Русская версия

The Europe Programme, established in the mid 1990s, was one of ARTICLE 19’s first regional programmes. Today, our work includes activities in Russia, Western CIS (Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine), the South Caucasus (Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan), Central Asia and Turkey.

The collapse of the communist block was followed by a wave of deregulation and liberalisation: the 1990s was a decade of ‘transition’, during which substantial democratic reforms were initiated, considerably improving civil liberties such as freedom of expression and information.

Over the past few years, however, the post-communist elites have consolidated their power and, in many countries, a form of

semi-democracy has emerged, where human rights and democratic values are laid down in law but in practice are routinely ignored. Private media exists but in many countries is dominated by pro-government views. Where non-government media are well established, they are often not independent from the private commercial or political agendas of their owners. Elections are held but – particularly in the former Soviet Union – are often flawed. Many governments have committed to principles of open and transparent governance through the creation of freedom of information legislation but are implementing it poorly or not at all.

The collapse of communism in the early 90’s also triggered violent ethno-political conflicts on the territories of the Former Soviet Union and the Former Yugoslavia. While most conflicts have been brought to an end, a number remain unresolved (Kosovo, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Nagorny Karabakh, Transdniestria, North Caucasus) and pose a serious obstacle to freedom of expression.

In this environment ARTICLE 19’s Europe Programme works to promote freedom of expression and access to information in collaborative partnerships with local human rights, media and non-governmental organisations.

Our main areas of activity are:

• Researching and analysing developments in freedom of expression and information;
  
• Advocating and campaigning for law, policy and institutional reform within governments;
  
• Providing legal expertise;
  
• Building local capacity of key target groups such as public officials, lawyers, journalists and civil society.