In a Memorandum released today, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights calls on the Slovenian authorities to put an end to “the marked deterioration of freedom of expression and of the media in the country”.
The pandemic has been used by the Slovenian government as a pretext to discourage dissenting voices and political opposition, said Dunja Mijatović, referring to limitations on the right to demonstrate, including total and prolonged bans on public gatherings and heavy fines for demonstrators.
More generally, the Commissioner highlights the tensions in society and insists on the particular responsibility of politicians. Members of government should use social media “responsibly” by refraining “from making stigmatising and misleading comments about the work of civil society”, she says.
With regard to media freedom, she denounces harassment, intimidation and criminal proceedings against journalists, restrictions on access to public information and actions by the authorities against public service media. These play a specific role in a democratic society, she noted, reiterating her call on the Slovenian government to urgently restore adequate funding to the national news agency STA.
There is a tendency in Slovenia for sexist harassment of women journalists, she also notes.
According to the Commissioner, a revision of several national media laws is needed as part of a national strategy on strengthening media independence and pluralism in order to better target those that should receive public funding. Which should all be with input from specialists and media representatives.
Links to the Memorandum: https://bit.ly/3pmuI7R and to the Slovenian authorities’ response: https://bit.ly/3uKKE4U (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)