Back Amending the Criminal Code in North Macedonia to enhance the safety of journalists

Amending the Criminal Code in North Macedonia to enhance the safety of journalists

The amendments to the Criminal Code of North Macedonia were discussed in a webinar with representatives from the Ministry of Justice and professional journalists, lawyers, prosecutors as well civil society representatives. This is the first of a set of two webinars being organised in the framework of the EU and Council of Europe joint action on “Freedom of Expression and Freedom of the Media (JUFREX)” aiming to discuss with key actors in the field how to advance freedom of expression and provide stronger protection for journalists in North Macedonia.

The Minister of Justice, Mr Bojan Maricic, addressed the audience via video link emphasizing the importance of this event and exchange of experience and knowledge gathered that will contribute to the upcoming consultation process that will be led by the Ministry of Justice and that will address the amendments to the Criminal Code. He confirmed the efforts of the authorities in North Macedonia to invest in the protection of all human rights, particularly the right to freedom of expression, where the safety of journalists as ‘watchdogs of the democracy’ remains a priority. The new criminal offences against journalists will enable safer environment for them professionally and privately and the increasement of the sanctions will adequately address the potential attacks.

Mr Patrick Penninckx, Head of Information Society Department, Council of Europe, confirmed that promoting a favourable environment for media freedom, supporting journalists in their work and enhancing their safety are high on the Council of Europe agenda. He referred to the important tools that the Council of Europe has produced in view of safeguarding the media freedom and ensuring safety of journalists, such as the CM/Rec(2016)4 Recommendation and the corresponding guide to its implementation, as well as the new HELP online course on protection and safety of journalists. He pointed out that the webinar offered timely opportunity to discuss issues of implementation of the Criminal Code in North Macedonia and possibly identify those aspects and areas where its provisions could and would provide stronger guarantees for the journalists and journalism. Special attention shall be paid to women journalist which are lately bigger target in person an online, mentioning the case of the Daphne Anne Caruana who was brutally killed because she was doing her job and the authorities did not managed to protect her nor her work.

The President of the Association of journalists, Mr Mladen Chadikovski, in his addressing elaborated on the extensive efforts the Association is making in ensuring that it is not allowed journalists to be easy targets and that the impunity for crimes against journalists stops. He also emphasized the importance of the safety of journalists on the field and in the judicial procedures through a practical example of an unsolved cases of attacks against journalists. The current number of attacks against journalist for this year is 14, from which only one was resolved.

After the brief presentations of the relevant experts, including the international expert from the Council of Europe who elaborated on international standards that guarantee safety of journalists, a fruitful discussion developed among the relevant stakeholders enabling further an open dialog that will support North Macedonia in reinforcing a truly favourable legal environment for journalism and journalists.

The main findings and conclusions of this meeting will be presented in an article to be published on the web site of the Association of Journalists of Macedonia – znm.org.mk.

This thematic webinar was organised under the EU & Council of Europe joint action “Freedom of Expression and Freedom of the Media in North Macedonia (JUFREX)” in cooperation with the partner organisation Association of Journalists of Macedonia (AJM).

JUFREX Action is part of the “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey II”, a joint EU and Council of Europe programme implemented by the Council of Europe, which aims at assisting Beneficiaries in the Western Balkans region and Turkey to comply with the Council of Europe standards and European Union acquis in the framework of the enlargement process, where relevant.

 

North Macedonia 24 October 2020
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Horizontal Facility III

Zajednički program Evropske unije i Savjeta Evrope „Horizontal Facility za Zapadni Balkan i Tursku“ (Horizontal Facility III) je inicijativa za saradnju, koja traje od 2023. do 2026. godine.

U okviru programa aktivnosti će se sprovoditi u u Albaniji, Bosni i Hercegovini, na Kosovu*, u Crnoj Gori, Sjevernoj Makedoniji, Srbiji i Turskoj. Pod okriljem programa se pruža podrška korisnicima u ispunjavanju reformskih agendi u oblastima ljudskih prava, vladavine prava i demokratije i usklađivanju sa evropskim standardima, što je prioritet u procesu proširenja EU.

Ukupan budžet treće faze programa je 41 milion eura (85% finansira Evropska unija, 15% Savjet Evrope).

Ova veb stranica je izrađena uz finansijsku podršku Evropske unije i Savjeta Evrope. Sadržaj ni u kom slučaju ne predstavlja zvanične stavove Evropske unije ni Savjeta Evrope.

*Ovaj naziv je bez prejudiciranja statusa, i u skladu je sa Rezolucijom Savjeta bezbjednosti Ujedinjenih nacija 1244 i mišljenjem Međunarodnog suda pravde o Deklaraciji o nezavisnosti Kosova.