Activity Details (ID# 6912)

Activity Synopsis

The objective of the seminar was to provide lawyers who already work with media-related cases (or are planning to do so) with appropriate information on 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 procedures and admissibility rules. The seminar focused on professionals who had not attended such seminars previously. Other journalists who demonstrated strong interest in this topic were also accepted.

 

The high number of participants proved that there was significant interest in the announced topic.
Overall there were 56 participants who represented Western, Eastern and Central regions of Ukraine, involving Kyiv, Chernihiv, Cherkassy, Donetsk, Luhansk, Mykolayiv, Kherson, Odesa, Lviv, Uzhhorod.

A post-event analysis of the questionnaire that was distributed to participants showed positive evaluation of the seminar organisation and its content.
Various hand-out materials including documents about the Council of Europe in general, the European Court of Human Rights and freedom of expression were distributed to the participants (Paliyuk V.P.: The European Convention on Human Rights in Ukrainian Courts’ implementation. Kyiv 2004.; Collection of the “Article XIX” international organization’s publications; Mass Media Freedom: situation in Belarus’, Moldova, Ukraine; Council of Europe – 800 million Europeans; European standards concerning protection of sources; European standards concerning freedom of expression; European standards concerning court reporting; Case law concerning Article 10 of the ECHR).

Preliminary selection of the applicants enabled professionals with adequate experience in the field to be invited. Therefore discussion at the seminar was lively with practical cases used to illustrate the theory. Attention was also given to the new Civil Code and its correspondence to the European legislative norms.

Speakers and trainers made a great input to the seminar by comparing European standards with Ukrainian legal proceedings. The “questions and answers” session was devoted to discussion of slippery moments in domestic legislation and the problems of Article 10 interpretation in certain cases. As a result of their brief communication with the audience, foreign experts, Dr Albrecht Haller and Mr Frédéric GRAS, did an excellent job by making profound reflections on the Ukrainian court procedure and giving professional advice directly after the presentation.
 

In their feedback participants found the seminar to be very useful and informative. Many respondents mentioned practical value of the topics discussed.

Compared to the previous seminar on the Article 10, held in October 2003, it is important to stress the same high interest in the European Convention on Human Rights. Some people wishing to participate were put on the waiting list. Because of the limited space organizers found it impossible to approve all candidates. Their contacts are stored in the Internews database and will be used as resource for future seminars.

As a result of further changes in the Ukrainian legislation, follow-up seminars on the European Convention on Human Rights would attract a good deal of interest.
 

Media Lawyers from regions and from Kiev, journalists who are active in legal issues

 

Dr Albrecht Haller, Attorney-at-Law (Austria),
Mr Frédéric Gras, Barrister (France),
Mr Ivan Dombrovsky, Judge, Supreme Court (Ukraine),
Mrs Nataliya Petrova, Senior Media Law Expert, Top-Media (Ukraine),
Mr Stanislav Shevchuk, Director of legal programs, OSCE (Ukraine),
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