The European Trade Union Federations (ETUFs) representing tens of millions of workers across all countries and sectors in the EU and beyond in Europe strongly condemn the UK government’s draft legislation on minimum service. It needs to be withdrawn. The UK Conservative government created a mess by refusing to negotiate with workers. Workers demand recognition and decent pay and conditions and a response to the cost-of-living crisis. Instead of serious attempts to negotiate settlements to the current disputes about pay and staffing levels for public service workers, the Conservative government is pushing through a new bill that will impose minimum…

The Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) and the Safe Journalists Network today condemn the shocking physical attack on Albanian journalist Elvis Hila and his wife in Lezhë and urge state law enforcement authorities to swiftly detain the suspected perpetrators and ensure that all those responsible face justice. The violent attack took place at around 4.40pm on Wednesday 25 January, one day after Hila had reported for shqiptarja.com and Report TV about a local court case in Lezhë in which a defendant had been sentenced to a year in prison for forgery of a court document. Soon after publication, Hila said…

Russia’s General Prosecutor’s Office announced on 26 January that it has added the independent news outlet Meduza to the country’s list of “undesirable” organizations. This sanction is intended to force the targeted entities to dissolve. It puts media staff and financial donors at risk of criminal prosecution, including a significant prison sentence. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) strongly condemns this censorship of one of the main sources of independent information in Russia. Russia has been banning “undesirable organizations” since 2015, when lawmakers granted the Prosecutor General’s Office the power to assign this status to any foreign or international non-governmental…

The European Federation of Journalists welcomes the initiative of the Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia (IJAS) to launch a new platform for the online safety of journalists, “On The Line“. The platform is based on a protocol written by the International Press Institute (IPI) and gathers resources and tools designed to help newsrooms and journalists deal with online threats. It was created following the increasing number of online hate speech in the country. Two sections refer specifically to online menaces and attacks on female journalists and on freelance journalists. The protocol is based on the importance of peer support and cooperation, the…

President of the Republic of Srpska Milorad Dodik has requested to re-introduce defamation and insults as “criminal offences” in the Criminal Code of the Republic of Srpska, one of the two entities in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The BH Journalists Association (BH Novinari) raises the alarm in the face of the increasing threat that would cause the impending criminalisation of defamation, which has been a civil wrong in the country since 1999. The European and International Federation of Journalists join their affiliate, the BH Novinari, in warning of the dangers of criminalising defamation and ask for the European Commission and the…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) sent on Friday its contribution to the Commission’s Rule of Law report, which reviews every year four key areas: justice systems, the anti-corruption framework, media pluralism and freedom, and checks and balances. The issues found in most of the countries surveyed are all related to media concentration and the increasing number of SLAPPs. The objective of this consultation – jointly carried out with the EFJ affiliates – is to feed the assessment of the Commission with factual information from the ground in each Member States. Read more of the EFJ’s contribution:   EFJ Contribution…