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UNESCO鈥檚 work with prosecutors to tackle crimes against journalists taken forward with international partners
This was the first time UNESCO was invited to speak with this important group of stakeholders in countering impunity for crimes against journalists on an international level.
The conference gathered over 300 prosecutors from around the world and provided a key strategic opportunity to present UNESCO鈥檚 work in promoting freedom of expression, access to information and the safety of journalists.
In this context, UNESCO co-organized a plenary session titled 鈥淚AP-UNESCO Special Session on Freedom of Expression and the Safety of Journalists鈥, which took place on Wednesday, 28 September 2022, and participated in two workshops on (1) the IAP Partners鈥 Programme 鈥攁longside the and the 鈥 and (2) a session dedicated to Freedom of Expression and Social Media.
As those responsible for initiating prosecutions and, in some cases, supervising criminal investigations, public prosecutors have a crucial role to play in protecting journalists and in ensuring that crimes and attacks against them do not go unpunished. As the only global organization of prosecutors, gathering 183 organizational members and 350,000 prosecutors from 177 countries, the IAP has been a natural partner of UNESCO in its endeavor of training prosecutors on freedom of expression and safety of journalists related issues. To that effect, the Director-General of , which defined a strategic framework to strengthen the capacities of prosecutors on investigating and prosecuting crimes against journalists. The signature of the MoU also followed the establishment of an agreement between UNESCO and the Ibero-American Association of Public Prosecutors (AIAMP) in May 2020, to strengthen the protection of freedom of expression, access to public information, and the safety of journalists in the Ibero-American Region.
This cooperation with the IAP has notably led to the development of , now available in 19 languages, and which served as the basis for the organization a on investigating and prosecuting crimes against journalists, organized from 14 to 18 February 2022 in Siracusa, Italy, as well as two national trainings for prosecutors in (March 2022) and (August 2022). UNESCO鈥檚 participation in the IAP鈥檚 27th Annual Conference and General Meeting gave the opportunity to take forward the agenda between UNESCO and the IAP and to plan further activities and engagement.
The IAP-UNESCO Special Session on Freedom of Expression and the Safety of Journalist was organized with the support of the and from the .
Since 2013, UNESCO鈥檚 Judges鈥 Initiative has raised the capacities of judicial actors (including judges, prosecutors, and lawyers) on international and regional standards on freedom of expression, access to information, and the safety of journalists in over 150 countries around the world. Over 24,000 judicial actors, including judges, prosecutors, and lawyers, have been trained on these issues, notably through a series of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), on-the-ground training and workshops for Supreme Court judges, and the publications of many and .
