Thank you, Chair.

And thank you for your report to the Permanent Council, Representative Braathu. And thank you for the dedicated work of you and your team.

Our predecessors at the OSCE recognised that media freedom is a cornerstone of regional security and democratic societies. Regrettably, as your report makes clear, there are a range of severe and growing challenges to media freedom in the OSCE region.

Every participating State has the responsibility to work to fulfil our shared OSCE commitments. Within the UK the government continues to work with civil society and police forces to strengthen the criminal justice response to crimes against journalists. Every police force in England and Wales now has a designated Journalist Safety Officer, building on earlier work by Police Scotland a

See Full Page