Mircea Toma, a representative of Romania’s National Audiovisual Council (CNA), in charge of organising the Council of Europe’s “Journalists Matter” campaign in Romania, said on Friday that the subject of the war in Ukraine is inevitable in any meeting related to this campaign.

Toma participated on October 29 and 30 in the conference dedicated to the protection of journalists, part of the Council of Europe’s “Journalists Matter” campaign, hosted at the Palace of Europe in Strasbourg. The event paid special attention to the dramatic situation of journalists in Ukraine, where at least 15 journalists have lost their lives while reporting on the war, and another 25 have been arrested or kidnapped and are in detention in the Russian Federation, the CNA reported on its Facebook page.

“The subject of the war in Ukraine is inevitable. At the conference, there were several presentations dedicated to the situation of journalists in Ukraine and neighbouring countries under war conditions, the tragedies occurring, and the lives lost, as well as the situation of journalists arrested and detained in Russia,” Mircea Toma told AGERPRES.

He added that the conference featured “very interesting” presentations on how to ensure the safety of journalists in other types of internal conflicts.

“For example, they referred to Italy, where we are witnessing a historic conflict with organised crime structures, with the Mafia, where journalists benefit from very detailed protection, four levels of security, etc., as well as situations in countries like Greece, where street demonstrations are extensive, and there are different guarantees. Legal perspectives on these situations were presented, the reasons why, for example, some aggressions against journalists are not reported, and the condition of women journalists in the context of this general discussion. The common key was the security of journalists under the particular conditions of the countries represented at the conference,” Mircea Toma added.

During the conference, Mircea Toma evoked the situation of 12 international journalists – including Hotnews correspondent Mircea Barbu – who were tried in absentia by Russian courts for “illegal border crossing” after they accompanied Ukrainian troops into action on Russian territory to report on the situation at the front.

On behalf of the National Defence Ministry, Colonel Corneliu Pavel also participated in the conference in Strasbourg, presenting the training programme for journalists reporting from conflict zones, a course that the ministry has been organising for 20 years.

At the end of the session, a selection of photographs taken in Ukraine by AGERPRES journalist Cristian Lupascu, a graduate of the course organised by the ministry, was presented.

The event in Strasbourg is part of the Council of Europe’s “Journalists Matter” campaign, scheduled to run over four years, dedicated to the protection of journalists. The evolution of the campaign in the participating countries varies from country to country, depending on the quality of the public actors involved: authorities, media organisations, trade unions, non-governmental organisations, and journalists.

The Council of Europe launched a campaign for the safety of journalists last year (October 2023) under the slogan “Journalists Matter,” aiming to improve the safety of journalists and protect press freedom across the continent, as well as to raise awareness of the role journalists play in safeguarding a democratic and pluralistic society.

The campaign, expected to last until the end of 2027, addresses the ongoing degradation of press freedom in Europe, reflected in the increasing number of cases of violence and intimidation against journalists and the impunity of offenders.

In Romania, the events held as part of the campaign have included, to date, the “Gala for Excellence in Journalism,” organised earlier this year to mark two years since the start of the war in Ukraine, dedicated to journalists who have undertaken missions in conflict zones. Meetings have been organised between media organisations and authorities – Police and Gendarmerie – to reach common conclusions regarding the conditions for journalists’ participation in public demonstrations. In this process, top representatives of the Romanian Gendarmerie participated in a meeting with their counterparts in Strasbourg, followed by a meeting in Bucharest with journalists, media organisations, trade unions, and representatives of the Gendarmerie.