(RSF/IFEX) – The following is a 26 April 2001 RSF press release: Council of Europe No sanctions against Ukraine Reporters sans frontières expresses its profound disappointment after the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe did not adopt sanctions against Ukraine on 26 April 2001, even though the commission that monitors compliance with member states’ […]
(RSF/IFEX) – The following is a 26 April 2001 RSF press release:
Council of Europe
No sanctions against Ukraine
Reporters sans frontières expresses its profound disappointment after the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe did not adopt sanctions against Ukraine on 26 April 2001, even though the commission that monitors compliance with member states’ commitments had initially recommended this country’s exclusion. The Council of Europe’s decision is a heavy blow for the efforts of the defenders of freedoms in the Ukraine and for the credibility of the Council of Europe itself. The seriousness of attacks on press freedom in this country, the deterioration of the situation in recent weeks, and the authorities’ scandalous obstruction of the inquiry into the assassination of journalist Georgiy Gongadze deserved a much stronger warning.
Reporters sans frontières asks the Council of Europe to give itself the means, by the next session of the Parliamentary Assembly in June, to follow closely the evolution of the situation and to make it clear to Ukranian authorities that any absence of progress will justify Ukraine’s suspension. RSF asks the Council of Europe and the European Union to urgently give their support to the search for the truth about the assassination of journalist Georgiy Gongadze, and to the development of civil society and freedom of information in Ukraine.
On 26 April 2001, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe voted in favour of a resolution and a recommendation to the Committee of Ministers exposing the seriousness of Ukraine’s violations and its commitments, especially in the area of press freedom and violence toward journalists, but putting off examination of possible sanctions against Ukraine until the session in June.
