Activity Details (ID# 5239)

Activity Synopsis

The objective of the seminar was to provide lawyers who already work with media related cases or are planning to do that with appropriate information on the general principles developed by the European Court of Human Rights concerning Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and its application as regards defamation, insult, privacy, protection of sources, state secrecy and whistle-blowing, as well as with general information about the Court, its procedure and admissibility rules. The seminar focused on professionals who did not attend such seminars previously. Some journalists who demonstrated a strong interest in this topic were also accepted. 

The interest in the seminar was extremely high. About 50 participants showed up; due to limited space, around 20 participants were refused invitation. These persons will be invited to other events.

The seminar was well organised. Various documents about the Council of Europe in general, and the European Court of Human Rights and freedom of expression in particular were distributed to the participants (Council of Europe – 800 million Europeans, Short guide to the ECHR, Case law concerning Article 10 of the ECHR, European standards concerning protection of sources, European standards concerning freedom of expression, European standards concerning court reporting).

The participants had practical interest in the seminar, as most of them have ongoing cases in courts and some of them already applied to the Strasbourg’s Court. The discussion was very lively as the lawyers wanted their case to be discussed. Several most topical Ukrainian cases were discussed, including a recent decision of the Supreme Court of Ukraine, according which a newspaper had to pay $10,000 damages for a fair report about a statement made by a news agency. The audience was well prepared and basically was on the same starting level.

The input of the British expert Lucy Moorman was very valuable. It was also positive that not only information about European standards but also corresponding Ukrainian legislation was studied. The group discussed the problem of the practical use of the European Convention on Human Rights and courts decisions in Ukrainian courts. All the experts did excellent presentations and answered a number of questions.
 

The seminar was indeed successful. Most of the participants were grateful for having been given a chance to attend it. We expect that most participants will be able to use in practice the knowledge the have acquired. Some of them are already planning to refer cases to the European Court of Human Rights.

Internews is planning to hold regional seminars and will use the most active participants as resource persons for future seminars. It is also clear that for such a large country as Ukraine, more seminars for lawyers/advocates should be organised. It would be also useful to provide the same audience with additional seminars on the new practices of the Court in 2004.
 

Media Lawyers from regions and from Kyiv, some journalists that are active in legal issues 

Ms Lucy MOORMAN, Barrister, Doughty Street Chambers, London
Ms Valeria LUTKOVSKA, Deputy Minister of Justice
Ms Ludmyla PANKRATOVA, Lawyer, IREX POO Media
Mr Taras SHEVCHENKO, Lawyer, Internews Network
 

Mr Olexander PAVLICHENKO, Director of the Information Office of the Council of Europe, Co-ordinator of the Action Plan for the Media in Ukraine
Ms Lejla DERVISAGIC, Media Division, Directorate General of Human Rights