Impunity

A new joint report found that Mexico’s Federal Mechanism for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists failed to adequately evaluate risks journalists are facing, implements at times ineffective protective measures and lacks specialized knowledge of challenges to press freedom in Mexico.

The report raises concerns about the use of spyware, SLAPPs and journalists in exile.

More than three quarters of the 99 journalists and media workers killed worldwide in 2023 died in the Israel-Gaza war, the majority of them Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza. The conflict claimed the lives of more journalists in three months than have ever been killed in a single country over an entire year.

“The international system that we rely on to protect human rights is under threat as world leaders look the other way when universal principles of human rights are violated.”

A total 52 incidents of press freedom violations were recorded in 2023, while Freedom Forum’s annual media report shows the severe impact of the economic downturn on Nepali media.

Journalists living in exile face assault, harassment, and unlawful deportation at the hands of the governments they fled.

As we publish the investigations from this project, GCHR’s Journalists’ Protection Coordinator Zaynab Al-Khawaja says, “While working on this project I have been overwhelmed by how much my colleagues on the ground have to face and overcome, and I have been very scared for them.”

The report contains previously unpublished data on the obstacles to press freedom, particularly for local journalists, in the Brazilian Amazon, a region at the heart of the global climate challenge.

As London hosts the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Summit, ARTICLE 19 releases a new briefing assessing the progress made towards meeting the SDG on freedom of expression and access to information.

The May 11, 2022, killing of Al-Jazeera Arabic correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh is part of a deadly, decades-long pattern. Over 22 years, CPJ has documented at least 20 journalist killings by members of the Israel Defense Forces.

The European Union is facing numerous challenges as it seeks new ways to uphold its commitment to press freedom. This special report examines the EU’s response to threats such as murders of journalists, pandemic-related media controls, spyware, and the war in Ukraine.

The report reveals a continued degradation of press freedom across the continent. Throughout 2022, the Platform documented 289 alerts concerning 37 countries, with journalists being murdered, imprisoned, physically attacked, legally harassed, and subjected to smear campaigns.

A rise in serious violations against journalists last year included the murder of Shireen Abu Akleh and Ghufran Warasneh, documents a new report from Mada Center.

Freedom Forum’s annual media report for 2022 states that in total 45 incidents of press freedom violations occurred in Nepal, and 120 journalists were directly affected. Compared to the previous year, the number of violations declined, but the number of affected journalists increased, which the report has noted is a worrying trend.

This database contains information about journalists who have been killed in connection with their work. This could mean journalists who in IPI’s assessment have been directly targeted in retaliation for their work or journalists who have been killed while reporting, including while covering armed conflict.

A record total of 533 journalists are currently detained worldwide, according to the annual round-up of violence and abuses against journalists published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF). The number of those killed has increased again this year – to 57– while 65 journalists are being held hostage and 49 are missing.

Summary of IPI Africa Press Freedom Monitoring: October 2022

To build on the current momentum, while advancing support for the international justice system worldwide, Human Rights Watch has set out a “checklist” of five areas for action that all governments can take.

The report tracks gaps in the judicial process for the murder of journalists in Pakistan. PPF found that of the 76 cases where journalists were killed — either in targeted killings or while on assignment — since 2002, there have been convictions in only five instances.

This report takes stock of progress made towards accountability for the killing and injuring of protesters and activists committed during, and in the wake of, the 2019-2020 uprising across central and southern Iraq.

This report was written against the backdrop of the need to better understand the dynamics of impunity and the factors that contribute to solving cases of journalist murders on the domestic level. Although cases of full justice are scarce, they demonstrate that justice can be achieved.

A report published by the Gulf Centre for Human Rights to mark the International Day to End Impunity

No one has been held to account in nearly 80% of journalist murders during the last 10 years, CPJ’s 2022 Global Impunity Index found, and governments show little interest in tackling the issue.

Human Rights Watch documents a range of tactics that, when used together, form an ecosystem of repression, aiming not only to muzzle dissenting voices but to scare off all potential critics.

Drawing on interviews with Rohingya and humanitarian workers from 2012 to the present, Human Rights Watch documents how the authorities have capitalized on the ethnic cleansing campaign launched in June 2012 to segregate and confine a population they had long sought to remove from daily life in the predominantly Buddhist country.

Physical transnational repression is only the tip of an iceberg. Digital threats, spyware, and coercion by proxy means that – for millions of people around the world – transnational repression has become a common and institutionalised practice.

Freedom Forum published its annual World Press Freedom Day report which highlighted the attacks against journalists in Nepal over the past year.

