The Council of Europe has a Platform for the Protection of Journalism and the Safety of Journalists.
The platform enables the largest international human rights organizations in the field of media freedom protection - partners of the Council of Europe - to draw the attention of the world community to gross violations of human rights in this area. Partner organizations include the European and International Federation of Journalists, Article 19, Reporters Without Borders, the Committee to Protect the Rights of Journalists, Index of Censorship, the European Broadcasting Union and others.
On February 5, 2021, on behalf of the Platform, at the initiative of the European and International Federations of Journalists, an alert was received about the situation around media freedom in Ukraine. The matter of concern was the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine to ban the broadcasting of the 112 Ukraine, NewsOne and ZIK TV channels, enacted by the decree of President Volodymyr Zelensky on February 2, 2021.
The alert was categorized as “Other Actions That Have a Negative Impact on Freedom of the Media,” with the First Level of Anxiety assigned to it (covering gross violations of media freedom), and the Ukrainian state as a source of threat. In the notification, partner organizations of the Council of Europe refer, inter alia, to statements by the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU) and the Independent Trade Union of Ukrainian Mass Media Workers.
