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Back The Council of Europe's Journalists Matter Campaign has released its 2024 leaflet

The Council of Europe's Journalists Matter Campaign has released its 2024 leaflet, highlighting the updates and achievements in the ongoing mission to protect the safety of journalists.

The Council of Europe officially launched the five-year “Journalists Matter” Campaign for the Safety of Journalists in October 2023, in Riga. 2024 is the year dedicated to the Protection pillar of the Council of Europe’s Recommendation CM/Rec(2016)4, focusing on the safety of journalists and other media actors.

In the Council of Europe Journalists Matter Campaign’s 2024 leaflet the following progress was showcased:

38 Campaign Focal Points appointed across member States;
23 domestic coordination structures for journalists’ safety (15 created since the Campaign’s launch);
7 existing national Action Plans (2 since the Campaign's launch);
Expanded efforts in media literacy, journalist safety trainings, and awareness campaigns;
A series of events including the seminar on police co-operation for protecting journalists; the annual conference on multistakeholder approaches to journalists’ safety, and others.

As for Ukraine, the following activities have been so far implemented with the assistance of the Council of Europe Project “Safeguarding Freedom of Expression and Freedom of Media in Ukraine” (SFEM-UA):

The Launch of the Council of Europe Campaign for the Safety of Journalists “Journalists Matter”. Ukraine became the first among the Council of Europe member states to do so
The establishment of the Coordination Committee for the Campaign Implementation in Ukraine at the Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications of Ukraine. It is composed of 32 members, representing public officials, media and civil society organisations, and team member of the SFEM-UA project
The Coordination Committee for the Campaign Implementation in Ukraine organised two meetings with its’ members on 24 April and 28 August
Action plan for the implementation of the Campaign in Ukraine was elaborated and adopted by the members of the Coordination Committee for the Campaign Implementation in Ukraine
A separate Decree demanding the international organisations to assist the release of the Ukrainian journalists detained by Russian Federation was adopted by Ukrainian Parliament
The advocacy campaign for the further actions by European parliaments and motion for a PACE resolution to free Ukrainian journalists held in captivity by the Russian Federation was launched at the ALDE side event on 26 June during the PACE summer session
The round table on the topic of strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) was organised
National focal point Ganna Krasnostup participated in many national and international events and presented results and discussed further activities in terms of the Action plan for the implementation of the Council of Europe Campaign for the Safety of Journalists “Journalists Matter” in Ukraine
The SFEM_UA Project continue to cover activities related to Gongadze case