Today, on 20 July, 2015, a briefing on the cooperation of the Government of Ukraine and institutions of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) was held.
The event was attended by the Minister of Information Policy of Ukraine Yurii Stets, Senior Officer of the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine Jeffrey Erlich and the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatovic.
During the briefing the participants presented to the public expert opinions and recommendations developed by the office of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media on the draft Concept of information security of Ukraine, and told about a joint initiative of the Ministry of Information Policy and the OSCE Project Coordinator in Ukraine to support the Government of Ukraine in improving state information and communication policy.
At the beginning of the briefing, the Minister of Information Policy of Ukraine said, that under the Coalition Agreement and pursuant to the Program for Government, the Expert Council of the Ministry of Information Policy drafted important strategic document – the draft Concept of information security of Ukraine, which passed expert evaluation of specialists involved by the office of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatovic.
“We appreciate the cooperation with the representatives of the OSCE Office, because with their help we plan to present a final document of the Concept of information security of Ukraine in September”, – said the Minister.
OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatovic, via online videoconference from the office in Vienna, said that after analyzing the draft Concept, the office transferred it to the leading legal experts, who provided their recommendations on the draft. The OSCE Representative stressed that the main principle in developing recommendations on the draft document was adherence to the right to freedom of speech and expression, which form the basis for the implementation of information rights. “Recommendations on the draft Concept were elaborated by leading lawyers whom you can meet during the discussions of the document and find on the official website of the agency”, – said the OSCE representative. Dunja Mijatovic also added that the OSCE office is always ready to help with projects of the Ministry aiming on improving information and communication policy in Ukraine.
During the speech, Jeffrey Erlich said: “This is a very positive step and, even, I would say, a new day for democracy, when the Ministry involves public and media community so openly to discuss such an important document”. Senior Officer of the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine also said that having recommendations of the OSCE office on the draft Concept of information security of Ukraine, office of projects coordinators in Ukraine, in turn, will continue to provide the necessary support in promoting the document, developed by ECMIP with the recommendations of the OSCE institutions .
The Minister Yurii Stets summed up the meeting: “The cooperation of the Ministry of Information Policy of Ukraine and the OSCE in a series of roundtables in Kyiv and the regions on discussing the draft Law on information security of Ukraine, the Doctrine of Information Policy of Ukraine and the State Programme of Ukraine’s information space development will be moderated by the MP, one of the leading journalists of Ukraine Mustafa Nayyem. International experts, media lawyers, representatives of the third sector and experts in the field of information security will take part in the discussion”.
Recall that on 26 March, 2015, the Expert Council under the Ministry of Information Policy of Ukraine began working on the Concept of information security and on the development of Ukraine’s information space. Yurii Stets became a Co-Chairman of the Expert Council on the part of the MIP, co-chairman from the public is Doctor of Political Sciences, assistant professor of international communications media and communication technologies of Institute of International Relations were elected Sergii Danylenko.
The main goal of ECMIP was developing three complementary documents: the draft Law on the Concept of Information Security, Doctrine of Information Policy of Ukraine and the State Program of Ukraine’s information space.