newsitems Venice Commission's President, Prof. Helgesen to EuroFora : Human Rights Defenders need protection
Venice Commission's President, Prof. Helgesen to EuroFora : Human Rights Defenders need protection
Venice Commission's President, Professor Jan Helgelsen from Norway, replying to "EuroFora"'s questions.
Therefore, CoE's prestigious Legal Experts' body might undertake to make a Study on this issue covering all its 47 MemberStates, including on the implementation of ECHR's case-law on States' obligation to protect Journalists working on Human Rights' issues and/or fully investigate their murders in order to prevent similar cases in Future, Helgelsen accepted responding positively to "EuroFora"s query.
A decade later, the issue was recently taken up in Europe by CoE's Commissioner on Human Rights, Thomas Hammarberg, strongly supported by a 2009 Resolution adopted by CoE's Assembly on a Report by German ChristianDemocrat MEP, Holger Haibach.
- "As a Human Rights Professor, I think that even today, after a Decade, it's important : You can see that Human Rights Defenders' rights are violated in several parts of the World, so it's still an on-going issue, that I wouldn't exclude to Study in Future on the relations of Governments to Human Rights Defenders"
- Because "it's not only in Totalitarian regimes that you can find that. You can find it also in Democracies" : "There is an interesting conflict between Democracy and rule of Law : More and more Governments, even in Democracies, are really treating Human Rights Defenders harshly, because they claim that Human Rights Defenders tarnish Democracy".
But, "Venice Commission is based on 2 Pillars : Democracy and Rule of Law. And we (CoE) always say that both pillars are equally important. We (CoE) cannot accept that a Democracy violates Human Rights or Minorities' rights".
- "Human Rights' Defenders are close to my Heart... I was, indeed drafting this Declaration at the UN for years", and, even if Venice Commission has not yet specifically done anything in this field, I wouldn't exclude to take this issue on the Agenda for a Report", Helgelsen concluded.
Venice Commission's readiness to extend such studies to all CoE Member States and not only to former "Eastern" European Countries, as in the past, was confirmed also by the experienced Director of its Secretariat, Gianni Buquicchio of Italy :
- "When Venice Commission started, back in 1989, it was conceived to serve all European Countries. But soon Berlin wall fell down, and a huge area opened to help Eastern European Countries' constitutional reforms. However, its competence covers not only Constitutions, but also Elections, Constitutional Justice, Solutions to conflicts, Human Rights, etc", Often "at the invitation of the EU or UNO", whenever needed; fex. in frozen conflicts, we intervene on the sidelines of political negotiations. And recently we dealt also with old democracies such as Finland, the UK, Belgium, etc. but also Turkey.
- Thus, "we (CoE) could do a Study on such kind of issues too", replied Buquicchio to another "EuroFora" Question on the need to ensure efficient investigations on a series of murders of Journalists working on Human Rights, particularly when ECHR has already issued judgements condemning certain States, as f.ex. on Gongadze's case in Ukraine, on Newspaper "Ozger Ozgur"'s staff in Turkey, and on dissident Turkish Cypriot Adali's case in the Turkish-Occupied Territories of Cyprus.
But while in Gongadge's case CoE's Committee of Ministers still keeps a pressure on Ukranian Authorities to find and punish also those who had asked for the murder, well beyond the condemnation of 2 executors to 10 Years of Jail, on the contrary, on Adali's case, sheduled for June, it reportedly has proposed to ... "postpone" anew its examination, from March to June, and now from June to September 2009, surprisingly without giving even the slightesst information on what is going on...
Adali's murder case, in the Past, had been "stuck" also previously, pending
for a too long time inside ECHR's secretariat, but was "unblocked" also after "EuroFora" informed New York based "Committee to Protect Journalists" (CPJ) who called upon ECHR to really examine the case, despite obstacles and harassment denounced by the Victims' Wife, Ilkay, who visited twice Strasbourg.
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ECHR's President to "EuroFora" on Journalists Gongadze and Adali murders : Principles must apply to all States, without discrimination.
+ ECHR's Statistics on Freedom of Expression (See below).
European Court of Human Rights' President, Jean-Paul Costa, questioned by "EuroFora" on Journalists' murders, as in Gongadze and Adali's cases etc., strongly stressed all CoE Member States' obligation to make efficient Investigations to find and punish those responsible, and underlined that ECHR's case-law's principles must apply to all without any discrimination.