The government has repeatedly bent to pressure from powerful interest groups, including those who advocate the use of violence on the basis of religion, and in doing so has not protected freedom of speech and religion, and the rights of at-risk communities. Police investigations into targeted attacks have stalled, largely because those responsible enjoy political protection.

Report of the 1-15 December 2021 joint fact-finding mission. The partner organisations conclude that challenges to the independence of the media and the safety of journalists are systemic in the country. While the problems are not unique, their intensity is highly problematic and sets it apart from most other EU Member States.

A Safer World For The Truth investigation. The murder of Gerry Ortega is indicative of structural problems concerning the safety of journalists in the Philippines; while the hitmen are often arrested, the powerful masterminds behind the killings of journalists often evade justice.

The report is the outcome of an unprecedented comparative analysis of the protective mechanisms in four countries – Mexico, Honduras, Colombia and Brazil – where 90% of the murders of journalists in the past decade took place.

“This report, which is rich with documented facts and detailed case studies, confirms that torture in the UAE is systematic. Furthermore, as a totalitarian state, torture is carried out on direct instructions from the highest authorities in the country.”

The Alliance of Independent Journalists releases its annual report on the state of media freedom in Indonesia. It documented 43 cases of violence against journalists throughout 2021.

Ten years on, the pro-democracy movement leaders are still behind bars, the major opposition political parties are outlawed, and the only independent newspaper in the country is indefinitely suspended. The Government of Bahrain’s (GoB) crackdown on free expression is in full force, as well as attempts to intimidate its critics into silence.

Journalists in most MENA countries continue to face all forms of repression, intimidation, and harassment, including the use of the judiciary to prevent them from carrying out their professional journalistic work. The Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) has documented many cases of journalists murdered or abused, most carried out with total impunity.

The space for free expression in Pakistan continues to shrink with the media facing attacks on all fronts. Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) has observed an alarming trend during 2021 where not only did physical attacks against the media continue with impunity but the state level push to restrict free expression also grew.

The media in Pakistan works within an increasingly repressive environment with the attacks on press freedom coming from all fronts. While physical attacks including abductions, manhandling, arrests and in some instances killings of journalists for their work continue, as online spheres such as social media platforms are of growing importance to the work of media professionals, journalists become the subject of attacks online.

No one has been held to account in 81% of journalist murders during the last 10 years, CPJ’s 2021 Global Impunity Index has found.

The report describes the types of violence and threats journalists encounter, along with the nature and frequency of different types of violations.

Despite credible and consistent evidence that Bangladesh security forces routinely commit enforced disappearances, the ruling Awami League has ignored calls by donor governments, the UN, human rights organizations, and civil society to address the culture of impunity.

The last six years have been extremely repressive for the media in Nigeria as impunity reached a new high under  President Muhammadu Buhari. About 300 press freedom violations including the unresolved killings of seven journalists were recorded over the period.

This report looks into the legal status, structure, formation mechanisms, and performance of four bodies to determine their shortcomings and to explain why they have not been able to achieve a noticeable improvement in the human rights scene in Bahrain – namely, the Special Investigation Unit (SIU), the Prisoners and Detainees Rights Commission (PDRC), the Office of the Ombudsman at the Ministry of the Interior (MOI Ombudsman), and the National Institution for Human Rights (NIHR).

The report reviews ten years of violations against media and media professionals (from March 2011 until the end of 2020), and presents the implications of the conflict for media freedom and the impact on the work of the media.

Hate speech has long been pervasive in Pakistani society, especially directed towards individuals and groups belonging to minority faiths (and those of no faith). Those not following the majority’s Sunni faith, are given different titles and labels while several stereotypes are associated with different faiths, sects and religions, including Christians, Hindus, Ahmadis, Sikhs and Shias. However, when it comes to online spaces where more and more people are joining different social media platforms to express their views and share their opinions (or those of others whom they support), these labels, titles and stereotypes get hugely amplified, attracting widespread attention across whole communities.

Drawing on first-hand witness statements by survivors of torture, the report is a comprehensive study on the specific ways and means by which torture is perpetrated in Bahrain, with a particular focus on the period since the 2011 popular movement and the violent crackdown that followed.

To mark International Women’s Day, RSF has published this report that reveals the extent of the dangers of sexist and sexual violence for women journalists, and its impact on journalism.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has tallied 50 cases of journalists killed in connection with their work in 2020 (from 1 January to 15 December).

In 2020 Pakistani media was confronted with unique new challenges, both in terms of content to cover as well as in the nature of the measures restricting press freedom and the free flow of information in the country.

Journalists in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region continue to face grave violations of their civil and human rights, including murder by governments or armed groups, usually with total impunity. Countries such as Syria, Iraq, Libya and Yemen continue to be classified among the most dangerous places for journalists.

