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Discussing safety of journalists, examining obstacles to their safe work environment, and sharing and promoting good practices in guaranteeing secure and free work conditions for the media will be the focus of an OSCE conference to be held on 7-8 June in Vilnius.

Safe working conditions for journalists have formed part of OSCE commitments since 1975.  However, harassment and violent attacks against journalists remain a reality across the OSCE region. The conference, co-organized by the Lithuanian OSCE Chairmanship, the Office of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, the OSCE Troika and Ukraine, will provide a forum for representatives from governments, legislators, law enforcement agencies and civil society as well as journalists, to discuss how they should tackle such challenges. Participants also will discuss how to best ensure that journalists can report freely and safely. 

Conference sessions will focus on the role of governments in ensuring the safety of journalists; the contribution of civil society in raising awareness of the role played by the media in enabling public debate; and best practices in legislation, law enforcement practices and judicial instruments to ensure the safety of journalists.

Journalists are invited to all parts of the conference. The working languages of the conference will be English and Russian. Please register via e-mail media@urm.lt or phone (+37 85) 2362458, 2362445.

The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Audronius Ažubalis; Ukrainian Foreign Minister and Chairman of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, Kostyantyn Gryshchenko; OSCE Secretary General Marc Perrin de Brichambaut, and OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Petros Efthymiou are set to speak at the opening session, set to start at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, 7 June, at the Radisson BLU Hotel Lietuva, Konstitucijos pr. 20, Vilnius. The opening session will be followed by keynote speeches, to be delivered by the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatović; Mikhail Fedotov, the Chairman of the Council at the President of the Russian Federation on Development of Civil Society and Human Rights, and Seamus Martin, former international editor of The Irish Times.

A news conference with OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Audronius Ažubalis, and OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović is set to start at 10:15 on 7 June in the Lambda Hall.

The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatović, and the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Thomas Hammarberg, will host a side event between 17:30 and 19:30 on 7 June in the Lambda Hall in Radisson BLU Hotel Lietuva, to discuss protection of journalists from violence.

Another side event - a World Press Photo exhibit organized by the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry and the Dutch Embassy in Lithuania - will be opened at 16:00 on 6 June at Lukiškės Square in Vilnius.