EU-funded “Strengthening Media Freedom” project, supporting the efforts of the Serbian Government in the harmonisation of the legal framework governing the media sector and in the enhancement of the competences of journalists and media professionals, has recently organised two tailor-made seminars for over thirty media professionals, regulators and ethnic minority representatives.
Seminars covered hate speech, as a form of discrimination from the points of view of the Serbian legislation, European media freedom standards, and the case-law of the European Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights. The training programmes were held at the Ministry of Culture and Information in connection with the Action Plan related to Chapter 23 of Serbia’s accession negotiations for EU membership.
Kruna Savović, Živković Samardžić Technology, Media and Telecommunications Senior Associate presented concrete cases from Serbian courts and the European Court of Human Rights. She addressed the application of Article 10 of the European Convention of Human rights and the balancing required between the protection of freedom of speech and the protection of other important public values and interests.
List of lecturers, besides Kruna, included Saša Gajin, human rights professor at the Union University in Belgrade Faculty of Law and Marcel Betzel, Policy Advisor with the Commissariaat voor de Media (the Dutch Media Authority) and “Strengthening Media Freedom” project’s senior media law expert.
Full report is posted on the project’s web site.
