Protecting journalists’ safety
UNESCO works towards a free and safe environment for journalists by implementing . Among key initiatives, UNESCO:
- Supports Member States to establish or improve mechanisms for prevention, protection and prosecution to bring justice to cases of murdered journalists;
- Builds journalists’ capacities to increase their safety when reporting from the field by identifying and properly addressing online and physical risks, with a special focus on gender-based violence and risks faced by women journalists;
- Produces resources, such as model curricula and training manuals with gender-specific perspectives, and shares best practices in order to improve journalists’ skills and knowledge on international standards for freedom of expression, investigative journalism, and conflict-sensitive reporting, among other topics;
- Sensitizes news organizations, media owners, and editors on the dangers confronting their staff, particularly those faced by local and women journalists.
Stories
How to stop impunity for crimes against journalists?
Why impunity of crimes against journalists prevails? - It is not an easy answer. But when a journalist is attacked for his or her work, not only is the journalist's individual right to freedom of expression violated, but also the collective rights of society to access information. Silencing a journalist should not only be a concern for one individual or journalistic union, it is an issue that affects society as a whole, its present and its future.
A threat against a journalist is a threat against your freedom
Every year journalists are threatened and killed for exposing the truth. This 2 November 2021, International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists, UNESCO calls the attention on the urgency to investigate and prosecute threats, whether online or physical, to before it's too late.
Online violence against women journalists harms everyone. Let’s end it!
A recent UNESCO-ICFJ survey showed that 73% of the women journalists surveyed reported having faced online violence while doing their job. They are often targeted in coordinated misogynistic attacks. This violence harms women’s right to speak and society’s right to know. To tackle this increasing trend, we need to find collective solutions to protect women journalists from online violence. This includes strong responses from social media platforms, national authorities and media organizations. Online violence against women journalists harms everyone.
Let’s end it!
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