ONLINE | SEPTEMBER 30TH, 2021
The joint European Union and Council of Europe action on Freedom of expression and freedom of the media in North Macedonia (JUFREX) organised this online conference on “Media and Elections” as the local elections in North Macedonia are approaching. The online conference addressed two very important issues when it comes to media and elections: (1) disinformation and (2) access to information for people with sensory (and other) disabilities.
The online conference gathered relevant representatives in the field who actively participated in the discussions of the two panel sessions focused on disinformation and their effect on the election results and reporting on the election process for people with sensory disabilities. Two international experts of the Council of Europe, as well as local experts, addressed each of the panel sessions and contributed to the exchange of knowledge and experience from the EU countries in the referred topics.
The second panel discussed the ideal vs actual situation on the election process and the access of people with disabilities to the overall process. In this context, people with disabilities should enjoy equally the right to take part in politics as other citizens, and they have to be included in the creation of the policies that actually support them to enjoy this right. By including people with disabilities in politics will help raise awareness on the topic. This was one of the actions proposed to be taken towards improving the access to media of people with disabilities.
Within the event, Pilar Orero from UAB presented the HELIOS Project at the conference.
