OSCE fosters police-media dialogue in Azerbaijan

MINGACHEVIR, Azerbaijan, 3 March 2010 - A roundtable discussion organized by the OSCE Office in Baku to promote police-media dialogue in Azerbaijan started in Mingachevir today. 

Officers of the Mingachevir police, local media representatives and officials of the Interior Ministry are discussing how to improve relations between the media and law-enforcement agencies.

"I hope that this dialogue will help Azerbaijani police and the local media exchange information and views, as well as give them an opportunity to seek ways to resolve concerns and encourage better co-operation," said John MacGregor, the Politico-Military Programme Manager of the OSCE Office in Baku.

The event is organized together with the Journalists in Extreme Conditions public union, which will help the OSCE Office by publishing interviews with police officers and journalists, thus raising awareness of actual problems in police-media relations.

A competition for print media on the positive changes and the impact of police reforms in Azerbaijan is also planned.

In addition, the OSCE Office will organize training sessions for journalists and police on the rights and obligations of both groups, professional codes of conduct and related international best practices.

The next roundtable discussions will take place in Sheki on 4 March, and Lenkaran on 12 March. The Office organized similar events in 2008 and 2009.