Written declaration No. 580 | Doc. 13554 | 25 June 2014

The need to strengthen Council of Europe action to protect the safety of journalists

Signatories: Sir Roger GALE, United Kingdom, EDG ; Ms Anna ASCANI, Italy, SOC ; Mr Levan BERDZENISHVILI, Georgia, ALDE ; Ms Gülsün BİLGEHAN, Turkey, SOC ; Mr Paolo CORSINI, Italy, SOC ; Ms Milena DAMYANOVA, Bulgaria, EPP/CD ; Mr Jim D'ARCY, Ireland, EPP/CD ; Ms Ismeta DERVOZ, Bosnia and Herzegovina, EPP/CD ; Mr Gvozden Srećko FLEGO, Croatia, SOC ; Mr Hans FRANKEN, Netherlands, EPP/CD ; Ms Adele GAMBARO, Italy, ALDE ; Ms Alina Ştefania GORGHIU, Romania, ALDE ; Ms Ana GUŢU, Republic of Moldova, ALDE ; Mr Margus HANSON, Estonia, ALDE ; Mr Rafael HUSEYNOV, Azerbaijan, ALDE ; Mr Valeri JABLIANOV, Bulgaria, SOC ; Mr Gordan JANDROKOVIĆ, Croatia, EPP/CD ; Ms Vasiliki KATRIVANOU, Greece, UEL ; Mr Pierre-Yves LE BORGN', France, SOC ; Mr Nicos NICOLAIDES, Cyprus, SOC ; Ms Gabriela PECKOVÁ, Czech Republic, EPP/CD ; Ms Carmen QUINTANILLA, Spain, EPP/CD ; Mr Armen RUSTAMYAN, Armenia, SOC ; Ms Elisabeth SCHNEIDER-SCHNEITER, Switzerland, EPP/CD ; Mr Spyridon TALIADOUROS, Greece, EPP/CD ; Mr Gérard TERRIER, France, SOC

This written declaration commits only those who have signed it.

Media freedom is seriously challenged in many parts of Europe. As no democracy can function without independent and pluralist media, it is a core objective of the Council of Europe to promote the respect of media freedom under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights throughout all its member States.

Referring to paragraph 12 of Parliamentary Assembly Resolution 1897 (2010) on respect for media freedom, we therefore reiterate the request to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe to allocate the resources necessary to collate information on serious violations of media freedom, analyse this information on a systematic basis country by country, and make such information publicly available in electronic format on a website.

We appreciate the French initiative taken in the Committee of Ministers, encourage other member States to contribute to this work and invite media freedom organisations to join the Council of Europe in this effort. We regard the Task Force on the safety of journalists led by the Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe as a significant and essential step forward, intended to develop an early warning and rapid response mechanism.