Thursday, May 21 2015 09:24

The first Eastern Partnership (EaP) Media Conference started in Riga on May 20.

 

The principle of serving the truth is the biggest problem in the media, said  the participants  of the Conference.

 

President of the Club of Madrid, former President of Latvia Vaira Vike-Freiberga pointed out that this problem is more clearly seen in the countries that are controlled by oligarchs.

 

According to her, the economic and political dependence of the media creates a serious threat to the establishment and development of democracy, the pillar of which is the freedom of speech.

 

Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Nils Muiznieks, said that 2014 was bad for human rights and the media, but 2015 shows even worse results.

 

The three Eastern Partnership countries - Armenia, Azerbaijan and Belarus, the deterioration of freedom of journalism in Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova marked a partial lack of freedom, said OSCE Special Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatovic.

 

She especially highlighted Azerbaijan, where the  Office of the Radio "Liberty" was closed,  and  more than a dozen journalists and bloggers are under arrest, and the head of the Institute for Reporters Freedom and Safety Emin Huseynov is hiding from persecution at the Swiss embassy in Baku.

 

"We need to call a spade a spade, and stop cooperation with countries that violate human rights," strictly said Mijatovic.

 

Vaira Vike-Freiberga noted that at the Riga summit of Eastern Partnership  are taking part the leaders of state that are experiencing serious problems with freedom of the media. "This is a good opportunity to find through dialogue  a solution to a number of problems in the sphere of freedom of speech," she said.