SARAJEVO, 03 May 2020 - On the occasion of the World Press Freedom Day, the OSCE Mission to BiH, Council of Europe, Delegation of the European Union and European Union Special Representative in BiH, Office of the High Representative, United Nations in Bosnia and Herzegovina and embassies of France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom and the United States of America, issue the following statement:
Dear colleagues and friends in the media community,
World Press Freedom Day is a time to reflect on the vital role you have in a democratic society, and especially in an age when technological advances have made it so easy to spread both deliberate disinformation and accidental misinformation.
In this rapidly changing reality, transparency and access to reliable information is key. Enjoyment of the right to health does not only depend on accessible healthcare, but also on the ability of individuals to stay informed via timely and reliable information. Freedom of expression and a robust independent media are key to this, as is the need to counter disinformation. Your pursuit for the truth through accurate and impartial reporting has never been more important than during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Respect for the highest ethical standards is essential to provide the public with information they can trust. We encourage you to keep adhering to these standards.
Allow us to thank you for the important work you do during the current crisis keeping the public informed despite the serious health risks to which you are exposed. We recognize that these are uncertain times that have led to a drop in advertising revenues for many media outlets and have cost some journalists their jobs. This could present a serious threat to media pluralism.
Today, we are also mindful of the other daily safety risks you are exposed to while simply doing your job. Journalists across the country, and in particular female journalists, are often targeted. Many of you receive online threats or are attacked for reporting on corruption, the work of the authorities, and violations of human rights.
This is unacceptable and must not be tolerated.
Threats and attacks against journalists must be subject to effective investigation. Undoubtedly, more needs to be done so you can enjoy a safe and secure working environment, free from risk and political and economic pressures.
We call all authorities in the country to uphold the right to freedom of expression enshrined in Article 10 of the European Convention on human rights and Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, ensure free access to information, and take no measures aimed at barring journalists from the legitimate exercise of their profession. The Covid-19 pandemic cannot be used as an excuse to suppress or to silence critical voices.
COPENHAGEN, 29 April 2020 – OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President George Tsereteli (Georgia) and Secretary General Roberto Montella hosted on Wednesday a video conference with the Assembly’s previous Presidents of the last 15 years. The participants discussed ways the experience and knowledge of former members of the OSCE PA can benefit the work of the Assembly in such challenging times when increased efforts, political leadership and parliamentary oversight are needed.
Tsereteli’s predecessors who took part in the meeting were Christine Muttonen (Austria), Ilkka Kanerva (Finland), Ranko Krivokapic (Montenegro), Wolfgang Grossruck (Austria), Riccardo Migliori (Italy), Petros Efthymiou (Greece), Joao Soares (Portugal), and Goran Lennmarker (Sweden).
Discussions focused on ways and means to exploit the experience and networking capacity of former PA members. There was general agreement about plans to institutionalize a board or a panel of former PA Presidents who can serve as a resource for advice for the OSCE PA.
The participants of the video conference established a Panel of Former Presidents in order to serve as the founders of a future independent structure and to promote plans to create an association of all interested former PA members. The objective of this association will be to support the work of the Assembly as well as broader international efforts of policymakers engaging in parliamentary diplomacy. The former Presidents explored possibilities for adding value to the OSCE PA’s work with strategic forward-looking advice building on important networks built over the years, rather than duplicating the existing structures of the PA.
President Tsereteli underlined that it is important not to lose the value of MPs that are not in office anymore but still have much offer, and also noted an association of former members could have several targets, including supporting and coaching youth approaching the world of politics, as a sort of “centre of excellence.” Secretary General Montella welcomed any initiative that can make use of the pool of former members' experience and passion to remain active and engaged for the public good, which he defined as an extremely useful legacy.
The OSCE PA's International Secretariat will lend support to the founding phase providing a small team led by Deputy Secretary General Ambassador Andreas Nothelle, the OSCE PA’s Special Representative in Vienna.
A goal-oriented dialogue with regular interactions by the two Chief Negotiators is crucial to addressing humanitarian challenges posed by the COVID-19 crisis for the population on both banks, the Head of the OSCE Mission to Moldova, Claus Neukirch, said in his address to the OSCE Permanent Council on 30 April 2020.
Since the launch of the state of emergency in Moldova, the Mission has actively worked to facilitate practical solutions addressing the challenges posed by the COVID-19 crisis for people living in the Security Zone, he told delegations of the OSCE’s 57 participating States. The Mission conducted 30 monitoring visits over the past six weeks and continued its active mediation efforts.
In his regular six-month report to the Permanent Council, the Head of Mission spoke about the initiatives the Mission has undertaken with the Sides to intensify co-operation and co-ordination between left and right bank experts in addressing the pandemic and freedom of movement restrictions which resulted from the quarantine measures. The Mission further monitored the process of importing essential commodities to Transdniestria following the closure of border crossing points at the Transdniestrian segment of the Moldovan-Ukrainian border. While the Sides identified several temporary solutions to improve everyday life of the people on both banks, some issues persist.
