The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) unanimously agreed on the document on protection of journalists, Italian Foreign Minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi said on Friday.
MILAN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th December, 2018) The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) unanimously agreed on the document on protection of journalists, Italian Foreign Minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi said on Friday."After 27 years, the OSCE has now reached the unanimous agreement, it has unanimity on important document on the safety of journalists, on media pluralism. Indeed on the personal physical security of journalists who often run risks in doing their work. Because media freedom is such important value for us it is something we have sort to defend," Milanesi said at the final press conference of the 25th OSCE Ministerial Council in Milan.
Journalists' safety has been a vibrant issue on the international agenda lately.
The detention of Kirill Vyshinsky, the head of the RIA Novosti Ukraine news portal, in Kiev has prompted widespread criticism by journalists' rights groups, which said that such actions were unacceptable in a democratic society.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Vyshinsky's arrest was politically motivated, adding that the incident demonstrated an unprecedented and unacceptable policy of Ukrainian authorities targeting journalists doing their jobs. The Russian Foreign Ministry has lodged protests to Kiev, calling on the incumbent authorities to stop its crackdown on media.
Harlem Desir, the representative on freedom of the media at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), has also expressed his concern over Ukraine's actions toward Vyshinsky and called for the journalist's release, stressing that all OSCE members had pledged to create the necessary conditions to allow journalists to work freely.
A number of EU member states, including Germany and Portugal, have also condemned Kiev's actions.
Another case that has recently made headlines involves Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. He went missing after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2. After weeks of denials, the Saudi chief prosecutor admitted that the US-based Washington Post columnist had been killed inside the diplomatic mission. The Saudi government claims he died as a result of a rogue operation.
