Closing space for media and civil society – “the new normal”

On 16 November 2017, International Media Support and the Danish National Commission for UNESCO organised a debate  about the “Closing Space phenomenon” – tactics employed by governments around the world to silence critical voices and restrict the manoeuvering space of media and civil society. Here is what IMS Director Jesper Højberg had to say about the matter

Summary of presentation and main points by Jesper Højberg, Director, International Media Support (IMS) at Closing Space debate, 16 November. Copenhagen

The issue of “Closing Space for media and civil society” remains highly topical. Perhaps more so now than ever, a decade or so after “closing space”  became a familiar term in academia to describe the state of affairs resulting from government tactics to restrict freedom of expression for journalists and human rights defenders and for broader civil society across the world. But the world has yet to find an adequate response.

Something has changed since the concept of “closing – or shrinking space” for media and civil society first became known. The phenomenon no longer emanates from a few countries. Dozens of governments around the world, democratic as well as authoritarian, are pushing back against democratic developments and curbing human rights. They are erecting legal and logistical barriers to democracy and rights programmes, publicly vilifying and harassing their own domestic and international civil society organisations, media, human rights and aid groups.

As a result, the manoeuvering space for media and civil society has become seriously reduced. This is now the “new normal” in countries across almost all continents – and even in some EU member states – like Poland and Hungary. But, we are, however, faced with a paradox.

Traditional development indicators for education, health, and economic capacity have improved impressively over the last 15 years and are rightfully celebrated widely by the international community and governments globally. The positive global mood following the passing of the Sustainable Development Goals’ in 2015 somehow captures this new development optimism.  Which we all must support.

However, in the field of safeguarding, protecting and developing political rights, the world is failing. Freedom of association, freedom of expression and media freedom – the area in which International Media Support, UNESCO and many others work –  is at its lowest in 13 years. This is indeed a paradox.

In a sense, this should be the golden age for free speech. Our smartphone can call up newspapers from the other side of world in seconds. We can connect with the rest of the world via Facebook and Twitter posts every single day every minute. Anyone with access to the internet can be a publisher.

But the facts speak for themselves. The world today is a more dangerous place for journalists, civil society and human rights defenders. The number of journalists and human rights defenders jailed, under attack or killed is on its rise. Between 2007 – 2017, in the last decade, 640 journalists (source: CPJ) have been killed as a direct consequence of doing their job.

UNESCO’s recently release 2017/2018 World Trends report on Freedom of Expression and Media Development informs us that:

– The number of internet shutdowns by governments has increased in the past two years from 18 in 2015 to 56 in 2017;
– We see a rise in criticism of media and human rights groups by political figures leading to self-censorship;
– We see growing threats to digital safety;
– An increased capture of media by government and big corporate interests and subsidies.

Inadequate international response
The discussion that we need to take is how the international community can respond to governments and power holders that are taking further measures to shrink the space for media and human rights defenders. What can be done to best support the work of those in these countries wishing to fight for their right to freedom of expression and press freedom despite the odds. However, at this very moment in time, looking at the proliferation of closing space tactics employed around the world, I think we can conclude that the international response has so far been inadequate. As simple as that.

We need to ask ourselves how do we, the international community, both at government level, the international level under the auspices of the UN, the EU, etc and at the NGO civil society level ensure a more effective and joint response to those governments curbing human rights and media freedom?

As an organisation that works with highly motivated and courageous media and human rights partners across the world, we focus on adding value to their efforts and to not endanger partners by mere association. The global IMS study “Defending journalism – a comparative study of safety mechanisms in seven countries” launched in early November 2017 as part of the international framework, the UN Plan of Action for the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity”, provides some guidance to good practices on the safety of journalists. It shows how concerted efforts born and led by coalitions of stakeholders that include media, civil society, authorities (where possible) and international organisations together can form the most effective responses to the safety of journalists.

IMS’ own approach to working in “closing space” environments is by no means the only way or the solution, but we have identified certain principles that guide us in our work to illicit impact and change: Building close partnerships with those seeking positive change in support of internationally recognised human rights principles in countries of closing spaces; presence on the ground by IMS staff in these environments is crucial in order to understand the context of our partners and work to their priorities; persistence, meaning long-term support despite declining media environments, international attention and funding; protection of media and human rights defenders as an integral part of our media programmes; and sharing good practices on media safety, on media content production, distribution, sustainable media business models, and optimal use of technology – across borders.

For far too long, the “bad guys” have been learning restrictive tactics from one another. It’s time to scale up our efforts to put the good guys in touch with eachother across the world – those looking to create positive change and fighting for their right for freedom of expression as journalists and human rights defenders. Our hope lies in the courage and determination of these individuals and organisations and in the growing global efforts across borders and stakeholders to turn around this “new normal” of closing spaces for media and civil society.