UNITED NATIONS, Could 12 (IPS) – The world’s information media — each beneath authoritarian regimes and democratic governments– proceed to return beneath relentless assaults and political harassment.
“Freedom of the press is the inspiration of democracy and justice. It provides all of us the details we have to form opinions and converse fact to energy. However in each nook of the world, freedom of the press is beneath assault,” UN Secretary-Common Antonio Guterres said on World Press Freedom Day Could 3.
Journalists and media employees, he stated, are immediately focused on and offline as they perform their important work. They’re routinely harassed, intimidated, detained and imprisoned.
No less than 67 media employees had been killed in 2022 — a 50 per cent enhance over the earlier 12 months. Almost three quarters of girls journalists have skilled violence on-line, and one in 4 have been threatened bodily, in line with the UN.
However there may be additionally a rise in non-physical assaults, together with defamation lawsuits towards media organizations difficult their respectable proper to free expression.
The Washington-based US Company for Worldwide Growth (USAID) final week launched Reporters Shield, a brand new membership program that protects journalists across the world– who report within the public interest– from defamation lawsuits and authorized threats.
Established as a U.S.-based nonprofit group by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Undertaking (OCCRP) and the Cyrus R. Vance Heart for Worldwide Justice, Reporters Protect has been described as “a first-of-its-kind international program that defends investigative reporting around the globe from authorized threats meant to silence crucial voices”.
USAID, which has an extended historical past of fostering the expansion of unbiased media the world over, plans to work with Congress to contribute as much as $9 million in seed funding for this groundbreaking new program to assist media outdoors the USA, in line with a Could 2 press launch.
In a press release launched final week, USAID stated investigative journalists and civil society organizations reporting within the public curiosity are more and more going through lawsuits that purpose to harass and silence them by burdening them with the associated fee and time of a authorized protection till they abandon their tales or exit of enterprise totally.
Reporters Protect will assist to cut back these dangers by coaching and pre-publication overview, in addition to funding authorized illustration to struggle lawsuits and different authorized actions meant to intimidate and financially burden reporters.
So as to maintain this system sustainable, member organizations taking part in Reporters Protect pays affordable annual charges which are primarily based on a variation of things, together with location of the outlet and what number of tales they produce a 12 months.
“To be thought-about for membership in Reporters Protect, a corporation have to be legally registered and focus primarily in information, public curiosity, and/or investigative reporting; publish reporting in print and/or on-line; have non-profit standing or clear possession; be unbiased from political, business, or different undue affect or interference; and have editorial independence and cling to skilled editorial requirements”.
Reporters Protect is accepting functions worldwide and might be reviewing them in a phased strategy, with some areas receiving advantages within the coming months, and others added later this 12 months and in 2024.
organizations can discover extra info and apply for membership by visiting reporters-shield.org.
The event of Reporters Protect has been supported by the beneficiant professional bono authorized assist of the regulation companies of Proskauer, Primmer Piper Eggleston & Cramer PC, and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP.
www.usaid.gov/democracy/reporters-shield.
Mandeep S. Tiwana, Chief Programmes Officer at CIVICUS, a world alliance of civil society organizations (CSOs), advised IPS “these are laborious instances for media freedoms on account of disinformation and assaults on civic area spurred by deepening authoritarianism, denigration of democracy by populism and consolidation of wealth by oligarchs”.
Uncovering severe human rights violations and high-level corruption, he identified, is changing into more and more harmful and dear for investigative journalists and civil society activists.
When few corporations are able to signal the Anti- Strategic Lawsuits In opposition to Public Participation (SLAPP) pledge and artful politicians are busy undermining the independence of judiciaries, this initiative comes at a crucial time,” he declared.
In response to the Anti-SLAPP pledge by International Citizen, a world schooling and advocacy group, strategic lawsuits towards public participation, or SLAPPs, should not a respectable enterprise technique for corporations.
“The personal sector thrives in functioning democratic societies, the place the best to freedom of expression is a revered bedrock precept and the place everybody can categorical their views with out concern of intimidation or reprisal”.
“Lawsuits and authorized ways meant to silence civil organizations and human rights defenders aren’t simply dangerous for societies, they’re additionally damaging to corporations. When corporations stifle free expression, they restrict their potential to handle danger associated to their operations and international provide chains.”
As corporations which are dedicated to working in societies the place individuals are capable of train elementary rights, stated International Citizen, “we pledge to: outline Strategic lawsuits towards public participation, or SLAPPs, as each lawsuits and authorized ways which are designed to silence critics and abridge residents’ potential to train elementary rights.”
— Chorus from partaking in SLAPPs towards human rights and environmental defenders and civil society organizations that assist affected rights-holders.
— Acknowledge the crucial function that civil society organizations and human rights defenders play in making a worthwhile enabling atmosphere for the personal sector.
— Encourage companions and suppliers inside our worth chain to chorus from partaking in SLAPPs to silence respectable activism.
IPS UN Bureau Report
Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
Follow IPS News UN Bureau on Instagram
© Inter Press Service (2023) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service
UNITED NATIONS, Could 12 (IPS) – The world’s information media — each beneath authoritarian regimes and democratic governments– proceed to return beneath relentless assaults and political harassment.
“Freedom of the press is the inspiration of democracy and justice. It provides all of us the details we have to form opinions and converse fact to energy. However in each nook of the world, freedom of the press is beneath assault,” UN Secretary-Common Antonio Guterres said on World Press Freedom Day Could 3.
Journalists and media employees, he stated, are immediately focused on and offline as they perform their important work. They’re routinely harassed, intimidated, detained and imprisoned.
No less than 67 media employees had been killed in 2022 — a 50 per cent enhance over the earlier 12 months. Almost three quarters of girls journalists have skilled violence on-line, and one in 4 have been threatened bodily, in line with the UN.
However there may be additionally a rise in non-physical assaults, together with defamation lawsuits towards media organizations difficult their respectable proper to free expression.
The Washington-based US Company for Worldwide Growth (USAID) final week launched Reporters Shield, a brand new membership program that protects journalists across the world– who report within the public interest– from defamation lawsuits and authorized threats.
Established as a U.S.-based nonprofit group by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Undertaking (OCCRP) and the Cyrus R. Vance Heart for Worldwide Justice, Reporters Protect has been described as “a first-of-its-kind international program that defends investigative reporting around the globe from authorized threats meant to silence crucial voices”.
USAID, which has an extended historical past of fostering the expansion of unbiased media the world over, plans to work with Congress to contribute as much as $9 million in seed funding for this groundbreaking new program to assist media outdoors the USA, in line with a Could 2 press launch.
In a press release launched final week, USAID stated investigative journalists and civil society organizations reporting within the public curiosity are more and more going through lawsuits that purpose to harass and silence them by burdening them with the associated fee and time of a authorized protection till they abandon their tales or exit of enterprise totally.
Reporters Protect will assist to cut back these dangers by coaching and pre-publication overview, in addition to funding authorized illustration to struggle lawsuits and different authorized actions meant to intimidate and financially burden reporters.
So as to maintain this system sustainable, member organizations taking part in Reporters Protect pays affordable annual charges which are primarily based on a variation of things, together with location of the outlet and what number of tales they produce a 12 months.
“To be thought-about for membership in Reporters Protect, a corporation have to be legally registered and focus primarily in information, public curiosity, and/or investigative reporting; publish reporting in print and/or on-line; have non-profit standing or clear possession; be unbiased from political, business, or different undue affect or interference; and have editorial independence and cling to skilled editorial requirements”.
Reporters Protect is accepting functions worldwide and might be reviewing them in a phased strategy, with some areas receiving advantages within the coming months, and others added later this 12 months and in 2024.
organizations can discover extra info and apply for membership by visiting reporters-shield.org.
The event of Reporters Protect has been supported by the beneficiant professional bono authorized assist of the regulation companies of Proskauer, Primmer Piper Eggleston & Cramer PC, and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP.
www.usaid.gov/democracy/reporters-shield.
Mandeep S. Tiwana, Chief Programmes Officer at CIVICUS, a world alliance of civil society organizations (CSOs), advised IPS “these are laborious instances for media freedoms on account of disinformation and assaults on civic area spurred by deepening authoritarianism, denigration of democracy by populism and consolidation of wealth by oligarchs”.
