Activity Details (ID# 1625)

Activity Synopsis

The general objective of the activity was to introduce the concept, international principles and mechanisms concerning the protection of freedom of expression and to build capacity of members of future leadership generations. A more specific objective was to explore the role and responsibilities of the media in a democratic society, particularly during election campaigns. 

The activity was well organised and relevant documents were distributed. However it proved difficult to involve participants from various sides of the political spectrum: most participants represented oppositional views. Furthermore, only six participants came from the regions. It would be important in the future to involve more participants from the regions.

The participants were very active and the discussions lively. The level of discussion was of high quality and enabled the trainer to highlight the role of the State in ensuring media diversity and media protection during elections. In order to illustrate the role played by the media, reference was made to the Belarusian elections of 2000 and 2001. The participants generally appreciated the practical approach, through role-play.
Some participants felt that the applicability of international standards and experiences from other countries was limited in the Belarusian context. A discussion emerged at the end of the workshop around the advantages and drawbacks of thinking about the situation in one country (and trying to develop solutions to problems) by means of looking at examples from outside, and whether it would be more useful to keep the focus of discussion on the situation in the country. While the organisers had chosen an approach that tries to draw from experiences abroad, there was no consensus among the participants about this question.
 

Whereas in Article 19's perception it was certainly useful to take a step back, present international standards, and to use for the role play a scenario set in ''The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia'', it is also certain that more training, workshops and meetings are needed in Belarus to prepare various professional groups for their specific tasks in the upcoming municipal elections in Spring 2003. The organisers also learned some useful lessons for future work in Belarus. 

Young journalists, lawyers, political scientists and political activists, partly students 

Mario Oetheimer, Media Division, DG II