A round table on defamation will take place on 31 May 2016 in Baku. The conference will be organised in close cooperation with the Azerbaijani Press Council. The main aim of the round table is to raise awareness on Council of Europe standards and best European practices on defamation and freedom of expression and to provide a platform for open discussions on how to improve the national legislation concerning defamation and journalistic practice in Azerbaijan.

About 50 representatives of state authorities (Presidential Administration,  Milli Majlis, Ombudsman’s Office), academia, media professionals,  representatives of civil society and international organisations will attend the round table. Mr Patrick Penninckx, Head of Information Society Department of the Council of Europe amd Ms Herdis Thorgeirsdottir, Vice President of the Venice Commission will travel to Azerbaijan to participate in this event.

This activitiy takes place within the framework of the joint EU/CoE project “Freedom of Expression and Media Freedom in Azerbaijan”