Series of regional seminars on freedom of the media started in Ukraine

KYIV, 18 July 2001 (OSCE) - The OSCE Project Coordinator in Ukraine in co-operation with the Supreme Court of Ukraine (Training Center), the non-governmental organization Khartia-4, and IREX pro Media organized a seminar on 17 July in Luhansk on "Freedom of the Media: International standards and local practice of solving conflicts".

The seminar gathered judges of the oblast (regional) court, journalists and local authorities to hear about judicial resolutions of disputes between oblast media and opponents.

The seminar provided participants with an overview of the current situation in the oblast, discussed the relationship between media and authorities, the approaches practiced in similar cases by international law and differences between the latter and local practice, rights and responsibilities of journalists and questions about improvement of their professional skills.

The seminar was the first of a series of regional seminars on public awareness in the media sphere, which is one of the projects related to freedom of the media that were agreed between the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine earlier this year.

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For further information please contact Gizo Grdzelidze, Senior Project Officer, OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine, tel. +380 44 251 21 56, fax + 380 44 246 88 26, e-mail osce@osce.kiev.ua.