The International Press Institute (IPI) will join with world media leaders on Friday in Paris for a UNESCO-organised discussion on how better to increase the safety of journalists and end impunity for crimes against them.
The international conference, titled “News organizations standing up for the safety of media”, will bring together top decision-makers of news organizations – especially owners, publishers, and editors-in-chief – and aims to provide a platform to discuss existing and new measures aimed to strengthen journalists’ safety worldwide and engage with Member States on these issues.
It stems from an April 2015 decision by UNESCO’s Executive Board mandating a conference with high level representatives of news organizations from all regions “in order for them to share good practices on the safety of journalists and more proactively highlight the issue of journalist safety”.
UNESCO is organising the conference in partnership with the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), IPI and the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF). The discussion is also supported by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), The Open Society Foundations (OSF), the World Association of Community Broadcasters (AMARC), Al Jazeera Media Network, Australia, Austria, Latvia, Finland, The Netherlands, and Sweden.
Key topics to be addressed include:
-The establishment of safety protocols for media professionals, including staff and freelancers
-The promotion of physical, psychological and digital safety
-The recognition of the key role that editors play in managing risks and dangers
-The development of partnerships between international and local media outlets
-The provision of training for media professionals reporting in danger
-The exchange of best practices on editorial decision-making and safety protocol
-The advancement of dialogue between media outlets and UNESCO member states on journalists safety and how to work together to fight impunity for crimes against them.
The conference comes at a particularly relevant time. According to IPI’s Death Watch at least 108 journalists around the world lost their lives in connection with their work in 2015, with all but 11 of them murdered or cut down amid violent conflict. Further, IPI continues to monitor some 36 other cases of journalists who were slain in 2015 where the motivations and identities of their killers remains unclear.
UNESCO coordinates implementation of the U.N. Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity which was endorsed by the U.N. Chief Executives Board on April 12, 2012. Since then, the U.N. Plan of Action has become a global reference point on safety of journalists.
More information about the event is available on UNESCO’s website.
