As the Azerbaijani government intensifies its crackdown on journalists ahead of the COP29 conference in Baku, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) calls on the international community to step up pressure on the authorities to release the 23 journalists and media workers unjustly imprisoned in Azerbaidjan. The UN Climate Change Conference, more commonly known as COP29, is hosted by the government of Azerbaijan. It will take place in Baku on November 11-22, 2024. Ahead of this international conference, the EFJ calls on the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) secretariat, based in Bonn, Germany, to ensure that all COP…

Early August 2024, the Lithuanian Parliament proposed amendments to introduce fines for people who insult or humiliate journalists. This legislative project aims to protect journalists from abusive behaviours and ensure their ability to freely exercise their professional duty of delivering information to the public. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) welcomes this initiative and calls for all European countries to implement similar measures in line with the Council of Europe Recommendation 2016/4 on the protection of journalism and safety of journalists.  The Lithuanian proposal, prepared by Speaker of the Seimas Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen, suggests amendments to the Code of Administrative Misdemeanors.…

Update (20/08/2024): The EFJ condemns the death threats against the two journalists by pro-Russian circles in Italy, in particular the writer Nicolai Lilin. ——————————- The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins its Italian affiliate FNSI in strongly condemning Russian threats to prosecute Italian journalists covering the Ukrainian counter-offensive in the Kursk region, in Russia. The EFJ considers that these intimidations amount to censorship and are aimed at preventing public opinion from being informed about ongoing operations. Russian media reported on Friday that the Russian interior ministry intends to press criminal charges against Italian journalists who reported from the region of…

On 11 August 2024, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić verbally abused journalists from Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Kosovo during a press conference in Belgrade on the occasion of the rally against the Serbian government’s approval of lithium ore mining in Serbia. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins the SafeJournalists network in expressing its full solidarity with the journalists who have been targeted by President Vučic. We urge President Vučić and the authorities to refrain from this blatant pattern of harassing journalists or media outlets for critical reporting and instead ensure respect for the fundamental guarantees of media freedom.…

Russian internet monitoring services reported widespread slowdowns of online platform YouTube on 8 August, making it nearly inaccessible without using virtual private networks (VPNs). YouTube has remained one of the few platforms of free expression in the country, amid the government’s crackdown on independent media. The International and European Federations Journalists (IFJ-EFJ) strongly condemn Russia’s slow down of YouTube as a severe act of censorship and urge authorities to revoke the restrictions. On 31 July, Russian authorities announced plans to slow down YouTube’s performance with speeds expected to drop by up to 70%, as part of a strategy to persuade…

Today, 9 August 2024, marks four years since the fraudulent presidential election took place in Belarus, which intensified the crackdown on journalists, independent media and trade unions to crush free speech and political opposition by Aleksandr Lukashenko’s regime. The International and the European Federation of Journalists (IFJ-EFJ) join their affiliate, the Belarusian Journalists’ Association (BAJ), in calling on the regime to release all journalists and media workers behind bars. The Federations also urge the authorities to stop their harassment of exiled journalists, including raiding their residences and causing distress to their families to exert leverage on them. Four years after…