The role of media in conflict and humanitarian crises, reflecting on International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law: Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting I
When
Where
Organized by
Live stream (day 2)
Topic
The first Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting of 2025 will discuss the role of media in conflict and humanitarian crises, reflecting on International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law.
Free and independent media are vital for strengthening democracy and achieving accountability, and collective security. During humanitarian crises and armed conflict, journalists are at the forefront, delivering essential information that enables society to make informed decisions. In this context, the role of independent media is essential in informing the public, in supporting the documentation of alleged war crimes and human rights violations and in contributing towards accountability.
The first session will underline the principles that ensure journalists can carry out their important work freely, independently and without fear of attack, also during conflict and crises. It will also look at the role journalists can play in informing the public of ongoing judicial proceedings and documenting violations of international law, thereby contributing towards accountability.
Responding to challenges in today’s fast developing information space is of particular relevance in the context of conflict and humanitarian crises. The second session will discuss the use of information manipulation and disinformation to mislead the public and sow distrust. It will also provide an opportunity to discuss effective responses, such as supporting investigative journalism, fact checking initiatives, open data investigations and media literacy programmes.
The third session will look into how we can prepare for the future through constructive and solution-oriented journalism that promotes dialogue and improves understanding of differing perspectives. It will discuss media self-regulation as an essential tool to strengthen independent journalism and media literacy as a crucial means of building societal resilience.
Participants
Representatives of the 57 OSCE participating States and OSCE institutions and structures, will be joined by representatives of international organizations, civil society organizations, media and other stakeholders. The Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting is open to those with relevant experience in the human dimension from the OSCE region. The Partners for Co-operation are invited to attend and contribute with respect to their co-operation and links with the OSCE in the field.
This meeting will be held in person only. In order to attend, participants need to register in advance before the deadline indicated below.
Registration
It is advisable to register well in advance. To facilitate the timely processing of registrations, it is important that user account information on https://meetings.odihr.pl is both complete and up to date. To assist with registration, a user guide is available in English and Russian.
Registration for this conference is now closed.
Modalities
Supplementary Human Dimension Meetings are mandated meetings, organized within the framework of the Permanent Council by the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, with support from ODIHR and other OSCE Institutions.
The modalities of the meeting are set out in the decision of the Permanent Council (PC.DEC/476, 23 May 2002).
Interpretation will be provided into the six official OSCE languages: English, French, German, Italian, Russian and Spanish.
Side events
Registered participants are welcome to request a side event slot at https://meetings.odihr.pl between 7 March at 15.00 CET and 11 March at 13.00 CET.
The booking of side events for this conference is now closed.
Contact
Meeting co-ordination: Mr. Martin Toplišek, Human Dimension Meetings Officer (martin.toplisek@odihr.pl).
Programme enquiries: Ms. Bettina Ruigies, Senior Advisor to the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media at the RFoM (bettina.Ruigies@osce.org)
Registration, side events and other enquiries: hdmeetings@odihr.pl.
More information about the event and participation will be published on this webpage in the coming weeks.