Incremental progress toward reducing the murders of journalists worldwide is fragile and could be thwarted by legal appeals and lack of political leadership, CPJ found in its latest report on impunity in retaliatory media killings.

A s the novel coronavirus made a deadly sweep across the globe from the beginning of 2020, governments in South Asia tightened their iron grip over the media and democratic institutions.

IMPUNITY, JOURNALIST SAFETY AND WORKING CONDITIONS IN SOUTH EAST ASIA

Identify, Expose and Hold Accountable those responsible for past crimes to prevent future crimes and protect journalists in the region

A full two years on, there has still been no justice for the heinous assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia, which has shed light on broader systemic failings with regard to Malta’s press freedom climate, rule of law, and democratic checks and balances.

Repressive governments use sophisticated digital censorship and surveillance alongside more traditional methods to silence independent media. A special report by the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Once a year the PEN International produces a case list (covering the previous year) of individuals around the world who are detained or otherwise persecuted for their peaceful political activities or for the practice of their profession.

The Press Freedom Index Uganda report, recently launched by the Human Rights Network for Journalists-Uganda (HRNJ-Uganda), examines the state of press freedom in the country over the past year.

A comprehensive look at the core security agency driving Bahrain’s human rights crisis, Anatomy of a Police State is the first full study of the Ministry of Interior (MOI) police force’s integral role in the kingdom’s repression of dissent.

Annual Report 2019 by the Partner Organisations to the Council of Europe Platform to Promote the Protection of Journalism and Safety of Journalists

This investigation focuses on the techniques, tools and culture of Kenyan police and intelligence agencies’ communications surveillance practices.

Pakistan is among the countries that do not properly investigate and prosecute crimes against media professionals. Because of the near absolute level of impunity, most of the people who attack, injure or even murder media journalists in Pakistan remain free.

The report is based on incidents of crimes committed against journalists recorded by the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) during the period 2012 to 2016. Most of the incidents of crimes against journalists, particularly killings, reported during this period are related to acts of politically motivated violence.

In the 27 cases of journalists murdered for their work in India since CPJ began keeping records in 1992, there have been no convictions. More than half of those killed reported regularly on corruption. The cases of Jagendra Singh, Umesh Rajput, and Akshay Singh, who died between 2011 and 2015, show how small-town journalists face greater risk in their reporting than those from larger outlets, and how India’s culture of impunity is leaving the country’s press vulnerable to threats and attacks

Latin America is, by far, the most dangerous region of the world for environmental human rights defenders (EHRDs). The lack of effective guarantees of human rights protection in Latin American States has created this dire situation.

Somalia’s journalists have long been forced to work under difficult and dangerous circumstances, and the year 2015 offered them no respite.

Press freedom in the Philippines continued to be under attack from 2014 to 2015. The killing of journalists is continuing, with four journalists killed from May 2014 to May 2015. The trial of the accused masterminds of the Ampatuan (Maguindanao) Massacre and their supposed henchmen is continuing, but with a primary accused was released, while a witness in the same case was killed.

This 96-page report profiles eight “strongmen” linked to police, intelligence, and militia forces responsible for serious abuses in recent years. The report documents emblematic incidents that reflect longstanding patterns of violence for which victims obtained no official redress.

Persistent failures of the Bahraini justice system since the BICI report

Journalism in South Asia is far from an easy profession, as the 12th annual review of journalism in the region “The Campaign for Justice: Press Freedom in South Asia 2013-14” portrays. But this year’s report also tells the story of the courage of South Asia’s journalists to defend press freedom and to ensure citizens’ right to information and freedom of expression in the face of increasing challenges to the profession and personal safety.

The report details violent protests by opposition activists who called for an election boycott. In response, the government unleashed a brutal crackdown.

RWB report is being published ahead of the presidential election scheduled for 5 April. It is the fruit of a fact-finding visit to the northern provinces of Parwan, Kapisa and Panjshir in September 2013

An update on the Ampatuan Massacre trial by CMFR Executive Director Melinda Quintos de Jesus

New investigations are needed into cases of violence against journalists and those at risk need immediate protection, according to a new ARTICLE 19 report.

Russia is the sixth deadliest country in the world for journalists in the last 16 years. Moreover, as impunity for attacks on journalists in Russia remains the general rule and the vast majority of cases remain unsolved, the true tally could be even higher.

The report documents case after case in which police, the paramilitary Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), and the Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) opened fire into crowds or beat protesters in a brutal and unlawful manner

South Sudan’s government should investigate and prosecute attacks on protesters, activists, and journalists, Human Rights Watch says.

CPJ’s 2012 Impunity Index spotlights countries where journalists are slain and killers go free