euros. The case was brought to the court by the family of the journalist, who was murdered in 2006. The press release of the European Court of Human Rights states: The Court found in particular that while the authorities had found and…

Applications for the second international Media Literacy workshop co-organised by CMFE Community Media Forum Europe and COMMIT Community Medien Institut within the Media Against Hate Campaign are now open here! It will take place in Olsztyn, Poland, on 8-9 June 2017. The workshop will address the following topics: Freedom of expression and respect of human rights – where are the boundaries and what is hate speech? (training) Muslims in the Media – Round table discussion with local and international experts (in cooperation with OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights) The trainers will be: Gordana Knezevic, award-winning journalist, “Balkans…

The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Nils Muižnieks, is encouraging Kosovo authorities to safeguard media freedom in the country following his four-day mission to Kosovo. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and the Journalist’s Association of Kosovo (AGK) welcome the preliminary conclusions. In his report, the Commissioner recommends to strengthen Kosovo public service media, urging “the authorities to establish a sustainable, appropriate and transparent funding of the public service broadcasting organisation and to secure its editorial independence and institutional autonomy.” The Law on the Radio Television of Kosovo (RTK), the public service broadcaster, is currently being amended by the…

The Council of Europe (CoE) and the European Network of National Human Rights Institutions (ENNHRI) organised on 15 December in Strasbourg a high level seminar as a follow-up activity to the CoE Secretary General’s report on the State of democracy, human rights and the rule of law in Europe 2015. The EFJ was represented by its president. In his report, the Secretary General of the CoE, Thorbjørn Jagland, proposed a two-year Europe-wide programme to support national mechanisms to protect journalists, such as ombudsman institutions, press commissioners and non-governmental organisations. The programme pursues several goals: to strengthen the capacities of such…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) held a meeting on 9 November with the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights Nils Muižnieks and his team at the EFJ headquarters in Brussels. The two teams discussed current threats to media freedoms in Europe especially the situation in Turkey and abuses of defamation laws against journalists in EU countries. EFJ General Secretary Ricardo Gutiérrez presented the main challenges and projects the EFJ is currently working on, namely the independence and the strengthening of public service broadcasting in Eastern Europe and the Balkans, the oppressive emergency situation in Turkey and the increase of self-censorship and hate speech in the…

The European and International Federations of Journalists (EFJ/IFJ) organised a press conference on 12 September on the theme: Turkey’s failed coup: implications for journalists, unionists and human rights activists at the Press Club in Brussels. Sanar Yurdatapan, a Turkish composer, human rights activist and initiator of Freedom of Expression Initiative-Turkey, was invited to speak about the prior and post-coup situation for freedom fighters. After showing a video footage showing the escalation of hate speech at the highest level in the country, he gave a brief picture of today’s Turkey where oppression, insults and threats towards media, activists and opposition parties have become a common place.…

Two French journalists, Jean-Louis Perez and Pierre Chautard, working for France Télévisions were arrested by the Moroccan authorities on 15 February while they were making a documentary in Rabat. Perez and Chautard were arrested in the premises of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH) when they were interviewing the President of the AMDH, Mr. Ahmed El-Haij about the human rights situation in the country. The police also seized their equipment and told them to leave the country immediately. Following the arrest, the French journalists’ unions (SNJ, SNJ-CGT and CFDT-Journalistes) denounced the arrest. “The arrest is not acceptable and the…

Click HERE to read the IFJ report on Getting the facts right: Reporting ethnicity and religion.