Uncovering severe human rights violations and high-level corruption, he identified, is changing into more and more harmful and dear for investigative journalists and civil society activists.
When few corporations are able to signal the Anti- Strategic Lawsuits In opposition to Public Participation (SLAPP) pledge and artful politicians are busy undermining the independence of judiciaries, this initiative comes at a crucial time,” he declared.
In response to the Anti-SLAPP pledge by International Citizen, a world schooling and advocacy group, strategic lawsuits towards public participation, or SLAPPs, should not a respectable enterprise technique for corporations.
“The personal sector thrives in functioning democratic societies, the place the best to freedom of expression is a revered bedrock precept and the place everybody can categorical their views with out concern of intimidation or reprisal”.
“Lawsuits and authorized ways meant to silence civil organizations and human rights defenders aren’t simply dangerous for societies, they’re additionally damaging to corporations. When corporations stifle free expression, they restrict their potential to handle danger associated to their operations and international provide chains.”
As corporations which are dedicated to working in societies the place individuals are capable of train elementary rights, stated International Citizen, “we pledge to: outline Strategic lawsuits towards public participation, or SLAPPs, as each lawsuits and authorized ways which are designed to silence critics and abridge residents’ potential to train elementary rights.”
— Chorus from partaking in SLAPPs towards human rights and environmental defenders and civil society organizations that assist affected rights-holders.
— Acknowledge the crucial function that civil society organizations and human rights defenders play in making a worthwhile enabling atmosphere for the personal sector.
— Encourage companions and suppliers inside our worth chain to chorus from partaking in SLAPPs to silence respectable activism.
IPS UN Bureau Report
Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
Follow IPS News UN Bureau on Instagram
© Inter Press Service (2023) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service
UNITED NATIONS, Could 12 (IPS) – The world’s information media — each beneath authoritarian regimes and democratic governments– proceed to return beneath relentless assaults and political harassment.
“Freedom of the press is the inspiration of democracy and justice. It provides all of us the details we have to form opinions and converse fact to energy. However in each nook of the world, freedom of the press is beneath assault,” UN Secretary-Common Antonio Guterres said on World Press Freedom Day Could 3.
Journalists and media employees, he stated, are immediately focused on and offline as they perform their important work. They’re routinely harassed, intimidated, detained and imprisoned.
No less than 67 media employees had been killed in 2022 — a 50 per cent enhance over the earlier 12 months. Almost three quarters of girls journalists have skilled violence on-line, and one in 4 have been threatened bodily, in line with the UN.
However there may be additionally a rise in non-physical assaults, together with defamation lawsuits towards media organizations difficult their respectable proper to free expression.
The Washington-based US Company for Worldwide Growth (USAID) final week launched Reporters Shield, a brand new membership program that protects journalists across the world– who report within the public interest– from defamation lawsuits and authorized threats.
Established as a U.S.-based nonprofit group by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Undertaking (OCCRP) and the Cyrus R. Vance Heart for Worldwide Justice, Reporters Protect has been described as “a first-of-its-kind international program that defends investigative reporting around the globe from authorized threats meant to silence crucial voices”.
USAID, which has an extended historical past of fostering the expansion of unbiased media the world over, plans to work with Congress to contribute as much as $9 million in seed funding for this groundbreaking new program to assist media outdoors the USA, in line with a Could 2 press launch.
In a press release launched final week, USAID stated investigative journalists and civil society organizations reporting within the public curiosity are more and more going through lawsuits that purpose to harass and silence them by burdening them with the associated fee and time of a authorized protection till they abandon their tales or exit of enterprise totally.
Reporters Protect will assist to cut back these dangers by coaching and pre-publication overview, in addition to funding authorized illustration to struggle lawsuits and different authorized actions meant to intimidate and financially burden reporters.
So as to maintain this system sustainable, member organizations taking part in Reporters Protect pays affordable annual charges which are primarily based on a variation of things, together with location of the outlet and what number of tales they produce a 12 months.
“To be thought-about for membership in Reporters Protect, a corporation have to be legally registered and focus primarily in information, public curiosity, and/or investigative reporting; publish reporting in print and/or on-line; have non-profit standing or clear possession; be unbiased from political, business, or different undue affect or interference; and have editorial independence and cling to skilled editorial requirements”.
Reporters Protect is accepting functions worldwide and might be reviewing them in a phased strategy, with some areas receiving advantages within the coming months, and others added later this 12 months and in 2024.
organizations can discover extra info and apply for membership by visiting reporters-shield.org.
The event of Reporters Protect has been supported by the beneficiant professional bono authorized assist of the regulation companies of Proskauer, Primmer Piper Eggleston & Cramer PC, and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP.
www.usaid.gov/democracy/reporters-shield.
Mandeep S. Tiwana, Chief Programmes Officer at CIVICUS, a world alliance of civil society organizations (CSOs), advised IPS “these are laborious instances for media freedoms on account of disinformation and assaults on civic area spurred by deepening authoritarianism, denigration of democracy by populism and consolidation of wealth by oligarchs”.
Uncovering severe human rights violations and high-level corruption, he identified, is changing into more and more harmful and dear for investigative journalists and civil society activists.
When few corporations are able to signal the Anti- Strategic Lawsuits In opposition to Public Participation (SLAPP) pledge and artful politicians are busy undermining the independence of judiciaries, this initiative comes at a crucial time,” he declared.
In response to the Anti-SLAPP pledge by International Citizen, a world schooling and advocacy group, strategic lawsuits towards public participation, or SLAPPs, should not a respectable enterprise technique for corporations.
“The personal sector thrives in functioning democratic societies, the place the best to freedom of expression is a revered bedrock precept and the place everybody can categorical their views with out concern of intimidation or reprisal”.
“Lawsuits and authorized ways meant to silence civil organizations and human rights defenders aren’t simply dangerous for societies, they’re additionally damaging to corporations. When corporations stifle free expression, they restrict their potential to handle danger associated to their operations and international provide chains.”
As corporations which are dedicated to working in societies the place individuals are capable of train elementary rights, stated International Citizen, “we pledge to: outline Strategic lawsuits towards public participation, or SLAPPs, as each lawsuits and authorized ways which are designed to silence critics and abridge residents’ potential to train elementary rights.”
— Chorus from partaking in SLAPPs towards human rights and environmental defenders and civil society organizations that assist affected rights-holders.
— Acknowledge the crucial function that civil society organizations and human rights defenders play in making a worthwhile enabling atmosphere for the personal sector.
— Encourage companions and suppliers inside our worth chain to chorus from partaking in SLAPPs to silence respectable activism.
IPS UN Bureau Report
Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
Follow IPS News UN Bureau on Instagram
© Inter Press Service (2023) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service
UNITED NATIONS, Could 12 (IPS) – The world’s information media — each beneath authoritarian regimes and democratic governments– proceed to return beneath relentless assaults and political harassment.
“Freedom of the press is the inspiration of democracy and justice. It provides all of us the details we have to form opinions and converse fact to energy. However in each nook of the world, freedom of the press is beneath assault,” UN Secretary-Common Antonio Guterres said on World Press Freedom Day Could 3.
Journalists and media employees, he stated, are immediately focused on and offline as they perform their important work. They’re routinely harassed, intimidated, detained and imprisoned.
No less than 67 media employees had been killed in 2022 — a 50 per cent enhance over the earlier 12 months. Almost three quarters of girls journalists have skilled violence on-line, and one in 4 have been threatened bodily, in line with the UN.
However there may be additionally a rise in non-physical assaults, together with defamation lawsuits towards media organizations difficult their respectable proper to free expression.
The Washington-based US Company for Worldwide Growth (USAID) final week launched Reporters Shield, a brand new membership program that protects journalists across the world– who report within the public interest– from defamation lawsuits and authorized threats.
Established as a U.S.-based nonprofit group by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Undertaking (OCCRP) and the Cyrus R. Vance Heart for Worldwide Justice, Reporters Protect has been described as “a first-of-its-kind international program that defends investigative reporting around the globe from authorized threats meant to silence crucial voices”.
USAID, which has an extended historical past of fostering the expansion of unbiased media the world over, plans to work with Congress to contribute as much as $9 million in seed funding for this groundbreaking new program to assist media outdoors the USA, in line with a Could 2 press launch.
In a press release launched final week, USAID stated investigative journalists and civil society organizations reporting within the public curiosity are more and more going through lawsuits that purpose to harass and silence them by burdening them with the associated fee and time of a authorized protection till they abandon their tales or exit of enterprise totally.
Reporters Protect will assist to cut back these dangers by coaching and pre-publication overview, in addition to funding authorized illustration to struggle lawsuits and different authorized actions meant to intimidate and financially burden reporters.
So as to maintain this system sustainable, member organizations taking part in Reporters Protect pays affordable annual charges which are primarily based on a variation of things, together with location of the outlet and what number of tales they produce a 12 months.
“To be thought-about for membership in Reporters Protect, a corporation have to be legally registered and focus primarily in information, public curiosity, and/or investigative reporting; publish reporting in print and/or on-line; have non-profit standing or clear possession; be unbiased from political, business, or different undue affect or interference; and have editorial independence and cling to skilled editorial requirements”.
Reporters Protect is accepting functions worldwide and might be reviewing them in a phased strategy, with some areas receiving advantages within the coming months, and others added later this 12 months and in 2024.
organizations can discover extra info and apply for membership by visiting reporters-shield.org.
The event of Reporters Protect has been supported by the beneficiant professional bono authorized assist of the regulation companies of Proskauer, Primmer Piper Eggleston & Cramer PC, and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP.
www.usaid.gov/democracy/reporters-shield.
Mandeep S. Tiwana, Chief Programmes Officer at CIVICUS, a world alliance of civil society organizations (CSOs), advised IPS “these are laborious instances for media freedoms on account of disinformation and assaults on civic area spurred by deepening authoritarianism, denigration of democracy by populism and consolidation of wealth by oligarchs”.
Uncovering severe human rights violations and high-level corruption, he identified, is changing into more and more harmful and dear for investigative journalists and civil society activists.
When few corporations are able to signal the Anti- Strategic Lawsuits In opposition to Public Participation (SLAPP) pledge and artful politicians are busy undermining the independence of judiciaries, this initiative comes at a crucial time,” he declared.
In response to the Anti-SLAPP pledge by International Citizen, a world schooling and advocacy group, strategic lawsuits towards public participation, or SLAPPs, should not a respectable enterprise technique for corporations.
“The personal sector thrives in functioning democratic societies, the place the best to freedom of expression is a revered bedrock precept and the place everybody can categorical their views with out concern of intimidation or reprisal”.
“Lawsuits and authorized ways meant to silence civil organizations and human rights defenders aren’t simply dangerous for societies, they’re additionally damaging to corporations. When corporations stifle free expression, they restrict their potential to handle danger associated to their operations and international provide chains.”
As corporations which are dedicated to working in societies the place individuals are capable of train elementary rights, stated International Citizen, “we pledge to: outline Strategic lawsuits towards public participation, or SLAPPs, as each lawsuits and authorized ways which are designed to silence critics and abridge residents’ potential to train elementary rights.”
— Chorus from partaking in SLAPPs towards human rights and environmental defenders and civil society organizations that assist affected rights-holders.
— Acknowledge the crucial function that civil society organizations and human rights defenders play in making a worthwhile enabling atmosphere for the personal sector.
— Encourage companions and suppliers inside our worth chain to chorus from partaking in SLAPPs to silence respectable activism.
IPS UN Bureau Report
Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
Follow IPS News UN Bureau on Instagram
© Inter Press Service (2023) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service
UNITED NATIONS, Could 12 (IPS) – The world’s information media — each beneath authoritarian regimes and democratic governments– proceed to return beneath relentless assaults and political harassment.
“Freedom of the press is the inspiration of democracy and justice. It provides all of us the details we have to form opinions and converse fact to energy. However in each nook of the world, freedom of the press is beneath assault,” UN Secretary-Common Antonio Guterres said on World Press Freedom Day Could 3.
Journalists and media employees, he stated, are immediately focused on and offline as they perform their important work. They’re routinely harassed, intimidated, detained and imprisoned.
No less than 67 media employees had been killed in 2022 — a 50 per cent enhance over the earlier 12 months. Almost three quarters of girls journalists have skilled violence on-line, and one in 4 have been threatened bodily, in line with the UN.
However there may be additionally a rise in non-physical assaults, together with defamation lawsuits towards media organizations difficult their respectable proper to free expression.
The Washington-based US Company for Worldwide Growth (USAID) final week launched Reporters Shield, a brand new membership program that protects journalists across the world– who report within the public interest– from defamation lawsuits and authorized threats.
Established as a U.S.-based nonprofit group by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Undertaking (OCCRP) and the Cyrus R. Vance Heart for Worldwide Justice, Reporters Protect has been described as “a first-of-its-kind international program that defends investigative reporting around the globe from authorized threats meant to silence crucial voices”.
USAID, which has an extended historical past of fostering the expansion of unbiased media the world over, plans to work with Congress to contribute as much as $9 million in seed funding for this groundbreaking new program to assist media outdoors the USA, in line with a Could 2 press launch.
In a press release launched final week, USAID stated investigative journalists and civil society organizations reporting within the public curiosity are more and more going through lawsuits that purpose to harass and silence them by burdening them with the associated fee and time of a authorized protection till they abandon their tales or exit of enterprise totally.
Reporters Protect will assist to cut back these dangers by coaching and pre-publication overview, in addition to funding authorized illustration to struggle lawsuits and different authorized actions meant to intimidate and financially burden reporters.
So as to maintain this system sustainable, member organizations taking part in Reporters Protect pays affordable annual charges which are primarily based on a variation of things, together with location of the outlet and what number of tales they produce a 12 months.
“To be thought-about for membership in Reporters Protect, a corporation have to be legally registered and focus primarily in information, public curiosity, and/or investigative reporting; publish reporting in print and/or on-line; have non-profit standing or clear possession; be unbiased from political, business, or different undue affect or interference; and have editorial independence and cling to skilled editorial requirements”.
Reporters Protect is accepting functions worldwide and might be reviewing them in a phased strategy, with some areas receiving advantages within the coming months, and others added later this 12 months and in 2024.
organizations can discover extra info and apply for membership by visiting reporters-shield.org.
The event of Reporters Protect has been supported by the beneficiant professional bono authorized assist of the regulation companies of Proskauer, Primmer Piper Eggleston & Cramer PC, and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP.
www.usaid.gov/democracy/reporters-shield.
Mandeep S. Tiwana, Chief Programmes Officer at CIVICUS, a world alliance of civil society organizations (CSOs), advised IPS “these are laborious instances for media freedoms on account of disinformation and assaults on civic area spurred by deepening authoritarianism, denigration of democracy by populism and consolidation of wealth by oligarchs”.
Uncovering severe human rights violations and high-level corruption, he identified, is changing into more and more harmful and dear for investigative journalists and civil society activists.
When few corporations are able to signal the Anti- Strategic Lawsuits In opposition to Public Participation (SLAPP) pledge and artful politicians are busy undermining the independence of judiciaries, this initiative comes at a crucial time,” he declared.
In response to the Anti-SLAPP pledge by International Citizen, a world schooling and advocacy group, strategic lawsuits towards public participation, or SLAPPs, should not a respectable enterprise technique for corporations.
“The personal sector thrives in functioning democratic societies, the place the best to freedom of expression is a revered bedrock precept and the place everybody can categorical their views with out concern of intimidation or reprisal”.
“Lawsuits and authorized ways meant to silence civil organizations and human rights defenders aren’t simply dangerous for societies, they’re additionally damaging to corporations. When corporations stifle free expression, they restrict their potential to handle danger associated to their operations and international provide chains.”
As corporations which are dedicated to working in societies the place individuals are capable of train elementary rights, stated International Citizen, “we pledge to: outline Strategic lawsuits towards public participation, or SLAPPs, as each lawsuits and authorized ways which are designed to silence critics and abridge residents’ potential to train elementary rights.”
— Chorus from partaking in SLAPPs towards human rights and environmental defenders and civil society organizations that assist affected rights-holders.
— Acknowledge the crucial function that civil society organizations and human rights defenders play in making a worthwhile enabling atmosphere for the personal sector.
— Encourage companions and suppliers inside our worth chain to chorus from partaking in SLAPPs to silence respectable activism.
IPS UN Bureau Report
Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
Follow IPS News UN Bureau on Instagram
© Inter Press Service (2023) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service
UNITED NATIONS, Could 12 (IPS) – The world’s information media — each beneath authoritarian regimes and democratic governments– proceed to return beneath relentless assaults and political harassment.
“Freedom of the press is the inspiration of democracy and justice. It provides all of us the details we have to form opinions and converse fact to energy. However in each nook of the world, freedom of the press is beneath assault,” UN Secretary-Common Antonio Guterres said on World Press Freedom Day Could 3.
Journalists and media employees, he stated, are immediately focused on and offline as they perform their important work. They’re routinely harassed, intimidated, detained and imprisoned.
No less than 67 media employees had been killed in 2022 — a 50 per cent enhance over the earlier 12 months. Almost three quarters of girls journalists have skilled violence on-line, and one in 4 have been threatened bodily, in line with the UN.
However there may be additionally a rise in non-physical assaults, together with defamation lawsuits towards media organizations difficult their respectable proper to free expression.
The Washington-based US Company for Worldwide Growth (USAID) final week launched Reporters Shield, a brand new membership program that protects journalists across the world– who report within the public interest– from defamation lawsuits and authorized threats.
Established as a U.S.-based nonprofit group by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Undertaking (OCCRP) and the Cyrus R. Vance Heart for Worldwide Justice, Reporters Protect has been described as “a first-of-its-kind international program that defends investigative reporting around the globe from authorized threats meant to silence crucial voices”.
USAID, which has an extended historical past of fostering the expansion of unbiased media the world over, plans to work with Congress to contribute as much as $9 million in seed funding for this groundbreaking new program to assist media outdoors the USA, in line with a Could 2 press launch.
In a press release launched final week, USAID stated investigative journalists and civil society organizations reporting within the public curiosity are more and more going through lawsuits that purpose to harass and silence them by burdening them with the associated fee and time of a authorized protection till they abandon their tales or exit of enterprise totally.
Reporters Protect will assist to cut back these dangers by coaching and pre-publication overview, in addition to funding authorized illustration to struggle lawsuits and different authorized actions meant to intimidate and financially burden reporters.
So as to maintain this system sustainable, member organizations taking part in Reporters Protect pays affordable annual charges which are primarily based on a variation of things, together with location of the outlet and what number of tales they produce a 12 months.
“To be thought-about for membership in Reporters Protect, a corporation have to be legally registered and focus primarily in information, public curiosity, and/or investigative reporting; publish reporting in print and/or on-line; have non-profit standing or clear possession; be unbiased from political, business, or different undue affect or interference; and have editorial independence and cling to skilled editorial requirements”.
Reporters Protect is accepting functions worldwide and might be reviewing them in a phased strategy, with some areas receiving advantages within the coming months, and others added later this 12 months and in 2024.
organizations can discover extra info and apply for membership by visiting reporters-shield.org.
The event of Reporters Protect has been supported by the beneficiant professional bono authorized assist of the regulation companies of Proskauer, Primmer Piper Eggleston & Cramer PC, and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP.
www.usaid.gov/democracy/reporters-shield.
Mandeep S. Tiwana, Chief Programmes Officer at CIVICUS, a world alliance of civil society organizations (CSOs), advised IPS “these are laborious instances for media freedoms on account of disinformation and assaults on civic area spurred by deepening authoritarianism, denigration of democracy by populism and consolidation of wealth by oligarchs”.
Uncovering severe human rights violations and high-level corruption, he identified, is changing into more and more harmful and dear for investigative journalists and civil society activists.
When few corporations are able to signal the Anti- Strategic Lawsuits In opposition to Public Participation (SLAPP) pledge and artful politicians are busy undermining the independence of judiciaries, this initiative comes at a crucial time,” he declared.
In response to the Anti-SLAPP pledge by International Citizen, a world schooling and advocacy group, strategic lawsuits towards public participation, or SLAPPs, should not a respectable enterprise technique for corporations.
“The personal sector thrives in functioning democratic societies, the place the best to freedom of expression is a revered bedrock precept and the place everybody can categorical their views with out concern of intimidation or reprisal”.
“Lawsuits and authorized ways meant to silence civil organizations and human rights defenders aren’t simply dangerous for societies, they’re additionally damaging to corporations. When corporations stifle free expression, they restrict their potential to handle danger associated to their operations and international provide chains.”
As corporations which are dedicated to working in societies the place individuals are capable of train elementary rights, stated International Citizen, “we pledge to: outline Strategic lawsuits towards public participation, or SLAPPs, as each lawsuits and authorized ways which are designed to silence critics and abridge residents’ potential to train elementary rights.”
— Chorus from partaking in SLAPPs towards human rights and environmental defenders and civil society organizations that assist affected rights-holders.
— Acknowledge the crucial function that civil society organizations and human rights defenders play in making a worthwhile enabling atmosphere for the personal sector.
— Encourage companions and suppliers inside our worth chain to chorus from partaking in SLAPPs to silence respectable activism.
IPS UN Bureau Report
Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
Follow IPS News UN Bureau on Instagram
© Inter Press Service (2023) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service
UNITED NATIONS, Could 12 (IPS) – The world’s information media — each beneath authoritarian regimes and democratic governments– proceed to return beneath relentless assaults and political harassment.
“Freedom of the press is the inspiration of democracy and justice. It provides all of us the details we have to form opinions and converse fact to energy. However in each nook of the world, freedom of the press is beneath assault,” UN Secretary-Common Antonio Guterres said on World Press Freedom Day Could 3.
Journalists and media employees, he stated, are immediately focused on and offline as they perform their important work. They’re routinely harassed, intimidated, detained and imprisoned.
No less than 67 media employees had been killed in 2022 — a 50 per cent enhance over the earlier 12 months. Almost three quarters of girls journalists have skilled violence on-line, and one in 4 have been threatened bodily, in line with the UN.
However there may be additionally a rise in non-physical assaults, together with defamation lawsuits towards media organizations difficult their respectable proper to free expression.
The Washington-based US Company for Worldwide Growth (USAID) final week launched Reporters Shield, a brand new membership program that protects journalists across the world– who report within the public interest– from defamation lawsuits and authorized threats.
Established as a U.S.-based nonprofit group by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Undertaking (OCCRP) and the Cyrus R. Vance Heart for Worldwide Justice, Reporters Protect has been described as “a first-of-its-kind international program that defends investigative reporting around the globe from authorized threats meant to silence crucial voices”.
USAID, which has an extended historical past of fostering the expansion of unbiased media the world over, plans to work with Congress to contribute as much as $9 million in seed funding for this groundbreaking new program to assist media outdoors the USA, in line with a Could 2 press launch.
In a press release launched final week, USAID stated investigative journalists and civil society organizations reporting within the public curiosity are more and more going through lawsuits that purpose to harass and silence them by burdening them with the associated fee and time of a authorized protection till they abandon their tales or exit of enterprise totally.
Reporters Protect will assist to cut back these dangers by coaching and pre-publication overview, in addition to funding authorized illustration to struggle lawsuits and different authorized actions meant to intimidate and financially burden reporters.
So as to maintain this system sustainable, member organizations taking part in Reporters Protect pays affordable annual charges which are primarily based on a variation of things, together with location of the outlet and what number of tales they produce a 12 months.
“To be thought-about for membership in Reporters Protect, a corporation have to be legally registered and focus primarily in information, public curiosity, and/or investigative reporting; publish reporting in print and/or on-line; have non-profit standing or clear possession; be unbiased from political, business, or different undue affect or interference; and have editorial independence and cling to skilled editorial requirements”.
Reporters Protect is accepting functions worldwide and might be reviewing them in a phased strategy, with some areas receiving advantages within the coming months, and others added later this 12 months and in 2024.
organizations can discover extra info and apply for membership by visiting reporters-shield.org.
The event of Reporters Protect has been supported by the beneficiant professional bono authorized assist of the regulation companies of Proskauer, Primmer Piper Eggleston & Cramer PC, and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP.
www.usaid.gov/democracy/reporters-shield.
Mandeep S. Tiwana, Chief Programmes Officer at CIVICUS, a world alliance of civil society organizations (CSOs), advised IPS “these are laborious instances for media freedoms on account of disinformation and assaults on civic area spurred by deepening authoritarianism, denigration of democracy by populism and consolidation of wealth by oligarchs”.
Uncovering severe human rights violations and high-level corruption, he identified, is changing into more and more harmful and dear for investigative journalists and civil society activists.
