On March 17, in the capital of Austria, Vienna, a two-day meeting titled “The role of media in conflict and humanitarian crises, reflecting on International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law: Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting I” started. It was organized by the Finnish OSCE Chairpersonship, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).
The meeting, attended by ambassadors, diplomats, and official representatives from 57 countries, focused on media freedom, the safe operation of journalists, and issues related to disinformation within the OSCE region.
In his speech, Ahmad Shahidov, head of the Azerbaijan Institute for Democracy and Human Rights, addressed the role of the media in conflict zones and humanitarian disaster areas. He discussed the role of independent media and acts of disinformation during the conflicts in the Middle East, Ukraine, Yemen, and the Nagorno-Karabakh war. He also mentioned the incident in December of the previous year, where an Azerbaijani civilian plane was downed in Russian airspace, highlighting that Russian media spread false information about the event and that Russia still had not officially apologized to the Azerbaijani people.
