Following her visit to Turkey in mid-December, Mijatovic, the OSCE representative for freedom of the media, told Today's Zaman in an interview of her positive experience during her first visit to Turkey in her current position. Underlining that she was welcomed with “open doors” by Turkey and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, she noted that there was an excellent cooperation from Turkey, and that she was able to attend all meetings she wanted to, and visit jailed journalists, which she regarded as a big step in enlarging freedoms of media in the country.
During the interview, Mijatovic informed Today's Zaman about her initiative regarding the French bill that is about to become a law, waiting on the final signature from French President Nicolas Sarkozy. “One of our tools is early warning, before the legislation is adopted,” she stated, noting that she resorted to “quiet diplomacy” and got in contact with the chairperson of the French National Assembly, and later went public with an announcement that the bill runs risk of breaching the freedom of expression and press freedom. “I asked Senate not to adopt the law, but they adopted it,” she added.
“I am in contact with French officials, and I do hope, even at this very late stage, there are still chances that they might listen to the voice of civil society,” she said in the hope that calls on the French parliament that the bill is unconstitutional take effect.
“In this position I hope that the French Constitutional Court will realize that this is a mistake and can have negative impacts on free speech globally,” she added in a belief that there is still chance the law could be retracted. “I am monitoring at moment how my office can engage in order to change this negative trend,” she said. Mijatovic also noted that the French bill was one of the many similar cases monitored by OSCE, and that restrictions on freedom of speech occur very frequent.
Mijatovic also gave her insight on worldwide attempts at blocking access to the Internet by governments, saying that it was “a battle already lost,” and what governments are trying to achieve by blocking Internet freedom would “come back like a boomerang.” “Instead, governments could work on increasing Internet literacy,” she advised, in order to fight terrorism or sexual abuse, which find large venues on the Internet.
Earlier in December, when the bill passed through the lower house of the French Parliament, Mijatovic stated that the bill could “set a precedent internationally for politically construed, ad-hoc criminalization of public debates.” Mijatovic had also said she feared the passing of this law by a nation with a great history of press freedom might prompt other countries in the OSCE region to follow France's example and similarly criminalize historical statements in violation of their OSCE commitments that aim at encouraging a free discussion on issues of public interest. Mijatovic said she had hoped the French senate would vote down the bill.
