Ombudsman: Threats, Physical Attacks, Obstruction of Journalists' Security in Kosovo

The World Press Freedom Day ombudsman has considered growing cases of threats, physical attacks, security violations, and the prevention of free professional exercise to be disturbing.

The ombudsman through a statement to the media, in the ongoing confrontations that journalism has along its development process, respect for media freedom and media pluralism, are also an irreplaceable dimension to rights and other guaranteed freedoms.

“Independence and professionalism in journalism ensure transparency and responsibility on issues of general interest and at the same time sensationalise the citizen for activism and co-operation in social, economic, cultural and political processes. The nature of work knows to make journalists the target of threats or attacks, which makes it difficult to operate effectively media in distributing information. Verbal or physical attacks on journalists, threats through social networks or in any other form violate constitutional rights for media freedom and freedom of expression, and alert the fragility of the functioning of democracy and rule of law in the country. Authorities have the constitutional obligation to ensure the protection and security needed for journalists, in fulfilling their role, as they are forced for non-intervention in media work, transparency and permission of access to official information and documents, as essential components of media freedom realism, freedom of expression and information respectively. In this context, the ombudsman considers rising cases of threats, physical attacks, security violations, and the prevention of free practice of profession to be disturbing. Despite the cases when police and prosecutors have carried out their job in identifying the heads of deeds against journalists and having prosecuted them further into the organs of the justice system, the ombudsman draws attention to the impunity of cases when journalists are attacked, threatened or unable to do the work, which affects the unsafe environment for media work and indirectly paves the way for journalists and media self-conception. Also, journalists' continuing difficulties with access to information and official documents pose consistent concern over the years. Given the redefining of the media in the era of internet and social networks and with each one's ability to turn into a source of information, the ombudsman shows concern over the threats of public links to statements and opinions and considers them a threat to the joy of freedom of expression within its guaranteed borders. Public discussion developed separately in recent months has made it difficult to cultivate a democratic culture of thought-building and ideas, through which the defence foundation and respect of other guaranteed rights and freedoms is strengthened, the Lawyer's statement said.

In this spirit, the ombudsman calls for free flow of thought, speech and information and for reflection and insight in the face of otherwise expressed thoughts, considering them essential values of democracy, as a system Kosovo has embraced as a state.