Independent, unbiased, sustainable and professional media organisations are vital to the health of every democracy and to empower citizens to exercise their rights, said in a joint statement on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of World Press Freedom Day on 3 May 2013 by representatives of the EU, USA, OSCE and OHR. They underlined that the state of media freedom in Bosnia and Herzegovina remains an important priority of the international community.
They paid tribute to all journalists who strive to exercise their profession in difficult circumstances, and condemn physical, verbal and any other attack on journalists.
“Solidifying the independence of the media in Bosnia and Herzegovina begins with renewed focus on strengthening the independence of all of BiH’s public broadcasting system and the Communications Regulatory Agency. As required by law, we urge institutions to follow through with harmonization of entity-level laws with law at the state level and with setting up the corporate structure for BiH’s public broadcast system. We therefore urge the authorities to consider carefully the legal reviews commissioned by the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media to assist BiH in establishing a media framework that allows for politically and financially independent public service broadcasters and a broadcast regulator”, said the joint statement.
The EU, USA, OSCE and OHR encourage institutions to convincingly address the issue of digitalization so that BiH media can keep pace with media throughout the world.
The EU will continue to measure Bosnia and Herzegovina’s progress toward the EU in the context of the Copenhagen criteria, in particular how well the country follows rule of law principles and ensures professional, independent and unbiased media.
The results of this analysis will be published in the next Progress Report to be issued in October. The OSCE Mission, in collaboration with the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, will stay engaged on these issues to promote full compliance with OSCE media freedom commitments.
The U.S. will continue to follow media freedom issues, including in its annual Human Rights Report, and publicly address issues as developments warrant.
The OHR will continue to follow developments in the sector in terms of their compliance with the Peace Agreement, and the steps taken to implement it.