His call was clearly supported by various Top MEPs who denounced a risk of "Double Standards" if some Journalists' murders are investigated, while others don't.
To avoid such risks, CoE's Parliamentary Assembly adopted a Resolution, on the occasion of Ukranian Journalist Gongadze's murder, "stressing", as a matter of general Principle, "the importance it attaches to the safety of Journalists and political activists, especially those linked to opposition groups, in ALL member states of the CoE". All "crimes against journalists and political activists must be investigated ... as a matter of priority, without political interference".
Costa was replying to "EuroFora"s question on the fact that, after CoE's Committee of Ministers, also CoE's Assembly had just adopted a Resolution on Gongadze murder case, based on an ECHR's judgement of 2005, asking a full Investigation from Ukraine, who has found and condemned in 10 years of jail 2 executants, but not yet the instigators.
While nothing similar was yet done for dissident Turkish Cypriot Kutlu Adali's murder, with 5 bullets shot at his head out of his Family's home in the territories of Cyprus occupied by Ankara's army, despite another ECHR's judgement of the same year 2005, and despite Turkey's claim that nobody was found among those responsible for the murder, and that there was nothing more to do..
In order to be credible and efficient, CoE's mechanisms shouldn't find a way to at least ask for full investigations of all Journalists' murders anywhere they might be committed, without exceptions ?
- "On the larger question that you raised, I'd like to say, since we are in a period of stock-taking on ECHR's 50 Years, that the Court's case-law developed certain concepts ....such as the Positive obligations of States, part of which are also the procedural obligations", started to reply ECHR's President.
- "Whenever Journalists, Lawyers, Defenders of Human Rights, or even simple Citizens are murdered, the States are held responsible, not only if its their own security forces' agents who committed these murders, but also if they didn't make sufficiently substantial and efficient Investigations", he stressed.
- "I want to strongly underline that we (ECHR) have found in many cases numerous violations of Articles 2 and 3 against States, ....(about) murders or torture, ...because they didn't make enough Investigations in order to try to find and punish those responsible".
- "We (ECHR) do that vis-a-vis all 47 (CoE) Member States, without any discrimination".
"Naturally, the circumstances in each particular case may be differend, and we can't ommit to apply the rules of proof, or the rules of criminal procedure".
"But we try, by all means, to apply these principles of our case-law, to all States", he concluded.
Costa's call was strongly supported by several Top CoE MEPs, from various Political areas
- "To investigate the murder of one Journalist, and not of another, looks like Double Standards", denounced the President of EuroLeft Group in CoE's Assembly, Dutch MEP Tiny Cox.
- "What is the reason ? Politics or specificity of a case ? Of course, if Cyprus and Turkey are involved, it's always a Political case"..
- "Murders of Journalists should always be fully investigated, because killing Journalists is not only killing persons, but also killing Free Press". "We (CoE's Assembly) should do our outmost to help People who are working on Free Press and they are under threat or murdered".
Because for Free Politics, Free Press is a pre-requisitive : Parliamentarians cannot function without a Free Press. Not investigating, is not protecting ourselves".
So we should investigate all Journalists' murders : We are talking about Gongadze, about the Cypriot man (Adali), about the Journalist murdered in Moscow one week ago, etc", Cox concluded
- "CoE can' look at these cases differently. CoE can't wear Blinckers !".
- "If the one is investigated, so has to be also the other. Why there wasn't full investigation ? Why's that ?", wondered British Socialist MEP, Alan Meale.
- "A good idea" would be to "make a Motion for Resolution", and "join all Journalists' murders. Adali and Gongadze etc", said to "EuroFora" EU Parliament Political affairs Committee's President, Goran Lindbland, ChristianDemocrat MEP from Sweden.
(See also earlier News at "EuroFora" on similar issues).
-------------------------------
ECHR's Statistics on Freedom of Expression :
Almost Half of condemnations by ECHR for violations of Freedom of Expression in 2008, concern Turkey : 20 out of a total of 48 for all CoE's Member States.
Russia, Poland, France and Moldova were condemned only 3 times. Romania, Greece, Portugal, 2 times, and the other CoE Member States only 1 time, or none.
--------------------
During the last Decade : 1998 - 2008, Turkey was condemned for violating Freedom of Expression in ..169 cases, while Austria only in 24.
France and Moldova in 14 and 13, respectively, closely followed by Russia and Poland with 11 and 10, respectively. The rest of CoE Member States had less than ten condemnations.