BGNES publishes the Draft Concept Note in full of the Report "Violence against journalists, the integrity of elections, and the role of public leadership"
Every year since 2013, the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists has been observed on 2 November to honor journalists killed for their work and to raise awareness of the danger of impunity for crimes committed against journalists.
In 2023, the main celebration of will be organized at the headquarters of the Organization of American States "The House of Americas" in Washington, USA, by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in partnership with the Secretary-General of the Organization of the American States, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and its Office of the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression (RELE).
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On the occasion of the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists
Violence against journalists, the integrity of elections, and the role of public leadership
Draft Concept Note
November 2-3, 2023
OAS Main Building, House of the Americas
Washington D.C., United States
CI-2023//FEJ/IDEI/1
Context
Every year since 2013, the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists (IDEI) is commemorated on November 2 to pay tribute to journalists killed because of their work, and raise awareness of the danger of impunity for crimes committed against journalists. In 2023, the IDEI main commemoration will be organized in the Organization of American States (OAS) Headquarters “The House of Americas” in Washington D.C., United States, by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in partnership with the Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and its Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression (RELE). On November 2nd and 3rd, a series of panels and conversations will take place at the House of the Americas, bringing together an array of stakeholders interested in advancing capacities and joint work towards journalists’ safety worldwide.
The occasion will serve to strengthen OAS and the IACHR’s contribution to the implementation of the UN Plan of Action on Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity, building upon the cooperation as part of the IGOs ‘Light Touch’ Task Force on the Safety of Journalists. It will contribute to reinforce the coordinated response among mechanisms to the various threats to the right to freedom of expression. In furtherance of this cause, the Inter-American Human Rights System will open its doors and welcome the various stakeholders, including former special rapporteurs, academia, civil society organizations, States, United Nations agencies, who are invited to discuss around these issues and draw attention to the situation of violence faced by journalists in the Americas and throughout the world.
Organizers will also use this opportunity to celebrate the anniversaries of the specialized offices within the OAS and the UN created by Member Statesto promote freedom of opinion and expression. 25 years of creation of the OAS Special Rapporteurship, and the 30 years of the United Nations Special Procedure. These offices were created in 1997 and 1993, respectively, with the objective of stimulating the defense and promotion of the right to freedom of thought and expression, considering its fundamental role in the consolidation
and development of the democratic system.
International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists
Putting an end to impunity for crimes against journalists is one of the most important and complex challenges of recent times, and constitutes a fundamental issue in guaranteeing the full exercise of the right to freedom of expression and the open, free and dynamic exchange of ideas and information for all people.
Indeed, in recent years, various regional and international organizations have intensified their efforts to draw attention to the increase in violence against journalists and media workers, as well as the obligations that States must fulfill, including the promotion of comprehensive prevention, protection and justice policies to address this phenomenon. For example, since the adoption of the UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity in 2012, over 26 resolutions have been adopted by the UN General Assembly, UNESCO General Conference and Human Rights Council. Other positive developments have been registered to bring more attention to the issues of the safety of
journalists.
A network of UN Focal Points network within UN agencies, funds and programmes was established. Six Groups of Friends related to safety of journalists, comprising of Member States represented in New York (UN Secretariat), Paris (UNESCO), Geneva (OHCHR), Vienna (OSCE), Strasbourg (CoE), and in Washington DC, for the Organization of American States. In
addition, a Media Freedom Coalition of more than 50 States, an International Civil Society Coalition on Safety of Journalists, and a Journalism Safety research Network have been formed. Despite these positive developments, violence against journalists, and in particular women journalists, continues to increase and the growing rates of impunity perpetuate the silence that plagues several regions of the world.
In this context, Latin America and the Caribbean continues to be the region with the highest number of murders of journalists, according to the 2022 UNESCO Director General’s Report on the Safety of Journalists and the Danger of Impunity. On this matter, UNESCO monitoring figures indicate that by July 2023, 69 journalists had been killed in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2022-2023 from 10 countries.
This violence, deployed by both State and non-state actors against the press, has not only been physical but also legal, digital, psychological and symbolic. While murders are the most extreme form of media censorship, journalists are also subject to countless threats, ranging from physical attacks, imprisonment, online intimidation, threats, kidnappings, surveillance, criminalization and stigmatizing rhetoric by public officials and public figures. Threats of violence and attacks against journalists produce a chilling effect and self-censorship among professionals and society as a whole, which can only be avoided “through decisive action by the State to punish those responsible, as is its obligation under international and domestic law” 1.
