Doc. 11151
23 January 2007

Threats to the lives and freedom of expression of journalists
Opinion

Political Affairs Committee
Rapporteur for Opinion: Mr Denis MacShane, United Kingdom, Socialist Group

I.       Amendments to the draft resolution:

Amendment 1

Add the following sentence at the end of paragraph 2:

“Hate journalism, which confuses propaganda with reporting, defames individuals, and inflames rather than illuminates public debate is also growing and needs to be confronted.”

Amendment 2

Add the following sentence at the end of paragraph 3:

“Freedom of expression is one of the cornerstones of democracy in Europe.”

Amendment 3

Add a new paragraph after paragraph 3 which would read:

“The Assembly believes that to make democracy meaningful freedom of expression and freedom of religion should go hand-in-hand. Violent attacks and threats, by any group invoking their religion, against expressions of opinion by words, speech or visual images have no place in European democracies. ”

Amendment 4

In paragraph 4, line 5, after the words “free from intimidation” add the following words:

“and political threats”

Amendment 5

Add the following words to the end of paragraph 9:

“and their right to carry out their work without threats”

Amendment 6

Add a new paragraph after paragraph 11 which would read:

“After the arrest of the alleged assassin of Hrant Dink, the Assembly now unites in calling for the removal of Article 301 in the Turkish Penal Code, under which Dink and other journalists were prosecuted. The continuing presence of such a law limiting freedom of expression validates legal and other assaults on journalists.”

Amendment 7

Add the following sentence at the end of paragraph 12:

“The Assembly believes that fully representative, independent organisations and unions of journalists are an important protection for freedom of expression and rejects any concept of state licensing or control over the profession of journalism.”

II.       Amendment to the draft recommendation:

Amendment 1

After paragraph 2.4, add a new sub-paragraph which would read:

“promote work on this issue at the level of the United Nations while maintaining the standards of the European approach towards this issue in accordance with the European Convention on Human Rights and other relevant legal texts of the Council of Europe”.

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Reporting Committee: Political Affairs Committee.

Reference to Committee: 3303 on 22 January 2007

Draft opinion unanimously adopted by the Committee on 23 January 2007

Members of the Committee : Mr Abdülkadir Ateş (Chairman), Mr Konstantion Kosachev (Vice-Chairman), Mr Zsolt Németh (Vice-Chairman), Mr Giorgi Bokeria (Vice-Chairman), Mr Miloš Aligrudić, Ms Birgir Ármannsson, Mr Claudio Azzolini, Mr Andris Bērzinš, Mr Alexandër Biberaj, Ms Raisa Bohatyryova, Mr Luc Van den Brande, Ms Cornelia Cazacu, Mr Lorenzo Cesa, M. Mauro Chiaruzzi, Ms Elvira Cortajarena, Ms Anna Čurdová, Mr Noel Davern, Mr Dumitru Diacov, Mr Michel Dreyfus-Schmidt, Ms Josette Durrieu, Mr Mikko Elo, Mr Joan Albert Farré Santuré, Mr Pietro Fassino (alternate: Pietro Marcenaro), Mr Per-Kristian Foss, Ms Doris Frommelt, Mr Jean-Charles Gardetto, Mr Charles Goerens, Mr Daniel Goulet, Mr Andreas Gross, Mr Jean-Pol Henry, Mr Serhiy Holovaty, Mr Joachim Hörster, Mr Tadeusz Iwiński, Mr Miloš Jeftić, Ms Darja Lavtižar-Bebler, Mr Göran Lindblad, Mr Younal Loutfi, Mr Mikhail Margelov (alternate: Mr Viktor Kolesnikov), Mr Tomasz Markowski, Mr Dick Marty, Mr Frano Matušić, Mr Murat Mercan, Mr Jean-Claude Mignon (alternate: Mr Denis Badré), Mr Marko Mihkelson, Ms Nadezhda Mikhailova (alternate: Mr Ivan Ivanov), Mr Aydin Mirzazada, Mr Joāo Bosco Mota Amaral, Ms Natalia Narochnitskaya, Mr Grygoriy Nemyrya, Mr Fritz Neugebauer, Mr Pieter Omtzigt, Mr Theodoros Pangalos, Ms Elsa Papadimitriou, Mr Christos Pourgourides, Mr Gordon Prentice (alternate: Mr John Austin), Mr Gabino Puche, Mr Lluís Maria de Puig, Mr Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando, Mr Andrea Rigoni, Lord Russell-Johnston, Mr Oliver Sambevski, Mr Ingo Schmitt, Ms Hanne Severinsen, Mr Samad Seyidov (alternate: Ms Gultakin Hajiyeva), Mr Leonid Slutsky, Mr Rainder Steenblock, Mr Cyril Svoboda, Mr Zoltán Szabó, Baroness Taylor of Bolton (alternate Lord Tomlinson), Mr Mehmet Tekelioğlu, Mr Tigran Torosyan, Mr Mihai Tudose, Mr José Vera Jardim, Ms Biruté Vesaité, Mr Björn Von Sydow, Mr Varujan Vosganian, Mr Harm Evert Waalkens, Mr David Wilshire, Mr Wolgang Wodarg, Ms Gisela Wurm, Mr Boris Zala, Mr Krzysztof Zaremba.

Ex-officio: MM. Mátyás Eörsi, Tiny Kox

N.B. : The names of the members who took part in the meeting are printed in bold

Head of the Secretariat : Mr Perin

Secretaries to the Committee: Mrs Nachilo, Mr Chevtchenko, Mrs Pieter, Mrs Dadoun