UNESCO - United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

09/22/2022 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 09/22/2022 06:41

Prosecutor’s training on investigating and prosecuting crimes against journalists and the protection of freedom of expression (9 to 11 August 2022 in Tashkent)

UNESCO Tashkent Office together with the General Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Uzbekistan organized a three-day training workshop on freedom of expression and the role of the prosecutors to protect democracy and the fundamental rights of freedom of expression from August 9 - 11, 2022. Altogether 30 participants from the General Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Uzbekistan, from regional prosecutors' offices, the Military prosecutor's Office, from the Ministry of internal affairs, from the government and various media came together and actively took part in the discussions and exchanges on the topics from different angles. The fact that different stakeholders were present contributed largely to the lively exchange during the event. UNESCO Tashkent Office was successful in attracting 11 female participants. The active role of the GPO in the preparation and the execution of this workshop underlined the sense of importance the current government of Uzbekistan attributes to the reform of the judiciary sector. It is a great opportunity for UNESCO to intensify its activities in C&I during the upcoming years.

"The rule of Law is important to guarantee human rights and the fundamental rights of citizens. This has to be ensured by law enforcement bodies, judicial actors and internal affairs. This training is a timely contribution to enhance the capacities in this field."

Svetlana Artikova, Deputy Prosecutor General of the Republic of Uzbekistan

Representatives of the General Prosecutors' Office, of the Academy of the General Prosecutors' Office and of UNESCO Headquarters shared their knowledge about the international standards on freedom of expression, the legal guarantees of Freedom of expression in the Republic of Uzbekistan, the crucial role of strong and free media to build a democracy, the role and significance of the UNESCO Guidelines for prosecutors on cases of crimes against journalists , the right to information and the law and legal guarantees on obtaining information in Uzbekistan. Important contributions to the workshop came from the international expert Sabin Ouellet, who is the author of the above mentioned UNESCO Guidelines. He explained the legitimate limitations of the Freedom of expression in the 3-step test and talked about the role and the purpose of a modern prosecutor and presented a deeper understanding of the work of the Prosecutor at the criminal evaluation stage, the legal skills required effectively to assess the sufficiency of evidence evaluation process, the public interest test when taking the decision to prosecute, the duty to protect journalistic sources and the scope of this protection and a presentation on the stakes of criminal defamation (including the recommendations of the Rabat Plan). The expert also shared strategies to better implement access to information and free access to trial and justice for journalists and for the public in general. His interventions were enriched by local specialists who stressed the importance of supervision of the investigation process, not only internally by the Prosecutor's Office but also by the judiciary. The participants very much appreciated the case studies presented by the expert where the technicalities of applied international norms could be studied.

It became clear from the participants feedbacks that there still is a big need of legal education training, both for the judiciary as well as for media organizations. The participants also strongly supported the idea of organizing workshops with live court cases and interaction with media representatives.

UNESCO Tashkent Office is dedicated to take up the ideas about strengthening the legal literacy on Freedom of expression not only amongst the judicial actors but also amongst journalists to contribute to greater transparency and public accountability during the transition process of the current reform program of the government. As a first step UNESCO Tashkent Office translated the UNESCO Guidelines for prosecutors on cases of crimes against journalists into Uzbek and will make them available online soon. The translation of the UNESCO Guidelines for judicial actors on privacy and data protection and the Global toolkit for judicial actors: international legal standards on freedom of expression, access to information and safety of journalists into Uzbek is underway. Those guidelines will be a useful support for the judiciary to implement human rights in their daily practice and a great basis for further trainings.

The workshop for prosecutors was organized within the framework of the project "Fostering the Role of the Judiciary Systems in promoting Freedom of Expression and Safety of Journalists", funded by Open Society Foundations, and within the framework of UNESCO Judges' Initiative which, since 2013, has raised the capacities of over 23,000 judicial actors (judges, prosecutors and lawyers) on international and regional standards on freedom of expression, access to information and the safety of journalists in more than 150 countries, notably through a series of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), on-the-ground training and workshops, and the publications of a number of toolkits and guidelines.