Follow-up to freedom of the media

Reply to Written question | Doc. 12466 | 17 January 2011

Author(s):

Committee of Ministers

Origin

adopted at the 1102nd meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies (12 January 2011) 2011 - First part-session

Reply to Written question

: Written question no. 569 (Doc. 11953)

Thesaurus

1. On 13 January 2010, the Committee of Ministers adopted a Declaration on measures to promote the respect of Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, in which it underlines that “the promotion of the respect of Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights is […] a priority area for Council of Europe action. It requires the active support, engagement and co-operation of all member states.” In this context, the Committee of Ministers also took note of the proposals of the Steering Committee on the Media and New Communication Services (CDMC) for enhancing the means available to the Council of Europe to promote respect of freedom of expression and media freedoms in the member states. [(1) Document CM(2009)175, Appendix III.]

2. In line with those proposals, the Secretary General is considering arrangements for enhanced co-ordination between the secretariats of the different Council of Europe bodies and institutions, without prejudice to their respective mandates and to their independence.

3. The Committee of Ministers underlines that the European Court of Human Rights has been seized with numerous complaints relating to different aspects of media freedom and that an important case law has developed in response. The Committee of Ministers is attentively supervising the execution by respondent states of all judgments finding violations of the European Convention on Human Rights, as evidenced notably by its annual reports on its supervision activity, to ensure that necessary measures are adopted to remedy the violations. The Committee expects that the current efforts to improve the domestic implementation of the European Convention on Human Rights following the Interlaken Conference and the 120th Session of the Committee of Ministers, will also assist in enhancing in all member states the knowledge about the Convention system and the Court’s case law, including in the field of freedom of expression, freedom of information and freedom of assembly to which the Honourable Parliamentarian makes reference.

4. Finally, the Committee of Ministers recalls that it has offered the Council of Europe’s assistance with preparing necessary legislative reforms in member states. A number of assistance activities have been and are being carried out in order to assist member states with the alignment of their domestic law and practice with the requirements of Articles 10 and 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights.