Joint Statements

“The Slovak government’s actions are not only detrimental to the media landscape but also pose a significant challenge for the EU, particularly in light of new legislative measures such as the European Media Freedom Act” – press freedom groups

The press freedom groups work in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, and Nicaragua.

According to Mapping Media Freedom monitoring platform, at least 50 media workers experienced physical attacks, verbal abuse or obstruction as police violently dispersed the pro-EU demonstrations in Georgia.

Media advocacy organisations MFWA, Sinjotec, and the CPJ are encouraging authorities in Guinea-Bissau to address issues such as assaults, arbitrary detentions, and legal harassment of journalists, ahead of the country’s January 2025 Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process.

In the face of the growing crackdown on press freedom sparked by Venezuela’s presidential election, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and seven partner organisations (including IFEX-ALC) have joined forces to expose the harrowing obstacles currently facing the Venezuelan press. The report found over 228 violations of press freedom, and notes that at least eight journalists remain arbitrarily imprisoned.

Some journalists have been killed as a result of Russian shelling, either indiscriminate or targeted, while others were likely killed in extrajudicial executions. Dozens more have been wounded.

IFEX members join rights groups pressing for urgent international action to secure a ceasefire in Lebanon and protect civilians and journalists amid escalating violence.

IFEX joins rights groups urging the UN to act on the case of the British-Egyptian activist, who remains detained despite completing his sentence.

Signatory organisations, IFEX among them, stress that the draft implementation act does not provide sufficient safeguards to protect journalists from SLAPP cases, and therefore call for stronger and more effective measures.

We stand in solidarity with the Palestinian and Lebanese journalists bravely reporting amid life-threatening risks and demand that all governments, press freedom organisations, and human rights bodies take concrete steps to ensure their protection.

On November 13, in Geneva, Switzerland, the review and adoption of the recommendations issued to the State of Nicaragua as part of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) will take place.

A global law firm’s problematic review of Saudi Arabia’s World Cup bid ignores a dire human rights record.

“At least 15 Azerbaijani journalists have been arrested since November 2023 and currently await trial on charges that could see them jailed for between eight and 20 years. Thirteen of them remain in pre-trial detention.”

On 29 September, when Alaa’s five-year sentence came to an end, the Egyptian authorities did not release him, refusing to consider the two years he spent in pre-trial detention as “time served”.

The three press freedom groups have investigated the case since 2020, which showed damning evidence of the former governor in the journalist’s murder.

Signatory organisations, IFEX among them, call for an end to the needlessly cruel and protracted detention of Ashraf Omar, the dismissal of the baseless criminal charges against him, and for his immediate release and safe return to family and friends.