Journalists are now banned from attending the upcoming OSCE assembly in Vienna, in addition to growing woes which include a boycott by Ukraine and Lithuania over the attendance of Russia and unanswered calls to kick them out.
The two-day assembly meeting of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) will be held from Thursday to Friday in Vienna, home to the OSCE Secretariat.
However, for logistical and security reasons, journalists will not be allowed on site as it would be impossible to provide a media room, Parliamentary Assembly spokesperson Nat Parry said in response to APA’s request for comment. Still, Parry added that the meeting will be live broadcast on Youtube and Facebook.
The decision to exclude journalists could “severely compromise the freedom of independent reporting”, the Association of European Journalists (AEJ) and the Foreign Press Association in Vienna warned on Monday.
“An institution like the OSCE should avoid anything that appears to restrict or hinder independent reporting,” said an email to the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Teresa Ribeiro, ORF, reported.
Reporters from around the world would lose the opportunity to speak to participants during the meeting as this will only be possible outside the assembly area, the two associations added
The OSCE’s media representative has thus been called upon “to act within the scope of your competences this time in your own organisation in the interest of media freedom”.
The meeting has made the headlines the past few weeks, particularly as Ukraine announced its boycott over the participation of Russian delegates, fearing the “whitewash” of Russia’s alleged war crimes and criticising the OSCE meeting for taking place exactly one year after the start of the war in Ukraine.
“We will not participate in the official events of the Parliamentary Assembly, not in any of them,” Delegate Yevheniya Kravchuk of the Servants of the People presidential party said on Ukrainian television on Sunday, APA reported.
She said that Ukrainian delegates will still go to Vienna and consult with partners on how the OSCE can get out of its crisis.
On Austria’s side, Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg defended Russia’s participation after parliamentarians from 20 OSCE countries urged the government to bar Russian diplomats from attending. Lithuania also threatened to boycott.
Relationships and discussions with Russia remain difficult, “but we have to maintain dialogue”, Schallenberg said. “Because at some point, hopefully, diplomacy will be given space again.”
On the meeting taking place a year after the start of the war in Ukraine, Schallenberg said this was “very unfortunate” but noted that Vienna must allow all delegates from all participating states to enter the country due to international law.
The OSCE is currently struggling to get its 2023 budget approved due to a lack of cooperation from Russia over the last 18 months. This has left the organisation struggling with its mandate, resulting in its having to make critical decisions such as who will hold future rotating chairmanships.
At the same time, the OSCE also lacks a mechanism to remove or prohibit members from participating, meaning that any attempts to sideline Russia would likely have had to relate to postponements or refusals to issue visas.
(Chiara Swaton | EURACTIV.de)
Source: euractiv.com
