The Council of Europe deplores an "erosion" of press freedom on the continent

Fifteen partner organizations of the Platform to strengthen the protection and safety of Council of Europe journalists published a report on Wednesday.

This shows that the number of alerts communicated to this platform concerning serious threats to press freedom in the Council's member states "increased from 200 in 2020 to 282 in 2021, which represents an increase of 41% ", according to a press release.

Ms Pejcinovic Buric "in particular pointed out that journalists have recently been targeted by the Russian army in the ongoing aggression against Ukraine, which has cost the lives of several of them. She reminded governments that they have an obligation to take measures to protect journalists, including in times of war,” the Council of Europe press release continued.

"Today in Europe, freedom of expression and freedom of the press face many obstacles. While partial improvements are recorded in some countries, the general trend is towards the erosion of these freedoms. In these times of crisis, marked by the ever-present Covid-19 pandemic and the violence raging in Ukraine, we must redouble our efforts to defend the vital principles for our democracies of freedom of expression and independence of the press", underlined the Secretary General.

Last year, six journalists died while exercising their profession in Europe, four of whom were deliberately targeted, further recalls the Council of Europe, watchdog of human rights on the continent.

The latter also reports 82 cases of attacks on the safety and physical integrity of journalists, often during demonstrations against measures to combat Covid-19, an increase of 51%.

And in 2021, 26 cases of attacks against journalists remained unpunished and 56 journalists were in prison.

The report further points to the rise in cases of judicial intimidation, with increasingly frequent recourse to defamation proceedings, to silence the media.

Finally, the Platform's partners regret that Council of Europe member States only responded to a third of the alerts published on the Platform in 2021.

© 2022 AFP