Lithuania delivered national statement at the Stockholm Conference on Media Freedom in the OSCE Region
On May 18-19, the 2021 Stockholm Conference on Media Freedom in the OSCE Region, co-organized by the OSCE Swedish Chairpersonship-in-Office and the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, is taking place. The conference provides an opportunity to examine and discuss the implementation of OSCE participating States’ commitments on the right to freedom of opinion and expression and media freedom. It also allows to share best practices and address challenges regarding media freedom in the OSCE region.
During the first session of the Conference, Lithuania's representative highlighted the most dire situations that present itself when state authorities undertake deliberate actions to repress free media and when they specifically target independent journalists in order to supress any critical voice. Such situations are driving journalists and other media actors to work underground, force them into exile or abandon journalism altogether.
Lithuania has been offering support to threatened individuals, especially journalists, by providing protection and political asylum, mostly those from Belarus and Russia. Still, such solution as getting asylum and protection in foreign country should not be a permanent one. The representative of Lithuania has also stressed, that all countries should implement their undertaken commitments and ensure that journalists be able to perform their work in their own countries safely, independently, and without undue interference or influence.
Full text of the statement by Lithuania can be found here.
During the conference, Group of Friends on Safety of Journalists’, co-chaired by Lithuania, also made its statement that can be found here.
