16 February 1999

FRY: FREE2000 MAKES MEDIA RECOMMENDATIONS ON KOSOVO


On 12 February, Free2000, an international coalition of human rights and media freedom organizations working on press freedom in Yugoslavia, released its recommendations on the media to the Contact Group monitoring discussions on a Kosovo peace accord that began last week in Rambouillet, France. Serb authorities are meeting with Kosovo Albanians to try to come to an agreement to end the conflict that has been raging in Kosovo for nearly a year. The meetings will continue until this Saturday. Free 2000 is composed of local groups such as the Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM), along with IFEX members the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC), ARTICLE 19, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Human Rights Watch, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the International Press Institute (IPI). It was established in August 1998 to promote an atmosphere of free media in the FR of Yugoslavia by the year 2000. Further information on the committee and its activities at:
http://www.free2000.opennet.org.

The 27 January draft of the Kosovo agreement contains a paragraph on the media, under the section on Confidence Building Measures, that Free2000 called "far too weak to ensure the protection of journalists and the independent media in Kosovo, which is a fundamental prerequisite for a lasting solution to the crisis." The coalition says that the proposal for newly-created Albanian- and Serbian-language radio and television stations to be run by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) "would seriously harm the independent media in Kosovo by diverting international material and technical support from the indigenous radio stations that already exist in Kosovo, as well as by drawing away the region's best trained journalists." The group concludes, "If maintained, this approach by the international community would stymie the growth of independent media in Kosovo, as well as in the rest of Serbia."

The group maintains that "no concessions should be granted to the Serbian or Yugoslav governments until they guarantee full respect for freedom of expression and freedom of the press, especially an immediate revocation of the Serbian Law on Information and the granting of broadcast licenses to independent radio and television stations in a non-political manner."



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Also from the Communiqué, 16 February 1999

INTERNATIONAL: JAILED ENTREPRENEUR LIN HAI RECEIVES INTERNET FREEDOM AWARD 16 February 1999 BANGLADESH: JOURNALISTS AND NEWSPAPER OFFICES ATTACKED 16 February 1999 INTERNATIONAL: RUSSIAN SUMMER SCHOOL TO DISCUSS MEDIA AND ELECTIONS 16 February 1999 SIERRA LEONE: MORE JOURNALISTS MURDERED AND REPORTED MISSING 16 February 1999 INTERNATIONAL: IPI RECORDS 50 JOURNALISTS MURDERED IN 1998, EXAMINES FREE EXPRESSION IN 168 COUNTRIES 16 February 1999 INTERNATIONAL: CHINESE JOURNALIST GAO YU FREED FOR MEDICAL REASONS 16 February 1999
 
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