When few corporations are able to signal the Anti- Strategic Lawsuits In opposition to Public Participation (SLAPP) pledge and artful politicians are busy undermining the independence of judiciaries, this initiative comes at a crucial time,” he declared.
In response to the Anti-SLAPP pledge by International Citizen, a world schooling and advocacy group, strategic lawsuits towards public participation, or SLAPPs, should not a respectable enterprise technique for corporations.
“The personal sector thrives in functioning democratic societies, the place the best to freedom of expression is a revered bedrock precept and the place everybody can categorical their views with out concern of intimidation or reprisal”.
“Lawsuits and authorized ways meant to silence civil organizations and human rights defenders aren’t simply dangerous for societies, they’re additionally damaging to corporations. When corporations stifle free expression, they restrict their potential to handle danger associated to their operations and international provide chains.”
As corporations which are dedicated to working in societies the place individuals are capable of train elementary rights, stated International Citizen, “we pledge to: outline Strategic lawsuits towards public participation, or SLAPPs, as each lawsuits and authorized ways which are designed to silence critics and abridge residents’ potential to train elementary rights.”
— Chorus from partaking in SLAPPs towards human rights and environmental defenders and civil society organizations that assist affected rights-holders.
— Acknowledge the crucial function that civil society organizations and human rights defenders play in making a worthwhile enabling atmosphere for the personal sector.
— Encourage companions and suppliers inside our worth chain to chorus from partaking in SLAPPs to silence respectable activism.
IPS UN Bureau Report
Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
Follow IPS News UN Bureau on Instagram
© Inter Press Service (2023) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service
UNITED NATIONS, Could 12 (IPS) – The world’s information media — each beneath authoritarian regimes and democratic governments– proceed to return beneath relentless assaults and political harassment.
“Freedom of the press is the inspiration of democracy and justice. It provides all of us the details we have to form opinions and converse fact to energy. However in each nook of the world, freedom of the press is beneath assault,” UN Secretary-Common Antonio Guterres said on World Press Freedom Day Could 3.
Journalists and media employees, he stated, are immediately focused on and offline as they perform their important work. They’re routinely harassed, intimidated, detained and imprisoned.
No less than 67 media employees had been killed in 2022 — a 50 per cent enhance over the earlier 12 months. Almost three quarters of girls journalists have skilled violence on-line, and one in 4 have been threatened bodily, in line with the UN.
However there may be additionally a rise in non-physical assaults, together with defamation lawsuits towards media organizations difficult their respectable proper to free expression.
The Washington-based US Company for Worldwide Growth (USAID) final week launched Reporters Shield, a brand new membership program that protects journalists across the world– who report within the public interest– from defamation lawsuits and authorized threats.
Established as a U.S.-based nonprofit group by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Undertaking (OCCRP) and the Cyrus R. Vance Heart for Worldwide Justice, Reporters Protect has been described as “a first-of-its-kind international program that defends investigative reporting around the globe from authorized threats meant to silence crucial voices”.
USAID, which has an extended historical past of fostering the expansion of unbiased media the world over, plans to work with Congress to contribute as much as $9 million in seed funding for this groundbreaking new program to assist media outdoors the USA, in line with a Could 2 press launch.
In a press release launched final week, USAID stated investigative journalists and civil society organizations reporting within the public curiosity are more and more going through lawsuits that purpose to harass and silence them by burdening them with the associated fee and time of a authorized protection till they abandon their tales or exit of enterprise totally.
Reporters Protect will assist to cut back these dangers by coaching and pre-publication overview, in addition to funding authorized illustration to struggle lawsuits and different authorized actions meant to intimidate and financially burden reporters.
So as to maintain this system sustainable, member organizations taking part in Reporters Protect pays affordable annual charges which are primarily based on a variation of things, together with location of the outlet and what number of tales they produce a 12 months.
“To be thought-about for membership in Reporters Protect, a corporation have to be legally registered and focus primarily in information, public curiosity, and/or investigative reporting; publish reporting in print and/or on-line; have non-profit standing or clear possession; be unbiased from political, business, or different undue affect or interference; and have editorial independence and cling to skilled editorial requirements”.
Reporters Protect is accepting functions worldwide and might be reviewing them in a phased strategy, with some areas receiving advantages within the coming months, and others added later this 12 months and in 2024.
organizations can discover extra info and apply for membership by visiting reporters-shield.org.
The event of Reporters Protect has been supported by the beneficiant professional bono authorized assist of the regulation companies of Proskauer, Primmer Piper Eggleston & Cramer PC, and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP.
www.usaid.gov/democracy/reporters-shield.
Mandeep S. Tiwana, Chief Programmes Officer at CIVICUS, a world alliance of civil society organizations (CSOs), advised IPS “these are laborious instances for media freedoms on account of disinformation and assaults on civic area spurred by deepening authoritarianism, denigration of democracy by populism and consolidation of wealth by oligarchs”.
Uncovering severe human rights violations and high-level corruption, he identified, is changing into more and more harmful and dear for investigative journalists and civil society activists.
When few corporations are able to signal the Anti- Strategic Lawsuits In opposition to Public Participation (SLAPP) pledge and artful politicians are busy undermining the independence of judiciaries, this initiative comes at a crucial time,” he declared.
In response to the Anti-SLAPP pledge by International Citizen, a world schooling and advocacy group, strategic lawsuits towards public participation, or SLAPPs, should not a respectable enterprise technique for corporations.
“The personal sector thrives in functioning democratic societies, the place the best to freedom of expression is a revered bedrock precept and the place everybody can categorical their views with out concern of intimidation or reprisal”.
“Lawsuits and authorized ways meant to silence civil organizations and human rights defenders aren’t simply dangerous for societies, they’re additionally damaging to corporations. When corporations stifle free expression, they restrict their potential to handle danger associated to their operations and international provide chains.”
As corporations which are dedicated to working in societies the place individuals are capable of train elementary rights, stated International Citizen, “we pledge to: outline Strategic lawsuits towards public participation, or SLAPPs, as each lawsuits and authorized ways which are designed to silence critics and abridge residents’ potential to train elementary rights.”
— Chorus from partaking in SLAPPs towards human rights and environmental defenders and civil society organizations that assist affected rights-holders.
— Acknowledge the crucial function that civil society organizations and human rights defenders play in making a worthwhile enabling atmosphere for the personal sector.
— Encourage companions and suppliers inside our worth chain to chorus from partaking in SLAPPs to silence respectable activism.
IPS UN Bureau Report
Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
Follow IPS News UN Bureau on Instagram
© Inter Press Service (2023) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service
UNITED NATIONS, Could 12 (IPS) – The world’s information media — each beneath authoritarian regimes and democratic governments– proceed to return beneath relentless assaults and political harassment.
“Freedom of the press is the inspiration of democracy and justice. It provides all of us the details we have to form opinions and converse fact to energy. However in each nook of the world, freedom of the press is beneath assault,” UN Secretary-Common Antonio Guterres said on World Press Freedom Day Could 3.
Journalists and media employees, he stated, are immediately focused on and offline as they perform their important work. They’re routinely harassed, intimidated, detained and imprisoned.
No less than 67 media employees had been killed in 2022 — a 50 per cent enhance over the earlier 12 months. Almost three quarters of girls journalists have skilled violence on-line, and one in 4 have been threatened bodily, in line with the UN.
However there may be additionally a rise in non-physical assaults, together with defamation lawsuits towards media organizations difficult their respectable proper to free expression.
The Washington-based US Company for Worldwide Growth (USAID) final week launched Reporters Shield, a brand new membership program that protects journalists across the world– who report within the public interest– from defamation lawsuits and authorized threats.
Established as a U.S.-based nonprofit group by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Undertaking (OCCRP) and the Cyrus R. Vance Heart for Worldwide Justice, Reporters Protect has been described as “a first-of-its-kind international program that defends investigative reporting around the globe from authorized threats meant to silence crucial voices”.
USAID, which has an extended historical past of fostering the expansion of unbiased media the world over, plans to work with Congress to contribute as much as $9 million in seed funding for this groundbreaking new program to assist media outdoors the USA, in line with a Could 2 press launch.
In a press release launched final week, USAID stated investigative journalists and civil society organizations reporting within the public curiosity are more and more going through lawsuits that purpose to harass and silence them by burdening them with the associated fee and time of a authorized protection till they abandon their tales or exit of enterprise totally.
