International relations. Sakharov prize

Starting from the first years of its existence, the Belarusian Association of Journalists has been developing strong international contacts and cooperation. The present international partnership relations can be considered as one of the main achievements of BAJ, as all national problems, connected with the freedom of speech have crossed the state borders.

The present list of permanent partners of BAJ includes:

• The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ),
• The International Media Support (Denmark),
• The Swedish Helsinki Committee (SHC),
• The Norwegian Helsinki Committee (NHC),
• The European Journalism Center (EJC),
• The "Article 19" Global Campaign for the Freedom of Speech,
• "The Reporters without Borders",
• "The Committee to Protect Journalists" (CPJ),
• The Danish Union of Journalists (DJ),
• The Norwegian Union of Journalists,
  
• The Lithuanian Union of Journalists,
• The Russian Union of Journalists,
• The Center for Extreme Journalism (Moscow),
• The "Glasnost" Defense Foundation (Moscow),
• The European Mass Media Institute (Dusseldorf),
• The Ukrainian Independent Center for Political Research etc.

Apart from implementing common actions and campaigns, BAJ is actively arranging and holding educational programs for journalists in cooperation with its foreign partners. Facilitation of improvement of professional journalist standards remains a priority direction of the BAJ activity.

Thus, e.g. the FOJO Institute (Sweden), dealing with the advanced journalist studies, has been a BAJ partner on carrying out a program of educational seminars for Belarusian journalists as well as for the students and professors from the Journalism Department at the Belarusian State University for several years already.

BAJ was closely cooperating with the European Journalism Center (Maastricht) within an educational project for journalists and university professors for two years. The seminars within the project were held in partnership with the Lithuanian Union of Journalists in Vilnius.

Also, BAJ was cooperating with the Lithuanian Union of Journalists within a project on "Development of Democratic Media in Belarus", funded by the European Commission in the years 2001 – 2003. All in all, more than 60 training courses at the editorials of regional media outlets were held within the terms.

BAJ in cooperation with F.Ebert Foundation office in Belarus holds regular seminars for journalists. The educational sessions are mainly dedicated to legal issues. They are held in the regional centers and other cities across the country.

Highly important events in the life of BAJ took place in the years of 2003 and 2004.

The Belarusian Association of Journalists was awarded "The Golden Pen of Freedom" prize in 2003. The award was founded by the World Association of Newspapers (WAN). It was the second time that the prize was presented to an organization instead of an individual author. (Also, "The Golden Pen of Freedom" prize was awarded to the Czech press in 1969.) The prize presentation ceremony took place at the World Newspaper Congress and the World Editors Forum in Dublin (Ireland) in June 2003.

The EP President Josep Borrell presented A. Sakharov Prize "For the Freedom of Speech" to the Belarusian Association of Journalists at a special ceremony in Strasbourg on December 14, 2004.

"Awarding the Sakharov Prize 2004 to the Belarusian Association of Journalists, which fights for freedom of information against the attempts by President Lukashenka to smother it, is a very positive event. The results of the latest elections in this country make it clear that those fighting for freedom of information in Belarus and everywhere else in the world deserve our support," – Mr. Borrell noted in his speech. The BAJ Chairperson Zhanna Litvina expressed sincere gratitude to the EP deputies for their support of democratic movement in Belarus, aimed at the defense of fundamental civil society values. "This prize is a signal for us that we aren't alone in our fight for keeping the professional principles and the people's right to get unbiased information," – she added.