2 July 2015
Nils Muižnieks, Consiglio d'Europa.jpg

The Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe sent a letter to the president of Ossigeno per l'Informazione on the occasion of today's conference “Protect who reports inconvenient truths”, taking place in Rome

Link: Ossigeno per l'informazione

“Press freedom across the world has been deteriorating in recent years, with a clear acceleration in recent months during which hundreds of journalists, photographers and camera operators have been killed, injured, kidnapped, threatened or sued”, according the letter that the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Nils Muižnieks, addressed to Alberto Spampinato, director of Ossigeno per l’Informazione. The commissioner declared his “deepest interest in the topic” of the conference “Protect who reports inconvenient truths” that will take place today 2 July, chaired by Sergio Zavoli and with the participation of the President of the Senate, Pietro Grasso.

“Unfortunately, the many member States, including in the so-called old democracies, still live in a state of denialvis-à-vis these problems. It is necessary to change course. When a journalist is intimidated, attacked or, worse, killed, it is the whole democratic system which is under threat”, the Commissioner added.

“Acknowledging the critical situation is a precondition for any solution. This is why I consider the awareness-raising work carried out by Ossigeno so valuable and worth being supported. Such reliable information is needed to assess the state of the press and take the necessary measures to improve it. The establishment of a pan-European network of national observatories on violence against journalists would greatly help move forward on this issue”.

This publication has been produced within the project European Centre for Press and Media Freedom, co-funded by the European Commission. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso and its partners and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union. The project's page