Reporters Protect will assist to cut back these dangers by coaching and pre-publication overview, in addition to funding authorized illustration to struggle lawsuits and different authorized actions meant to intimidate and financially burden reporters.
So as to maintain this system sustainable, member organizations taking part in Reporters Protect pays affordable annual charges which are primarily based on a variation of things, together with location of the outlet and what number of tales they produce a 12 months.
“To be thought-about for membership in Reporters Protect, a corporation have to be legally registered and focus primarily in information, public curiosity, and/or investigative reporting; publish reporting in print and/or on-line; have non-profit standing or clear possession; be unbiased from political, business, or different undue affect or interference; and have editorial independence and cling to skilled editorial requirements”.
Reporters Protect is accepting functions worldwide and might be reviewing them in a phased strategy, with some areas receiving advantages within the coming months, and others added later this 12 months and in 2024.
organizations can discover extra info and apply for membership by visiting reporters-shield.org.
The event of Reporters Protect has been supported by the beneficiant professional bono authorized assist of the regulation companies of Proskauer, Primmer Piper Eggleston & Cramer PC, and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP.
www.usaid.gov/democracy/reporters-shield.
Mandeep S. Tiwana, Chief Programmes Officer at CIVICUS, a world alliance of civil society organizations (CSOs), advised IPS “these are laborious instances for media freedoms on account of disinformation and assaults on civic area spurred by deepening authoritarianism, denigration of democracy by populism and consolidation of wealth by oligarchs”.
Uncovering severe human rights violations and high-level corruption, he identified, is changing into more and more harmful and dear for investigative journalists and civil society activists.
When few corporations are able to signal the Anti- Strategic Lawsuits In opposition to Public Participation (SLAPP) pledge and artful politicians are busy undermining the independence of judiciaries, this initiative comes at a crucial time,” he declared.
In response to the Anti-SLAPP pledge by International Citizen, a world schooling and advocacy group, strategic lawsuits towards public participation, or SLAPPs, should not a respectable enterprise technique for corporations.
“The personal sector thrives in functioning democratic societies, the place the best to freedom of expression is a revered bedrock precept and the place everybody can categorical their views with out concern of intimidation or reprisal”.
“Lawsuits and authorized ways meant to silence civil organizations and human rights defenders aren’t simply dangerous for societies, they’re additionally damaging to corporations. When corporations stifle free expression, they restrict their potential to handle danger associated to their operations and international provide chains.”
As corporations which are dedicated to working in societies the place individuals are capable of train elementary rights, stated International Citizen, “we pledge to: outline Strategic lawsuits towards public participation, or SLAPPs, as each lawsuits and authorized ways which are designed to silence critics and abridge residents’ potential to train elementary rights.”
— Chorus from partaking in SLAPPs towards human rights and environmental defenders and civil society organizations that assist affected rights-holders.
— Acknowledge the crucial function that civil society organizations and human rights defenders play in making a worthwhile enabling atmosphere for the personal sector.
— Encourage companions and suppliers inside our worth chain to chorus from partaking in SLAPPs to silence respectable activism.
IPS UN Bureau Report
Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
Follow IPS News UN Bureau on Instagram
© Inter Press Service (2023) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service
UNITED NATIONS, Could 12 (IPS) – The world’s information media — each beneath authoritarian regimes and democratic governments– proceed to return beneath relentless assaults and political harassment.
“Freedom of the press is the inspiration of democracy and justice. It provides all of us the details we have to form opinions and converse fact to energy. However in each nook of the world, freedom of the press is beneath assault,” UN Secretary-Common Antonio Guterres said on World Press Freedom Day Could 3.
Journalists and media employees, he stated, are immediately focused on and offline as they perform their important work. They’re routinely harassed, intimidated, detained and imprisoned.
No less than 67 media employees had been killed in 2022 — a 50 per cent enhance over the earlier 12 months. Almost three quarters of girls journalists have skilled violence on-line, and one in 4 have been threatened bodily, in line with the UN.
However there may be additionally a rise in non-physical assaults, together with defamation lawsuits towards media organizations difficult their respectable proper to free expression.
The Washington-based US Company for Worldwide Growth (USAID) final week launched Reporters Shield, a brand new membership program that protects journalists across the world– who report within the public interest– from defamation lawsuits and authorized threats.
Established as a U.S.-based nonprofit group by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Undertaking (OCCRP) and the Cyrus R. Vance Heart for Worldwide Justice, Reporters Protect has been described as “a first-of-its-kind international program that defends investigative reporting around the globe from authorized threats meant to silence crucial voices”.
USAID, which has an extended historical past of fostering the expansion of unbiased media the world over, plans to work with Congress to contribute as much as $9 million in seed funding for this groundbreaking new program to assist media outdoors the USA, in line with a Could 2 press launch.
In a press release launched final week, USAID stated investigative journalists and civil society organizations reporting within the public curiosity are more and more going through lawsuits that purpose to harass and silence them by burdening them with the associated fee and time of a authorized protection till they abandon their tales or exit of enterprise totally.
Reporters Protect will assist to cut back these dangers by coaching and pre-publication overview, in addition to funding authorized illustration to struggle lawsuits and different authorized actions meant to intimidate and financially burden reporters.
So as to maintain this system sustainable, member organizations taking part in Reporters Protect pays affordable annual charges which are primarily based on a variation of things, together with location of the outlet and what number of tales they produce a 12 months.
“To be thought-about for membership in Reporters Protect, a corporation have to be legally registered and focus primarily in information, public curiosity, and/or investigative reporting; publish reporting in print and/or on-line; have non-profit standing or clear possession; be unbiased from political, business, or different undue affect or interference; and have editorial independence and cling to skilled editorial requirements”.
Reporters Protect is accepting functions worldwide and might be reviewing them in a phased strategy, with some areas receiving advantages within the coming months, and others added later this 12 months and in 2024.
organizations can discover extra info and apply for membership by visiting reporters-shield.org.
The event of Reporters Protect has been supported by the beneficiant professional bono authorized assist of the regulation companies of Proskauer, Primmer Piper Eggleston & Cramer PC, and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP.
www.usaid.gov/democracy/reporters-shield.
Mandeep S. Tiwana, Chief Programmes Officer at CIVICUS, a world alliance of civil society organizations (CSOs), advised IPS “these are laborious instances for media freedoms on account of disinformation and assaults on civic area spurred by deepening authoritarianism, denigration of democracy by populism and consolidation of wealth by oligarchs”.
Uncovering severe human rights violations and high-level corruption, he identified, is changing into more and more harmful and dear for investigative journalists and civil society activists.
When few corporations are able to signal the Anti- Strategic Lawsuits In opposition to Public Participation (SLAPP) pledge and artful politicians are busy undermining the independence of judiciaries, this initiative comes at a crucial time,” he declared.
In response to the Anti-SLAPP pledge by International Citizen, a world schooling and advocacy group, strategic lawsuits towards public participation, or SLAPPs, should not a respectable enterprise technique for corporations.
“The personal sector thrives in functioning democratic societies, the place the best to freedom of expression is a revered bedrock precept and the place everybody can categorical their views with out concern of intimidation or reprisal”.
“Lawsuits and authorized ways meant to silence civil organizations and human rights defenders aren’t simply dangerous for societies, they’re additionally damaging to corporations. When corporations stifle free expression, they restrict their potential to handle danger associated to their operations and international provide chains.”
As corporations which are dedicated to working in societies the place individuals are capable of train elementary rights, stated International Citizen, “we pledge to: outline Strategic lawsuits towards public participation, or SLAPPs, as each lawsuits and authorized ways which are designed to silence critics and abridge residents’ potential to train elementary rights.”
— Chorus from partaking in SLAPPs towards human rights and environmental defenders and civil society organizations that assist affected rights-holders.
— Acknowledge the crucial function that civil society organizations and human rights defenders play in making a worthwhile enabling atmosphere for the personal sector.
— Encourage companions and suppliers inside our worth chain to chorus from partaking in SLAPPs to silence respectable activism.
IPS UN Bureau Report
Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
Follow IPS News UN Bureau on Instagram
© Inter Press Service (2023) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service
UNITED NATIONS, Could 12 (IPS) – The world’s information media — each beneath authoritarian regimes and democratic governments– proceed to return beneath relentless assaults and political harassment.
