UNS info

23. 06. 2018.

???source???: UNS

Jan Braathu: EFJ Resolution on Investigation of Murders of Journalists in Kosovo Is Great Success of Journalists’ Community

Head of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo Jan Braathu has visited the Journalists’ Association of Serbia (UNS) today. At a meeting with the UNS Secretary General Nino Brajovic and a journalist of ‘Vesti’ and member of the UNS Board Jelena Petkovic, Braathu inquired about the ‘Dossier 14’, the UNS investigation into murdered and missing journalists in Kosovo and Metohija in the period from 1998 to 2015.

He said that the UNS investigation, carried out according to the highest professional standards, was not only important for the journalistic profession, but it also contributed to the reconciliation process in Kosovo.

Jan Braathu said the safety of journalists was a topic that the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Desir was very committed to and he offered help in facilitating a meeting between the UNS representatives and Harlem Desir so that he could be directly briefed about their investigation.

He said that the UNS investigation prompted many Kosovo and international institutions to place this subject into the focus of their work.

Braathu stressed that he considered a great success of the journalists’ community the fact that the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) had passed the Resolution on Investigation of Murders of Journalists in Kosovo, which was jointly submitted by the Journalists’ Association of Serbia (UNS), Journalists’ Association of Kosovo (AGK), Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia (NUNS) and Journalists’ Union of Serbia (SINOS).

He said that this Resolution would be important for the OSCE work in Kosovo and he expressed his wish to meet EFJ representatives so as to discuss the subject with them as well as the general safety of journalists in Kosovo.

The representatives of UNS stressed the importance of establishing of the commission that would be in charge of investigating the murders of journalists and they voiced their hope such a body would be set up in Kosovo.

Jan Braathu  briefed the UNS representatives about the OSCE campaign ‘Protect Journalists, Protect Freedom of Speech’ that the mission implemented in Kosovo and he underlined the importance of raising the awareness in the Kosovo society about the vulnerability of journalists and media.

Head of the Office of Political Affairs and Communications of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo Senad Sabovic also attended the today’s meeting.

OSCE Action Aimed at Increasing Safety of Journalists in Kosovo By billboards and graphics at facades containing the images of famous Kosovar journalists who have been physically attacked and exposed to threats, the OSCE Mission in Kosovo started a campaign of informing the public about the importance of journalists’ safety in Kosovo. The billboard campaign also includes a photograph of the editor of Radio Gorazdevac and a long-term member of UNS Darko Dimitrijevic. The campaign was launched in 2017 by TV clips in which journalists, who were exposed to intimidation, threats or physical attacks, spoke. Altogether 28 threats and physical attacks on journalists were reported in 2017 in Kosovo and Metohija.