The safety of journalists is a central field of interest in the Council of Europe, as evidenced in the case law-of the European Court of Human Rights (the Court) and in a number of other initiatives. The European standards relevant to the safety of journalists and other media actors are developed through the case-law of the court. This is done mainly based on case-law relating to Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights on the right to life, Article 3 on the prohibition of torture and Article 10 on freedom of expression.

Considering the constant development of the case-law of the Court and the need of its proper application in the Council of Europe member states, there is a need of proper training of legal professionals in the field of freedom of expression, even more specifically the protection and safety of journalists.

In order to respond to such need, a selected group of lawyers from North Macedonia were trained on protection and safety of journalists during the two-day cascade training, organised on 25-26 March by the joint European Union and Council of Europe action “Freedom of expression and freedom of the media in North Macedonia” (JUFREX), in partnership with the Bar Association of North Macedonia. The lawyers had an opportunity to hear about the European standards, but also about the mechanisms established to enhance protection of the media, journalists and freedom of expression.

One of those mechanisms, launched back in 2015 by the Council of Europe is a platform to promote the protection of journalism and safety of journalists. The platform aims to improve the protection of journalists, better address threats and violence against media actors through targeted policy action, and to foster early warning mechanisms and the capacity for response within the Council of Europe.

In 2016, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe also adopted a Recommendation on the protection of journalism and safety of journalists and other media actors. This recommendation stresses the need for member states of the Council of Europe to comply with the relevant international legal standards. It calls on states to review laws and practices that affect the right to freedom of expression of journalists and other media actors on a regular basis.

During both days of the training, valuable input was provided by the international expert of the Council of Europe and local experts who respectively presented on relevant practice in terms of European standards and the case-law and practice of the domestic courts in North Macedonia. As the first in a set of two cascade trainings on this topic, this type of trainings aims to ensure sustainability of JUFREX action and application of European standards even beyond the lifespan of the action itself.

This training is organised under the Grant Agreement with the Bar Association of North Macedonia within the action on “Freedom of expression and freedom of the media in North Macedonia (JUFREX 2)” . This action is a part of the joint European Union/Council of Europe programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey II”, that enables the Beneficiaries to meet their reform agendas in the fields of human rights, rule of law and democracy and to comply with the European standards, including where relevant within the framework of the EU enlargement process.