“Freedom of the press is the inspiration of democracy and justice. It provides all of us the details we have to form opinions and converse fact to energy. However in each nook of the world, freedom of the press is beneath assault,” UN Secretary-Common Antonio Guterres said on World Press Freedom Day Could 3.
Journalists and media employees, he stated, are immediately focused on and offline as they perform their important work. They’re routinely harassed, intimidated, detained and imprisoned.
No less than 67 media employees had been killed in 2022 — a 50 per cent enhance over the earlier 12 months. Almost three quarters of girls journalists have skilled violence on-line, and one in 4 have been threatened bodily, in line with the UN.
However there may be additionally a rise in non-physical assaults, together with defamation lawsuits towards media organizations difficult their respectable proper to free expression.
The Washington-based US Company for Worldwide Growth (USAID) final week launched Reporters Shield, a brand new membership program that protects journalists across the world– who report within the public interest– from defamation lawsuits and authorized threats.
Established as a U.S.-based nonprofit group by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Undertaking (OCCRP) and the Cyrus R. Vance Heart for Worldwide Justice, Reporters Protect has been described as “a first-of-its-kind international program that defends investigative reporting around the globe from authorized threats meant to silence crucial voices”.
USAID, which has an extended historical past of fostering the expansion of unbiased media the world over, plans to work with Congress to contribute as much as $9 million in seed funding for this groundbreaking new program to assist media outdoors the USA, in line with a Could 2 press launch.
In a press release launched final week, USAID stated investigative journalists and civil society organizations reporting within the public curiosity are more and more going through lawsuits that purpose to harass and silence them by burdening them with the associated fee and time of a authorized protection till they abandon their tales or exit of enterprise totally.
Reporters Protect will assist to cut back these dangers by coaching and pre-publication overview, in addition to funding authorized illustration to struggle lawsuits and different authorized actions meant to intimidate and financially burden reporters.
So as to maintain this system sustainable, member organizations taking part in Reporters Protect pays affordable annual charges which are primarily based on a variation of things, together with location of the outlet and what number of tales they produce a 12 months.
“To be thought-about for membership in Reporters Protect, a corporation have to be legally registered and focus primarily in information, public curiosity, and/or investigative reporting; publish reporting in print and/or on-line; have non-profit standing or clear possession; be unbiased from political, business, or different undue affect or interference; and have editorial independence and cling to skilled editorial requirements”.
Reporters Protect is accepting functions worldwide and might be reviewing them in a phased strategy, with some areas receiving advantages within the coming months, and others added later this 12 months and in 2024.
organizations can discover extra info and apply for membership by visiting reporters-shield.org.
The event of Reporters Protect has been supported by the beneficiant professional bono authorized assist of the regulation companies of Proskauer, Primmer Piper Eggleston & Cramer PC, and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP.
www.usaid.gov/democracy/reporters-shield.
Mandeep S. Tiwana, Chief Programmes Officer at CIVICUS, a world alliance of civil society organizations (CSOs), advised IPS “these are laborious instances for media freedoms on account of disinformation and assaults on civic area spurred by deepening authoritarianism, denigration of democracy by populism and consolidation of wealth by oligarchs”.
Uncovering severe human rights violations and high-level corruption, he identified, is changing into more and more harmful and dear for investigative journalists and civil society activists.
When few corporations are able to signal the Anti- Strategic Lawsuits In opposition to Public Participation (SLAPP) pledge and artful politicians are busy undermining the independence of judiciaries, this initiative comes at a crucial time,” he declared.
In response to the Anti-SLAPP pledge by International Citizen, a world schooling and advocacy group, strategic lawsuits towards public participation, or SLAPPs, should not a respectable enterprise technique for corporations.
“The personal sector thrives in functioning democratic societies, the place the best to freedom of expression is a revered bedrock precept and the place everybody can categorical their views with out concern of intimidation or reprisal”.
“Lawsuits and authorized ways meant to silence civil organizations and human rights defenders aren’t simply dangerous for societies, they’re additionally damaging to corporations. When corporations stifle free expression, they restrict their potential to handle danger associated to their operations and international provide chains.”
As corporations which are dedicated to working in societies the place individuals are capable of train elementary rights, stated International Citizen, “we pledge to: outline Strategic lawsuits towards public participation, or SLAPPs, as each lawsuits and authorized ways which are designed to silence critics and abridge residents’ potential to train elementary rights.”
— Chorus from partaking in SLAPPs towards human rights and environmental defenders and civil society organizations that assist affected rights-holders.
— Acknowledge the crucial function that civil society organizations and human rights defenders play in making a worthwhile enabling atmosphere for the personal sector.
— Encourage companions and suppliers inside our worth chain to chorus from partaking in SLAPPs to silence respectable activism.
IPS UN Bureau Report
Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
Follow IPS News UN Bureau on Instagram
© Inter Press Service (2023) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service
UNITED NATIONS, Could 12 (IPS) – The world’s information media — each beneath authoritarian regimes and democratic governments– proceed to return beneath relentless assaults and political harassment.
“Freedom of the press is the inspiration of democracy and justice. It provides all of us the details we have to form opinions and converse fact to energy. However in each nook of the world, freedom of the press is beneath assault,” UN Secretary-Common Antonio Guterres said on World Press Freedom Day Could 3.
Journalists and media employees, he stated, are immediately focused on and offline as they perform their important work. They’re routinely harassed, intimidated, detained and imprisoned.
No less than 67 media employees had been killed in 2022 — a 50 per cent enhance over the earlier 12 months. Almost three quarters of girls journalists have skilled violence on-line, and one in 4 have been threatened bodily, in line with the UN.
However there may be additionally a rise in non-physical assaults, together with defamation lawsuits towards media organizations difficult their respectable proper to free expression.
The Washington-based US Company for Worldwide Growth (USAID) final week launched Reporters Shield, a brand new membership program that protects journalists across the world– who report within the public interest– from defamation lawsuits and authorized threats.
Established as a U.S.-based nonprofit group by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Undertaking (OCCRP) and the Cyrus R. Vance Heart for Worldwide Justice, Reporters Protect has been described as “a first-of-its-kind international program that defends investigative reporting around the globe from authorized threats meant to silence crucial voices”.
USAID, which has an extended historical past of fostering the expansion of unbiased media the world over, plans to work with Congress to contribute as much as $9 million in seed funding for this groundbreaking new program to assist media outdoors the USA, in line with a Could 2 press launch.
In a press release launched final week, USAID stated investigative journalists and civil society organizations reporting within the public curiosity are more and more going through lawsuits that purpose to harass and silence them by burdening them with the associated fee and time of a authorized protection till they abandon their tales or exit of enterprise totally.
Reporters Protect will assist to cut back these dangers by coaching and pre-publication overview, in addition to funding authorized illustration to struggle lawsuits and different authorized actions meant to intimidate and financially burden reporters.
So as to maintain this system sustainable, member organizations taking part in Reporters Protect pays affordable annual charges which are primarily based on a variation of things, together with location of the outlet and what number of tales they produce a 12 months.
“To be thought-about for membership in Reporters Protect, a corporation have to be legally registered and focus primarily in information, public curiosity, and/or investigative reporting; publish reporting in print and/or on-line; have non-profit standing or clear possession; be unbiased from political, business, or different undue affect or interference; and have editorial independence and cling to skilled editorial requirements”.
Reporters Protect is accepting functions worldwide and might be reviewing them in a phased strategy, with some areas receiving advantages within the coming months, and others added later this 12 months and in 2024.
organizations can discover extra info and apply for membership by visiting reporters-shield.org.
The event of Reporters Protect has been supported by the beneficiant professional bono authorized assist of the regulation companies of Proskauer, Primmer Piper Eggleston & Cramer PC, and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP.
www.usaid.gov/democracy/reporters-shield.
Mandeep S. Tiwana, Chief Programmes Officer at CIVICUS, a world alliance of civil society organizations (CSOs), advised IPS “these are laborious instances for media freedoms on account of disinformation and assaults on civic area spurred by deepening authoritarianism, denigration of democracy by populism and consolidation of wealth by oligarchs”.
Uncovering severe human rights violations and high-level corruption, he identified, is changing into more and more harmful and dear for investigative journalists and civil society activists.
