Background

In a context of increased threats and violations against journalists, the Kingdom of The Netherlands announced during the 2020 World Press Freedom Conference, that it would provide EUR 7,000,000 to the Office of the United Nations for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to develop activities in support of media freedom and the safety of journalists. 

On that basis, OHCHR and UNESCO developed a joint roadmap, called the “Global Drive for Media Freedom, Access to Information and the Safety of Journalists” aimed at (i) fostering an independent and free media and public recognition of the value of access to information; and (ii) strengthening the protection and accountability for violations against journalists.

Stretching from 2021 to 2023, the roadmap is implemented separately by OHCHR and UNESCO. OHCHR developed a work plan that supports advocacy, research, training, communication, monitoring and reporting activities by OHCHR field presences in more than 20 countries, including Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Bolivia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Haiti, Peru, Brazil, Mexico, Cameroon, Senegal, Ethiopia, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, Tunisia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Maldives, Nepal, Gabon, Congo, Sao Tome and Principe, Kenya, and Lebanon.

Summary

After detailing the main threats that journalists nowadays face in their work – from targeted killings and persistent impunity for these crimes; increasing detention; the growing use of defamation laws and laws to curb on-line expression; gender based violence on- and off-lines; Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation Laws (SLAPPS); and digital surveillance – the present briefer, developed by OHCHR and published in 2022, gives an overview of the implementation of the “Global Drive for Media Freedom, Access to Information and the Safety of Journalists” and its impact on the ground.