IMS hosts meeting on UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists

A harrowing 2014 with 61 journalists killed globally and an equally distressing journalist death toll in 2015 which by March already tallies 19, has pushed the safety of journalists and attacks on media freedom to the forefront of political agendas around the world. The importance of the UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity as a platform for concerted efforts to protect journalists and promote press freedom has never been clearer.

A working meeting hosted by International Media Support in Copenhagen from 25 – 26 March brought together a number of key international partners of the UN Plan of Action on Safety and the Issue of Impunity, a worldwide framework which aims to create a free and safe environment for journalists and media workers. Participants included UNESCO, Committee to Protect Journalists, Media Legal Defense Initiative, Index on Censorship, Article19, and Free Press Unlimited, Article 19 and Open Society Foundation. Other partners who could not be present included WAN-IFRA, International Federation of Journalists, and IPI.

The meeting in Copenhagen was particularly aimed at improving global coordination amongst civil society partners themselves, as well as UNESCO, the UN agency which leads the implementation of the global project. At the meeting, international partners committed to enhancing the internal coordination and acknowledged the need to strengthen collaboration around the implementation and coordination of efforts around the plan.

Jesper Højberg, Executive Director of IMS said: “There is an imminent need for international and national non-profit organisations to coordinate their efforts to secure the safety of journalists at country level and to strengthen the growth of national mechanisms that will protect journalists. The UN Plan of Action is an ideal framework within which we can address this and to which numerous organisations have made long-term commitments.”

Moving the UN Plan forward, the following was agreed among participants at the meeting:

  • A joint collaborative effort will be set in motion to document best practices of national mechanisms that support and promote the safety of journalists in countries such as Mexico, Colombia, Brazil and Afghanistan. This research, once compiled, will be shared at the national level in other countries that could benefit from the learning.
  • In countries such as Pakistan, Nepal and Afghanistan, the organisations present at the Copenhagen meeting will work to strengthen and coordinate joint efforts in the area of safety of journalists.

The meeting in Copenhagen on 25-26 March followed the 3rd UN-Inter-Agency meeting on the safety of journalists which took place in November 2014. Then, civil society partners in a statement “recognized that more needs to be done among international NGOs to ensure more efficient coordination at country level in order to support and facilitate the achievement of the targets set in the action plan.” The civil society partners also encouraged a more consistent and less disconnected actions at country level “to guarantee those measures, and call for national safety mechanisms to be further strengthened to ensure a “broad-based, comprehensive and inclusive approach, based on local ownership.” Read the full statement here.

The next meeting to push forward the UN Plan of Action takes place in Riga in connection with UNESCO’s conference on 3 May, World Press Freedom Day.

The UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity is a global framework that assists countries to develop legislation and mechanisms favourable to freedom of expression and information, and supports their efforts to implement existing international rules and principles through concerted efforts by civil society organisations, intergovernmental organisations, and governments as well as local media houses and journalist associations.