Thus, in cases of violence against journalists, international human rights law requires that States comply with their positive obligations to prevent, protect and provide justice. Regarding the obligation of prevention, it is important that public authorities adopt a discourse that contributes to preventing violence against the journalists and, on the contrary, refrain from issuing stigmatizing statements that increase the risk inherent in their work. This also implies that they consistently, clearly, publicly and firmly recognize the legitimacy and value of journalistic work, even when the information disseminated may be critical, inconvenient and inopportune for the interests of the government.
This violence against journalists and the continuity of stigmatizing discourse on the part of public officials intensifies particularly during election cycles. In these cases, States are called upon to recognize the role played by the press, since they are independent observers and vehicles for the exercise of the social dimension of freedom of expression. Journalists provide credible, fact-based reports and eyewitness accounts about candidates, the electoral process and security issues as well as disseminate and clarify information on emerging issues and public concerns. In this way, they contribute to the electorate having sufficient information and different criteria to make a decision.
As the special rapporteurs emphasized in the 2009 Joint Declaration, “free and transparent elections are only possible when the electorate is properly informed and has access to plural and sufficient information”. The UNESCO Addis Ababa Declaration, outcome of the 2019 Global Celebration of the World Press Freedom Day held under the theme Journalism and Elections in Times of Disinformation stressed that: respect for the public’s right to information, the expansion of Media and Information Literacy, and ensuring the safety of
journalists, with cognizance of the particular threats to women journalists, and others exercising their right to freedom of expression, are key to addressing current challenges to elections.”
However, various specialized bodies continue to report with concern the obstruction of journalistic coverage and the dissemination of information on matters of public interest, numerous online publications with offensive content against journalists, smear campaigns, as well as physical and verbal attacks, which have had an impact on the deterioration of public debate and the integrity of elections. In November 2023, UNESCO will launch an issue brief focusing on the violence committed against journalists during election periods.
1 IACHR. Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression. June 1, 2023. Press release R106/23.
RELE rejects murders of journalists in the region and calls on States to redouble efforts to prevent and protect the press.
The findings of the issue brief reveal that most attacks against journalists during election periods are committed by law enforcement agents. In the last three years, these attacks are counted in hundreds. In the case of women journalists, they are particularly affected by threats and attacks through social networks, which are exacerbated when they cover political issues. In the same UNESCO brief, it is revealed that women constitute 29% of the total number of attacked journalists during elections.
The overall impunity rate for the killings of journalists is around 86%, which suggests that most threats of violence and attacks against journalists are not adequately investigated. Given this alarming rate of impunity, States are reminded that they must fully, effectively and impartially investigate these crimes, clarify their motives, and judicially determine the relationship they may have with their activity as communicators. This requires robust and independent judicial systems, prosecutors’ and ombudsman’s offices, capable of vigorously
addressing all threats of violence against journalists.
The overall limited investigation, prosecution and capture of those responsible leads to more murders. The IDEI commemoration is therefore a call to honor the courage and commitment of journalists killed in the exercise of their profession; and to reaffirm the importance and urgency for States and other stakeholders,to deploy their maximum efforts to generate an environment free of violence for the press, as well as the necessary conditions for them to carry out their work freely, independently and safely.
This will also be an occasion to raise high on the agenda, the issue of the safetyof journalists during elections, which will be especially important as 81 countries are about to vote in national and regional elections, including in some of the world’s largest democracies. All in all, around 2,6 billion people will be eligible to vote in elections during 2024.
Objective
IDEI 2023 seeks to raise awareness and sensitize public opinion and the international community on the main challenges faced by journalists and communicators in the exercise of their profession, and on the escalation ofviolence and repression against them, particularly in Latin America and the Caribbean, which to date is the region with the largest number of fatal attacks against journalists.
It also seeks to highlight and warn about attacks and restrictions on the press in the context of coverage of social protests; the activation of judicial mechanisms against journalists for reasons related to their journalistic workon matters of public interest; and the forced exile, which is increasingly one of the main options for dealing with repression in some countries in the region. These facts, as already mentioned, are inserted in a context of constant stigmatization and discrediting by public officials and leaders towards the press, so it is also intended to reflect on the role of these people, based on their public discourse and specific obligations.
This edition of IDEI also wants to emphasize the situation of violence against journalists and media workers during election periods. In this sense, it seeks to reaffirm the commitments of the States and the responsibilities of the other actors involved to prevent and counteract the intolerance, discrimination and deliberate disinformation that permeates much of the debate in these contexts. The objective is to give visibility to the role of a safe and free press in ensuring the integrity of elections and our democratic systems. Finally, the sessions will delve into the obligation of States to adopt effective measures to protect the independent press and strengthen institutional frameworks that combat violence and impunity, and promote media independence, sustainability and diversity.
