OSCE and the Italian example on protection of journalists

The OCSE Representative Harlem Desir proposed to establish mixed guarantee committees in each country. Italy illustrated what already exists

Italy example on protection of journalists made a great impression at the international conference organized on the 12^thApril  2019 in Vienna on the theme “Journalists under attack: a threat to press freedom”. 

The OSCE representative for media freedom, Harlem Desir, who promoted the meeting, formulated a new proposal (read here) to ensure the personal safety and the ability to continue working of threatened journalists.

Numerous journalists and public officials from various countries listed the dramas, problems and projects in the pipeline to ensure better protection measures for journalists exposed to the most serious risks. The Italians limited themselves to illustrating what is already done, concretely in Italy in this field and with good results.

This was done by Dr. Maria Teresa Sgaraglia, an official of the national police force who coordinates the technical unit  set up in 2017, which is responsible for keeping under observation the threats to journalists in Italy. This technical body – said Dr. Sgaraglia – works alongside the Coordination Centre established in 2017 at the Ministry of the Interior, with the tasks of monitoring attacks and strategic planning. The Centre is presided over by the Minister of the Interior whilst the  technical unit is chaired by the Chief of Police and has operational tasks.

In essence, she added, “we are going to see what happens and evaluate periodically what to do. We try to do more than what was done in the past “.The committee is also concerned with giving indications to journalists in danger. For example, advising them to always report the intimidation they suffer, even the most minor, because “there are no slight or trivial intimidations”. “We are studying a vademecum for journalists. In addition, the Ministry of the Interior recently issued a directive to all provincial public security authorities so that even at the local level coordination work is done with journalists and their organizations, paying the utmost attention to the attacks they suffer and then deciding, based on the severity of the threats, the most appropriate measures to be adopted among those available”.

Ambassador Alessandro Azzoni, Italy’s representative to OSCE, attributed the merit for strengthening the commitments of the member states for the security of journalists to the rotating Italian presidency of the Committee of ministers who have filled a historic gap with their Recommendations approved in Milan in December 2018. by 

The journalist from Bergamo, Paolo Berizzi, spoke for Italy. Berizzi spent two months under guard because of death threats of a neo-Nazi nature. (In Italy, he said, journalists are going through a difficult time, their work is less and less tolerated, there are attacks that de-legitimize them, some members of the government have depicted them as jackals, molesters of which one would gladly do without. Living under police guard, he added, is a burden, "it forces us to reorganize our life, both private and working life. But– he concluded – this is the price to pay to continue to say what happens. A journalist cannot be silent in the face of facts, he cannot conform to the pressures of those who would like to silence him. In front of the threats he must raise his voice to keep the light on the new manifestations of that phenomenon that Umberto Eco defined as “the eternal fascism ".ASP

One of the most touching testimonies was that of Matthew Caruana Galizia, son of the journalist murdered in Malta in 2017 who has continued her work. “It seems today that everyone in Malta was worried about my mother’s safety, everyone exceptthe government.Today we call for an independent public investigation into the murder; it is always left up to the family to pressure for this. I had to abandon my job “.

Representative Desir thanked everyone and launched his proposal: to establish in each country a special Committee on threats to journalists, with representatives of the police, the judiciary and journalist organizations to ensure that for every threat to a journalist all the necessary procedures have been activated. Providing effective and efficient protection in all cases that require it, as is done in Italy.

ASP