Government supervision over the Internet raises no objections if it is aimed at protecting privacy and preventing terrorism and other threats, but it should not be at the expense of freedom of speech and freedom of information, Dunja Mijatović, the OSCE representative on freedom of the media, said during a seminar in Minsk on June 3, 2013.
The training seminar for Belarusian journalists focuses on the development of online journalism. The event was organized by the OSCE media freedom watchdog’s office, the Belarusian foreign ministry and other governmental agencies. Speaking during the seminar, Ms. Mijatović stressed that the new only media should not be persecuted, and that the business sector could not develop if Internet freedom was violated.
Dunja Mijatović arrived in Belarus for a three-day official visit. She is to have meetings with high-ranking Belarusian officials, including Foreign Minister Uladzimir Makey and representatives of the Presidential Administration, the House of Representatives of the National Assembly, the Supreme Court of Belarus. She will also meet with leaders of the Belarusian Association of Journalists and the pro-government Belarusian Union of Journalists, journalists and civil society activists.
Ms. Mijatović has repeatedly criticized the Belarusian authorities for stifling media freedom and persecuting journalists working for non-state media outlets.
Belsat, following BelaPAN
