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Back Ukrainian delegation participated in the Council of Europe Regional Media Forum in Chisinau

The Council of Europe two-days Regional Forum: “Shaping the Narrative: Freedom of Expression in Times of War”, which was held on 6-7 December in Chisinau, the Republic of Moldova, gathered around 100 representatives of the media community, state authorities and civil society from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova, and Ukraine. The event was also dedicated to the Human Rights Day observance and, particularly, to one of the fundamental rights – freedom of expression, guaranteed by Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and enshrined in other international and regional human rights treaties, including the European Convention on Human Rights.

This Forum became a platform for discussions on various matters, in particular:

media regulation, on-going reforms, including compliance of media laws with the Council of Europe standards and EU;
countering information disorder: states’ and civil society’s response to disinformation and propaganda;
ensuring safety and protecting journalists and other media actors: physical and digital safety; new legislative initiatives in this area; building resilient media infrastructure; collecting evidence on crimes against journalists and other media actors.

During the second day of the Forum, country delegations visited the Public broadcaster Teleradio-Moldova and the Audiovisual Council of the Republic of Moldova, where they could learn more about the work, achievements and issues faced by their colleagues, and share their experiences. As an outcome of the meetings, several joint activities were planned for 2024 and to be supported by the Project "Safeguarding Freedom of Expression and Freedom of Media in Ukraine" and other Council of Europe media projects.

Separately, we would like to thank the Embassy of the Netherlands in the Republic of Moldova and personally His Excellency the Ambassador Fred DUIJIN. and his colleague Niels van der TOGT, for the opportunity to visit the World Press Photo exhibition supported by the Embassy and discuss challenges and threats faced by journalists from different countries.

Ukrainian delegations included:

Valentyn KOVAL, First Deputy Chair, National Council of Television and Radio Broadcasting of Ukraine.
Dmytro KARDASH, Head of the Strategic Planning, International Interaction and Communications Department, National Council of Television and Radio Broadcasting of Ukraine.
Mykola CHERNOTYTSKYI, Head of the Management Board, Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine.
Svitlana OSTAPA, Chairperson of the Supervisory Board, Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine.
Valeria KOVTUN, Head of the National Media Literacy Project “FILTER”, Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine.
Marianna PRYSIAZHNIUK, Expert, StopFake.org Project.
Vadym MISKYI, Program Director, Detector Media.
Kateryna DIACHUK, Head of the Freedom of Speech Monitoring Department, Institute of Mass Information.
Danil SERBIN, Media lawyer, National Union of Journalists of Ukraine.

Video about the Forum