{"id":227,"date":"2013-11-08T18:34:01","date_gmt":"2013-11-08T18:34:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/?p=227"},"modified":"2013-11-08T18:34:01","modified_gmt":"2013-11-08T18:34:01","slug":"happy-15th-birthday-to-osces-rfom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/happy-15th-birthday-to-osces-rfom\/","title":{"rendered":"HAPPY 15TH BIRTHDAY TO OSCE\u2019S RFOM!"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Office of the OSCE\u2019s Representative on Freedom of the Media (RFOM), the Vienna-based inter-governmental media watchdog, is celebrating its 15th<\/sup> anniversary this month.<\/p>\n

The Representative on Freedom of the Media was established in December 1997, in order to ensure compliance with media freedom commitments agreed by then 55 participating states, some of which still have the worst record for violations of freedom of expression and journalists\u2019 safety.<\/p>\n

The OSCE works by consensus. Since human rights, freedom of speech and democracy promotion are not usually the priorities of all member states, RFOM\u2019s mandate often seems an impossible one to achieve. Nevertheless, interventions by RFOM have been an important factor in upholding and promoting free expression and the safety of journalists even if they are not legally binding.<\/p>\n

The RFOM\u2019s formidable moral force comes from the three representatives that have occupied the Office so far.<\/p>\n

Freimut Duve of Germany was the first RFOM, appointed in 1998. Mr Duve laid the foundations for the RFOM\u2019s principled stand on media freedom advocacy.<\/p>\n

He was succeeded by Miklos Haraszti of Hungary in March 2004.<\/p>\n

A courageous human rights activist as well as a leading literary and political figure in transformation of Hungary in the 1990\u2019s, Haraszti became an outspoken champion of freedom and safety of journalism throughout the OSCE region.<\/p>\n

I have witnessed his tireless, passionate and highly diplomatic efforts first hand during his tenure in office.<\/p>\n

I have also seen the difference his interventions made to the beleaguered journalists in Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan among others. At times, he was their only beacon of hope.<\/p>\n

I admired him hugely for speaking out, defending the right to free speech, during the Danish Cartoon Controversy of 2005, when very few dared to do so.<\/p>\n

“I understand the sensitivities of those who feel their traditions have been slighted by these cartoons. But the right to question all beliefs is itself a cherished tradition in democratic countries. When respect for traditions is recommended, it should be mutual. What many of the demonstrators, and some governments, demand is State interference into the work of the media. This action would contradict the core commitments of the 55 OSCE participating States\u201d he said at the time, adding: “The OSCE stands by responsible journalism, but we believe that governments are no agents in this business<\/i>\u201d.<\/p>\n

In January 2007, he condemned the murder of Hrant Dink in Turkey in the strongest language, saying \u201c”Those who commit violence against journalists cannot be allowed to do so with impunity. Therefore, I call upon the Turkish authorities to track down those responsible as quickly as possible<\/i>\u201d.<\/p>\n

In June 2009, Miklos Haraszti wrote to Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu about charges against journalist Nedim Sener for his investigative book on the murder of t Hrant Dink, “Sener is prosecuted in defiance of freedoms that both OSCE commitments and Council of Europe standards grant to critical publications. What he did was critically assess the events leading up to Hrant Dink’s murder, and the deficiencies afterwards in the handling of the case and in the prosecution of the perpetrators<\/i>. Justice must not be degraded into an act of revenge by the criticized authorities<\/i>,” he said. .<\/p>\n

Miklos Haraszti would have been a hard act to follow but \u00a0Dunja Mijatovic of Bosnia and Herzegovina who succeeded him in March 2010 has proved to be just as formidable and outspoken an advocate for freedom of the media and expression.<\/p>\n

Mijatovic and her 15-strong team of highly capable staff follow developments in Turkey closely. In June this year, during the Gezi protests, RFOM warned Turkish authorities that detentions and intimidation of journalists were endangering the right to free expression. She expressed concern over indiscriminate use of water cannon and tear gas and called for release of Turkish and international journalists and bloggers.<\/p>\n

In August, she criticised jail sentences handed out to journalist Tuncay \u00d6zkan, \u00a0Mustafa Balbay, Hikmet \u00c7i\u00e7ek, Mehmet Haberal, Yal\u00e7in K\u00fc\u00e7\u00fck, Turhan \u00d6zlu, Erg\u00fcn Poyraz and Deniz Yildirim, saying:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe damage of today\u2019s verdicts on free expression and media freedom in Turkey is immeasurable. I reiterate my call to the authorities for urgent and fundamental legislative reforms to improve media freedom, as well as the transparent and swift trial of all imprisoned journalists<\/i>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just a few days ago, on 5th<\/sup> November, she warned about severe sentences handed out to four journalists, F\u00fcsun Erdo\u011fan, Bayram Namaz, Ibrahim \u00c7i\u00e7ek and\u00a0 Sedat \u015eeno\u011flu.<\/p>\n

15 years on, with a worsening climate of physical violence, intimidation and censorship, the work of the Representative on Freedom of\u00a0 the Media is just as relevant as it was 15 years ago.<\/p>\n

I was one of the speakers at the 2008 special event in Vienna to mark the 10th<\/sup> anniversary of the RFOM.\u00a0 It was dedicated to \u201cPresent and future challenges to media freedom and free expression in the OSCE region.\u201d My speech, which was later published here at http:\/\/www.osce.org\/fom\/33424<\/a> was about the media situation in Turkey and the Caucasus.\u00a0 Afterwards, I was severely and rudely criticised by the Turkish diplomat present. Re-reading what I said on 29 February 2008 makes me despair that all four countries that I spoke about then are in an even worse place today.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, recent conflicts have been taking their toll on our fellow journalists.\u00a0 Radical changes that came with the digital age are presenting previously unknown dilemmas and dangers.\u00a0 Trying to uphold media freedoms, safety of journalists and encouraging high ethical standards in media are monumental tasks.<\/p>\n

I can only thank the RFOM for the passionate defence of media freedoms in its first 15 years and congratulate everyone, past and present, for their role in it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Office of the OSCE\u2019s Representative on Freedom of the Media (RFOM), the Vienna-based inter-governmental media watchdog, is celebrating its 15th anniversary this month. The Representative on Freedom of the Media was established in December 1997, in order to ensure compliance with media freedom commitments agreed by then 55 participating states, some of which still […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[4],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}