Global Conference on Media Freedom in London

London / 11.07.19 / Turan: A two-day international conference on media freedom (Global Conference for Media Freedom), organized by the governments of Great Britain and Canada, started in London on July 10.

Its leitmotiv is the promotion of media freedom around the world, since it is the key to economic development and social welfare of every country.

Freedom of expression is enshrined in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and governments have obligations to respect it.

Official delegations from many countries of the world, representatives of international organizations, journalists, and human rights activists participate in the conference, Turan"s special correspondent in London reports.

Participants expressed concern about the increasing frequency of attacks on journalists and noted the need to increase joint efforts to stop it.

The main thread in the speeches is the idea that no journalist should be persecuted or killed because of his professional activities.

At one of the conference panels, the issue of adopting a new declaration on media freedom was discussed.

As stated by OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Harlem Desir, the new declaration is designed to help solve problems with media freedom in the coming decade.

The topic of discussion on another panel of the forum was the safety and protection of journalists.

During the discussions under the moderation of the Canadian Foreign Minister, a report was made by the representative of Reporters Without Borders in the UK Rebecca Vincent.

She stressed that never before being a journalist was as dangerous as today.

"Currently, there are 340 journalists in prisons around the world," said Vincent.

In the course of discussions on the topic: "Freedom of the media: journalists under threat", human rights lawyer Amal Clooney delivered a report.

"We are going backwards. Over the past 18 months, 100 journalists have been killed. Prisons have a record number of journalists. Journalist Jamal Hashoggi was killed under torture in the Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Turkey. And world leaders only shrug their shoulders," Clooney said.

"I witness in my legal practice the problems faced by journalists. I represented journalists persecuted by their governments for reporting corruption and human rights abuses in Azerbaijan, the Maldives, and Egypt. My Foundation"s Trial Watch initiative controls the harassment of journalists around the world," she said.

In particular, Clooney represents the Azerbaijani journalist Khadija Ismayilova at the ECHR. She was arrested in December 2014 and subsequently sentenced to 7.5 years in prison on charges of economic crimes. She was recognized by Amnesty International as a "prisoner of conscience." In May 2016, her real term was replaced by a conditional sentence. However, foreign travel is prohibited for her and her accounts are blocked.

Her case at the ECHR is conducted by Clooney and Nani Jansen. They believe that the journalist was persecuted because of her disclosures of corruption in the ruling elite of Azerbaijan. -16C-