MS. Mr. Chair, dear Ministers, Ambassadors and delegates,

I would like to share the following statement on behalf of the Informal Group of Friends of the Safety of Journalists, namely: Austria, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and my own country, France.

The following countries aligned themselves with the statement: (22) Albania, Andorra, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Iceland, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Luxemburg, Malta, Moldova, North Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Slovenia, Switzerland, Ukraine.

The nomination of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media (RFOM) is crucial to giving a voice and leadership to this key issue. We believe there is no genuine security without media freedom, and no media freedom without journalists being able to carry out their work safely and freely. The RFOM and the Representative’s office help participating States fulfill their commitments, provide essential advice and guidance, and support the work of national and international media associations and Civil Society Organizations. We also expect the RFOM to fulfill the early warning and rapid response function of their mandate in cases of serious non-compliance with our shared commitments in respect of freedom of expression, including in respect of protection of members of the media.

When it comes to media freedom, we face a deteriorated landscape with regret and profound concern. Many journalists within the OSCE region are exercising their essential function at risk to their wellbeing, their personal freedom, and even their lives, not least in Ukraine, due to Russia’s war of aggression. As pressure on journalists is often an early sign of a broader deterioration of the human rights situation, we expect the RFOM to continue to speak out for free, independent and pluralistic media as they face increased challenges and threats.

As stressed earlier, Russia’s unprovoked and unjustifiable war of aggression against Ukraine has directly impacted media freedom and the safety of journalists. Russia’s escalation of hostilities and its abuses in Ukraine continue unabated. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the IMI - Institute of Mass Information has recorded that at least 93 journalists have been killed. At least 112 Ukrainian and foreign journalists have been detained or taken hostage by Russian forces to date. At least 30 journalists and media professionals remain among the Ukrainian political prisoners held in Russia. 

The latest fatality, 27-year-old Ukrainian national, Victoria Roshchyna, died in Russian custody on September 19, 2024, after having been unjustly detained in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. In these territories, Russia uses arbitrary detention and threats to target journalists as part of a wider campaign to intimidate the population and to silence activists, as noted in the Moscow-Mechanism report of April 2024.

Furthermore, State disinformation, information manipulation and censorship in Russia and Belarus as well as the systemic and daily repression of independent media have reached unprecedented levels, resulting in the closure of most independent media organizations and a media space largely subject to the State apparatus. We call on both Russia and Belarus to immediately and unconditionally release all political prisoners, including those held by Russia in temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories. Among them, there are journalists and other media actors: at least 63 individuals in Russia, and 36 in Belarus.

We are also worried by the continuing deterioration of media freedom in some other participating States, including where limitations on media freedom are falsely presented as safeguards for national security. In such cases, governments claim such concerns only as a pretext to suppress dissenting voices relayed by the independent media and as a way to strengthen state control over information spaces, including by blocking websites, curtailing access to VPN services and social media platforms and restricting access to telecommunication networks. We condemn the excessive use of force by law enforcement against peaceful protestors, including journalists covering protests, in Georgia, and urge Georgia to fully uphold its OSCE commitments to media freedom and the safety of journalists, as well as the right to peaceful assembly. We are equally concerned by the continuous wave of State-sponsored disinformation and malign interference which targets our free and open societies. These malign activities seek to undermine our core institutions, in particular election processes, and the very conditions for open and transparent debate. We also witness an intensification of intimidation and violence against journalists and media actors, on and off-line – and often specifically targeting women – as well as through SLAPPS and surveillance activities. All this with the aim of silencing their voices. Malign actors are misusing new technologies, including artificial intelligence, which are being harnessed for disinformation campaigns and repressive purposes.

MS. Mr. Chair, dear Ministers, Ambassadors and delegates, we believe this alarming situation deserves the special attention of the participating States. Our commitments to uphold freedom of the media, freedom of expression and opinion, which we have taken collectively and nationally, are at stake.