In his address, the Head of Mission underlined in particular the impact of freedom of movement restrictions imposed by Tiraspol in response to the pandemic, including in the Security Zone. The Head of Mission reiterated the need for Tiraspol to rethink its current approach and to ensure that people can commute to their place of work, can access health care services, ATMs and other needs.
“Any changes to the regime of the Security Zone require prior approval of the Joint Control Commission,” the Head of Mission reminded. “It is of utmost importance that the restrictions imposed in connection to the pandemic are lifted once the pandemic is under control and that the deployed additional posts and patrols are dismantled.”
Neukirch underlined that the dialogue between the Sides needs to continue - now even more than before the crisis. “The Mission has repeatedly encouraged the Sides to engage in Working Group meetings on urgent COVID-19-related topics through videoconference, most of all of healthcare experts,” stated Claus Neukirch. “The Sides need to exchange relevant data, evaluate existing public health risks and examine all forms of co-operation. Expert meetings on healthcare and other topics related to the current situation, such as banking issues, are important to find workable, mutually agreeable solutions to the benefit of the population. Such meetings will also help to prepare the ground for a substantial 5+2 meeting.”
The Head of Mission also commended the readiness of the Sides to support a technical visit envisaged for the next week by the World Health Organization, together with the Mission, to the left bank.
The OSCE Permanent Council is the principal decision-making body for regular political consultations, and is currently holding its meetings entirely online due to COVID-19-related restrictions.
La direction du quotidien arabophone « Ennahar » a annoncé via un communiqué la suspension de la parution du journal, « après 13 ans d’existence ». En effet, dans un communiqué rendu public, la direction du journal appartenant à la SARL El Athir presse, évoque comme raison de cette suspension, la situation financière difficile que […]
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Written by Giulio Sabbati,
Graphics: Samy Chahri, Lucille Killmayer,
This infographic aims to present the latest available data on migrant flows to the EU in the year 2019. It covers the detection of illegal crossings on the EU’s external borders, numbers of deaths of migrants on those crossings, the number of asylum applications in EU Member States and their decisions on those applications. This Infographic updates and complements previous editions issued in September 2015 (PE 565.905), in April 2016 (PE 580.893), in February 2017 (PE 595.918), in December 2017 (PE 614.604) and in May 2018 (PE 621.862).
Detections of illegal border crossings in the EU (2019)Frontex, the EU border surveillance agency, collects data on detections by national border-control authorities of illegal crossings of the EU’s external borders. External borders are those between Member States and third countries, as well as between Schengen Associated Countries (Norway, Iceland and Switzerland) and third countries.
The map shows the different routes and the number of illegal entries into the EU in 2019 for each route. The line chart shows the number of illegal crossings at six-monthly intervals, and the pie chart the share that each route represents in the total. The four boxes below denote the monthly average number of illegal border crossings for each route. The table shows the top 15 nationalities of migrants
Missing migrants along the Mediterranean migratory routesMissing migrants along the Mediterranean migratory routesThe International Organization for Migration (IOM) carries out the Missing Migrants project, aimed at compiling data on migrants who have died or gone missing, either at the external borders or in the migration process. It excludes, for instance, deaths in refugee camps or during return to a migrant’s homeland, or as a result of labour exploitation. Various sources of data are used such as relevant national authorities, IOM field missions, direct reporting by IOM and other organisations receiving survivors, and media reports. IOM and UNHCR make sure that data are consistent.
Read the complete briefing on ‘Recent migration flows to the EU‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.
Visit the European Parliament page on ‘Migration in Europe‘.
Youcef Belmehdi, le ministre des Affaires religieuses et des Wakfs, a évoqué encore une fois aujourd’hui le 30 avril, le sujet concernant le maintien de la fermeture des mosquées durant le mois de ramadan, en raisons des mesures de précautions prises par le gouvernement Algérien dans le cadre de la lutte contre le nouveau Coronavirus […]
L’article Belmehdi s’exprime à nouveau sur la fermeture des mosquées est apparu en premier sur .
COVID-19 has quickly developed from a global health crisis into a severe economic one. But this may be an opportunity to restructure our economies and channel funds into green investments. Politically informed smart green transformations will prioritize win-wins over costlier reform processes that risk turning into dead ends and make sure as much environmental conditionality as possible is added to the non-green bailouts that will be part of economic recovery packages.
COVID-19 has quickly developed from a global health crisis into a severe economic one. But this may be an opportunity to restructure our economies and channel funds into green investments. Politically informed smart green transformations will prioritize win-wins over costlier reform processes that risk turning into dead ends and make sure as much environmental conditionality as possible is added to the non-green bailouts that will be part of economic recovery packages.