I am delivering this statement on behalf of the following participating States, members of the Informal Group of Friends on the Safety of Journalists: Austria, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and my own country Finland. The following participating States have also aligned with this statement: Albania, Andorra, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Czechia, Croatia, Cyprus, Iceland, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine.
To mark World Press Freedom Day, we recognise the vital yet increasingly perilous role that journalists and media actors play in conflict situations, and the important link between a free media and both global and national security. The theme of this year’s World Press Freedom Day is “Shaping a Future at Peace”. At a time when international peace seems more elusive than it has for a long time, a free, independent, pluralistic media can make an important contribution to both achieving and sustaining peace.
During conflicts, independent media coverage helps provide accurate and timely information that is critical for the communities affected. Factual, timely reporting can save lives and livelihoods. Public interest journalism can strengthen information integrity and act as a defence against disinformation and propaganda, both of which could increase as the security situation worsens. A free media can be an early warning mechanism in identifying and reporting possible war crimes. It can also play a part in encouraging dialogue during conflicts and fostering mutual understanding, and raising the voices of those often marginalised in mediation and peace processes.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), 129 journalists and media workers were killed in 2025, making it the deadliest year since CPJ began collecting such data more than 30 years ago. Reporters covering conflicts are afforded protection under international humanitarian law, and recognised by UN Security Council Resolution 2222 (2015), yet in reality, where once a jacket emblazoned with the word “PRESS” offered protection, it is now often seen as a target.
This is clearly demonstrated by the Russian Federation’s illegal and unjustifiable war of aggression against Ukraine: a significant number of journalists have been killed or subjected to arbitrary detention, torture and enforced disappearance by Russia while exercising their profession. Media infrastructure and media workers have become direct targets of Russian attacks. We call on the Russian Federation to immediately and unconditionally release all media actors imprisoned because of their professional activities, including in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.
In Russia itself and in Belarus media actors have been harassed, attacked and imprisoned for their professional activities on politically motivated charges, on the basis of so called “anti-extremism” and “anti-terrorism” laws, the audience itself is often criminalized for searching for independent information.
Journalists not only have to deal with increased physical danger; they also face growing online abuse – particularly women – while media organisations have to contend with increasing state censorship, greater financial pressures, a significant rise in disinformation that undermines public trust, and the challenges brought by new technology, including AI.
In fact, global media freedom is under the most sustained attack in decades – at a time when it is also increasingly important to our mutual security and prosperity.
We remain deeply concerned by the erosion of media freedom in other parts of the OSCE region, which take a variety of forms, well described and illustrated in the recent RFOM report. We will continue to support RFOM in exercising his vital and unique mandate, and denounce all efforts to reduce the freedom of the media and curb freedom of expression.
So, amid the high level of conflict in the world today, we call upon states to support a free, independent media as a contribution to “Shaping a Future at Peace”. We also appeal to states to protect those reporting on conflict, and work towards ending impunity for crimes against journalists in the OSCE and worldwide.
