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Your excellences,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Dear colleagues,
I would like to welcome you on behalf of the
Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia and to thank you for
recognizing the importance of this conference and accepting our
invitation to participate in it.
The conference is organized in the framework of
the civil society engagement in the implementation of the OSCE Human
Dimension Commitments (through Civic Solidarity Platform), one of
the leadng network of civil society organizations from OSCE
countries.
This conference would not be possible without the
support of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in
Belgrade.
The goal of the conference is to raise awareness
on how to best promote and bolster freedom of expression and media
pluralism, and counter (self) censorship within of the OSCE area.
The aim is to identify concrete mechanisms to this goal, to explore
which media legislation, policies and practices best contribute to
an open, informed society and accountability of governments.
Freedom of the media and freedom of expression is
in the best interest of the entire society, not just the media and
media organizations. Therefore, representatives of the civil society
are among the conference participants, making this conference
unique. This is a contribution to media pluralism and to finding
mechanisms for participation of the civil society in defining public
interests.
Freedom of expression and freedom of thought are
based on the assumption of a democratic society that allows a free
flow of information in the media and in the public sphere. Article
10 of the European Convention on Human Rights protects the right to
information and opinions that the state is opposed to.
Representative on Freefom of the Media Dunja
Mijatović stated: „Journalists open the processes in many countries,
which may lead to many good or many bad developments. We witnessed
journalism in this area during the ‘90s and I hope that this
remained in the past. Solidarity is important in all of that.”
Our societies are only at the beginning of
achieving freedoms, including the freedom of expression. It is thus
very important for OSCE institutions to recognize that violations to
freedom of expression further violate democratization and pluralism
of our societies, as well as their overall security.
Our colleagues and friends in some OSCE member
states face drastic punishments for saying what the elites do not
want to hear. They are subjects to illegal trials, imprisonment,
threats, violence and murders, while the perpetrators go unpunished.
Rasul Jafarov, Azerbaijani activist who became
known for his campaigns in support of artistic freedom of expression
and political prisoners, today is himself a political prisoner.
In March 2015, the Serbian OSCE Chairmanship
organized a conference in Belgrade in cooperation with the Office of
the OSCE Representative for the Freedom of the Media. The conference
focused on many important media issues, such as safety of
journalists and fighting impunity for violence against journalists.
Propaganda is another important topic for all OSCE
member states, as it encourages hatred and divisions between the
people. I am pleased to say that OSCE defines propaganda as one of
its priorities. One can draw many lessons from the Western Balkans
in this context, not only for the post-conflict societies but also
for transition countries.
Propaganda does not end with the war. Its
consequences are long lasting and far reaching because they have
long-term effect on societal attitudes. Deconstruction of
stereotypes, prejudice and lies that these attitudes are based on is
only possible by beginning the dialogue about causes of conflicts.
Facing the past and legacy of the ‘90s burdens
each country individually, as well as their regional relations. The
media are particularly important in this process, because they often
maintain the atmosphere that prevents the open dialogue. Ethnic
discourse in the media is still dominant and it marginalizes
opinions of the minorities.
The Serbian media certainly have a leading role,
as they relativize and deny Serbia’s responsibility. Marking 20
years since Srebrenica genocide demonstrated once again the power of
media manipulation.
The media are also part of a wider social context,
which is not favorable in the Western Balkans and many other
countries. Post-socialist societies have retraditionalized and many
of them show signs of regression. All of this explains the pressure
of political elites on freedom of expression.
Due to repressive political climate,
self-censorship, conformism and opportunism became the biggest
enemies of the freedom of expression and artistic and academic
freedoms. It is a challenge to protect freedom of expression and the
work of journalists in these countries, in accordance with ethical
and professional standards in the private sector.
Media privatization and transparent ownership of
the media are preconditions for media pluralism. However, they are
followed by some controversies. The model of privatization and
commercialization of the media that was implemented in the poor
economies in the Western Balkans and outside of this region, did not
bring about desired results in media pluralism and improving the
freedom of expression.
Many Western Balkans countries adopted new media
legislation in accordance with the EU standards. However, it became
clear that it is not sufficient to have good legislation, but also
to have the political will and social climate propitious to the
development of the freedom of expression culture.
The case of the B92 media outlet best illustrates
the negative consequences of privatization. All the TV shows that
had an important role in the opening of dialogue in Serbia have been
cancelled. Since a couple of days ago, the informative program of
Radio B92 is no longer broadcasted. During the ‘90s, this radio
station had a missionary role and was one of the Western Balkans’
freedom of expression champions. Radio B92 was founded in 1989 in
very modest conditions. It broadcast the program during war time,
countered non-ethical reporting of the media and nationalism in a
homogenous nationalist environment.
Radio B92 was establishing its credibility for
years and no other media have such influence today.
The discussions at this conference should provide
an important insight into the most pressing issues and to possible
lessons learned. Racism, nationalism, misogyny, homophobia and hate
speech have increased in the offline and online media through the
OSCE area.
In addition to reaffirming the principles of the
protection of freedom of expression in the media, we will also try
to reaffirm the principles relating to academic and artistic
freedoms.
The balance between countering hate speech and
protecting freedom of expression can only be achieved through
reaffirming ethnical and professional standards in the media.
One of the conference results will be
recommendations to OSCE Chairmanship and other OSCE institutions. We
will also work on the recommendations for the Declaration on the
Freedom of Expression, which is being prepared for the Parallel
Civil Society Conference to be held on the eve of the OSCE
Ministerial Council in Belgrade.
Thank you for your attention and I wish you all a
successful conference.
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