Improving the Defamation and Insult Practice in North Macedonia
The first webinar on Improving Defamation and Insult practice in North Macedonia took place today sharing with actors and partners in the field, key knowledge and information about the implementation of the Law on Civil Liability of Defamation and Insult and fostering the process of joint consultation among the relevant expert audience. The Webinar gathered 24 participants, journalists, judges from the Civil Courts in North Macedonia and lawyers experienced in litigation/consultation of journalists in areas of freedom of expression, aiming to contribute with their views in further amending of this law. This thematic webinar organised by the EU & CoE joint action “Freedom of Expression and Freedom of the Media in North Macedonia (JUFREX)” in cooperation with the partner organisation Association of Journalists of Macedonia (AJM) was designed having in an introduction session presenting the scope and goals of the discussion while each representative presented findings and relevant cases from their experience and perspective.
As the action is building on the results of the previous phase, among the representatives of the lawyers and the judges were JUFREX certified trainers from the first phase of the project, who are well familiar with and referred to the relevant Council of Europe standards in each respective addressing.
The gathered opinions and cases will be used in the consultation process for amending this law, led by the Ministry of Justice expected to take place during May or June.
The next webinar will follow in the upcoming month(s), where the gathered knowledge will be exchanged and upgraded with international experience and additional discussion on the Council of Europe relevant standards.
This Action is part of the “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey II”, a joint EU/CoE programme implemented by the Council of Europe, which aims at assisting Beneficiaries in the Western Balkans region and Turkey to comply with the Council of Europe standards and European Union acquis in the framework of the enlargement process, where relevant.
