Central Asian journalists adopt declaration on media freedom and corruption

TASHKENT, 30 September 2002 - The media should be free to play their fundamental role as society's watchdog against corruption, journalists from five Central Asian states said in a final declaration adopted at the end of an OSCE media conference held on 26 and 27 September in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

"The media should be free to exercise their corrective function towards economic, ecological and military decisions in their countries, especially with regard to investigating the growing danger of corruption", the participants said in their declaration, which concluded the OSCE's Fourth Central Asian Media Conference.

More than 100 journalists from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan had travelled to the Uzbek capital to discuss corruption as a challenge to freedom of the media and the relationship between religious freedom and freedom of expression.

"The vivid discussions again showed the need for this regional dialogue, especially in light of the tragic events of 11 September 2001", said Freimut Duve, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media. "Many journalists affirmed that their working conditions had been deteriorating in the last year and reported many cases of harassment. The tendency towards repression is clear."

"The deliberations over the two days showed that many of the problems debated in the annual conferences of the last four years remain unresolved", Mr. Duve added. He reiterated the concerns about this issue stated in the Dushanbe (2000) and Almaty (2001) declarations.

The conference was organized by the Representative on Freedom of the Media in co-operation with the OSCE Centre in Tashkent and the Open Society Institute. It was financially supported by the United States, United Kingdom, Liechtenstein, Norway, Sweden and Turkey.