OSCE media freedom representative concludes first visit to the UK

LONDON, 1 December 2017 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Désir today concluded a three-day visit to London in which he discussed the state of freedom of expression and media freedom in the United Kingdom with a broad range of state officials, parliamentarians, stakeholders and civil society representatives. 

During his visit, the Representative raised UK legislation and policies including: section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act; the Investigatory Powers Act; the Data Protection Bill; the Prevent strategy; the Internet Safety Strategy and the proposed Digital Charter. 

Through his meetings, he gathered views pointing to a growing pressure to make intermediaries, particularly social media platforms, responsible for content posted by users or third parties. He also heard about the broad scope of important current parliamentary inquiries on “Fake News” as well as on “Freedom of Speech at Universities”. Furthermore, the future of public interest journalism and media pluralism as a result of economic pressures on media organizations was also discussed. 

Concluding his visit, Désir said: “Notwithstanding the challenges of the online space – including the fast pace of technological change, and the obviously increasing power of Internet companies – and the spread of harmful speech on the Internet – including disinformation, terrorist content and “hate speech” – it is important that states, including the UK with its strong historic commitment to freedom of expression, continue to protect media freedom, as guaranteed by their international human rights obligations and commitments.” 

“My Office will continue to monitor the individual cases and developments in the UK which I discussed during my visit,” he added. “I am encouraged by the level of engagement and expertise of a broad range of individuals across the spectrum of government, Parliament, civil society, practice and academia. I look forward to strengthening my co-operation with all stakeholders in the UK.”

The Representative met with, amongst others: Minister of Justice, David Lidington; Minister of State for the Commonwealth and the UN, Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon; Member of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights, Joanna Cherry; House of Lords Communications Committee member, Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall; Chair of the House of Commons Select Committee on Digital Culture, Media and Sport, Damian Collins. He also met senior officials of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport; the Foreign and Commonwealth Office; and OFCOM, the UK’s communications regulator. Furthermore a roundtable discussion with senior NGO representatives, leading scholars and practitioners was held. 

The Representative also attended the NGO ARTICLE 19’s 30th anniversary celebrations, including the launch of the organization’s pioneering freedom of expression metric (XpA), Expression Agenda, on 30 November 2017. 

“I congratulate ARTICLE 19 for 30 years of outstanding leadership, wish them all the best for their continued work in the OSCE region and globally, and applaud their very useful new tool to assess the state of freedom of expression internationally,” said Désir.

The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media observes media developments in all 57 OSCE participating States. He provides early warning on violations of freedom of expression and media freedom and promotes full compliance with OSCE media freedom commitments. Learn more at www.osce.org/fom, Twitter: @OSCE_RFoM and on www.facebook.com/osce.rfom.