When few corporations are able to signal the Anti- Strategic Lawsuits In opposition to Public Participation (SLAPP) pledge and artful politicians are busy undermining the independence of judiciaries, this initiative comes at a crucial time,” he declared.
In response to the Anti-SLAPP pledge by International Citizen, a world schooling and advocacy group, strategic lawsuits towards public participation, or SLAPPs, should not a respectable enterprise technique for corporations.
“The personal sector thrives in functioning democratic societies, the place the best to freedom of expression is a revered bedrock precept and the place everybody can categorical their views with out concern of intimidation or reprisal”.
“Lawsuits and authorized ways meant to silence civil organizations and human rights defenders aren’t simply dangerous for societies, they’re additionally damaging to corporations. When corporations stifle free expression, they restrict their potential to handle danger associated to their operations and international provide chains.”
As corporations which are dedicated to working in societies the place individuals are capable of train elementary rights, stated International Citizen, “we pledge to: outline Strategic lawsuits towards public participation, or SLAPPs, as each lawsuits and authorized ways which are designed to silence critics and abridge residents’ potential to train elementary rights.”
— Chorus from partaking in SLAPPs towards human rights and environmental defenders and civil society organizations that assist affected rights-holders.
— Acknowledge the crucial function that civil society organizations and human rights defenders play in making a worthwhile enabling atmosphere for the personal sector.
— Encourage companions and suppliers inside our worth chain to chorus from partaking in SLAPPs to silence respectable activism.
IPS UN Bureau Report
Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
Follow IPS News UN Bureau on Instagram
© Inter Press Service (2023) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service
UNITED NATIONS, Could 12 (IPS) – The world’s information media — each beneath authoritarian regimes and democratic governments– proceed to return beneath relentless assaults and political harassment.
“Freedom of the press is the inspiration of democracy and justice. It provides all of us the details we have to form opinions and converse fact to energy. However in each nook of the world, freedom of the press is beneath assault,” UN Secretary-Common Antonio Guterres said on World Press Freedom Day Could 3.
Journalists and media employees, he stated, are immediately focused on and offline as they perform their important work. They’re routinely harassed, intimidated, detained and imprisoned.
No less than 67 media employees had been killed in 2022 — a 50 per cent enhance over the earlier 12 months. Almost three quarters of girls journalists have skilled violence on-line, and one in 4 have been threatened bodily, in line with the UN.
However there may be additionally a rise in non-physical assaults, together with defamation lawsuits towards media organizations difficult their respectable proper to free expression.
The Washington-based US Company for Worldwide Growth (USAID) final week launched Reporters Shield, a brand new membership program that protects journalists across the world– who report within the public interest– from defamation lawsuits and authorized threats.
Established as a U.S.-based nonprofit group by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Undertaking (OCCRP) and the Cyrus R. Vance Heart for Worldwide Justice, Reporters Protect has been described as “a first-of-its-kind international program that defends investigative reporting around the globe from authorized threats meant to silence crucial voices”.
USAID, which has an extended historical past of fostering the expansion of unbiased media the world over, plans to work with Congress to contribute as much as $9 million in seed funding for this groundbreaking new program to assist media outdoors the USA, in line with a Could 2 press launch.
In a press release launched final week, USAID stated investigative journalists and civil society organizations reporting within the public curiosity are more and more going through lawsuits that purpose to harass and silence them by burdening them with the associated fee and time of a authorized protection till they abandon their tales or exit of enterprise totally.
Reporters Protect will assist to cut back these dangers by coaching and pre-publication overview, in addition to funding authorized illustration to struggle lawsuits and different authorized actions meant to intimidate and financially burden reporters.
So as to maintain this system sustainable, member organizations taking part in Reporters Protect pays affordable annual charges which are primarily based on a variation of things, together with location of the outlet and what number of tales they produce a 12 months.
“To be thought-about for membership in Reporters Protect, a corporation have to be legally registered and focus primarily in information, public curiosity, and/or investigative reporting; publish reporting in print and/or on-line; have non-profit standing or clear possession; be unbiased from political, business, or different undue affect or interference; and have editorial independence and cling to skilled editorial requirements”.
Reporters Protect is accepting functions worldwide and might be reviewing them in a phased strategy, with some areas receiving advantages within the coming months, and others added later this 12 months and in 2024.
organizations can discover extra info and apply for membership by visiting reporters-shield.org.
The event of Reporters Protect has been supported by the beneficiant professional bono authorized assist of the regulation companies of Proskauer, Primmer Piper Eggleston & Cramer PC, and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP.
www.usaid.gov/democracy/reporters-shield.
Mandeep S. Tiwana, Chief Programmes Officer at CIVICUS, a world alliance of civil society organizations (CSOs), advised IPS “these are laborious instances for media freedoms on account of disinformation and assaults on civic area spurred by deepening authoritarianism, denigration of democracy by populism and consolidation of wealth by oligarchs”.
Uncovering severe human rights violations and high-level corruption, he identified, is changing into more and more harmful and dear for investigative journalists and civil society activists.
When few corporations are able to signal the Anti- Strategic Lawsuits In opposition to Public Participation (SLAPP) pledge and artful politicians are busy undermining the independence of judiciaries, this initiative comes at a crucial time,” he declared.
In response to the Anti-SLAPP pledge by International Citizen, a world schooling and advocacy group, strategic lawsuits towards public participation, or SLAPPs, should not a respectable enterprise technique for corporations.
“The personal sector thrives in functioning democratic societies, the place the best to freedom of expression is a revered bedrock precept and the place everybody can categorical their views with out concern of intimidation or reprisal”.
“Lawsuits and authorized ways meant to silence civil organizations and human rights defenders aren’t simply dangerous for societies, they’re additionally damaging to corporations. When corporations stifle free expression, they restrict their potential to handle danger associated to their operations and international provide chains.”
As corporations which are dedicated to working in societies the place individuals are capable of train elementary rights, stated International Citizen, “we pledge to: outline Strategic lawsuits towards public participation, or SLAPPs, as each lawsuits and authorized ways which are designed to silence critics and abridge residents’ potential to train elementary rights.”
— Chorus from partaking in SLAPPs towards human rights and environmental defenders and civil society organizations that assist affected rights-holders.
— Acknowledge the crucial function that civil society organizations and human rights defenders play in making a worthwhile enabling atmosphere for the personal sector.
— Encourage companions and suppliers inside our worth chain to chorus from partaking in SLAPPs to silence respectable activism.
IPS UN Bureau Report
Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
Follow IPS News UN Bureau on Instagram
© Inter Press Service (2023) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service
UNITED NATIONS, Could 12 (IPS) – The world’s information media — each beneath authoritarian regimes and democratic governments– proceed to return beneath relentless assaults and political harassment.
“Freedom of the press is the inspiration of democracy and justice. It provides all of us the details we have to form opinions and converse fact to energy. However in each nook of the world, freedom of the press is beneath assault,” UN Secretary-Common Antonio Guterres said on World Press Freedom Day Could 3.
Journalists and media employees, he stated, are immediately focused on and offline as they perform their important work. They’re routinely harassed, intimidated, detained and imprisoned.
No less than 67 media employees had been killed in 2022 — a 50 per cent enhance over the earlier 12 months. Almost three quarters of girls journalists have skilled violence on-line, and one in 4 have been threatened bodily, in line with the UN.
However there may be additionally a rise in non-physical assaults, together with defamation lawsuits towards media organizations difficult their respectable proper to free expression.
The Washington-based US Company for Worldwide Growth (USAID) final week launched Reporters Shield, a brand new membership program that protects journalists across the world– who report within the public interest– from defamation lawsuits and authorized threats.
Established as a U.S.-based nonprofit group by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Undertaking (OCCRP) and the Cyrus R. Vance Heart for Worldwide Justice, Reporters Protect has been described as “a first-of-its-kind international program that defends investigative reporting around the globe from authorized threats meant to silence crucial voices”.
USAID, which has an extended historical past of fostering the expansion of unbiased media the world over, plans to work with Congress to contribute as much as $9 million in seed funding for this groundbreaking new program to assist media outdoors the USA, in line with a Could 2 press launch.
In a press release launched final week, USAID stated investigative journalists and civil society organizations reporting within the public curiosity are more and more going through lawsuits that purpose to harass and silence them by burdening them with the associated fee and time of a authorized protection till they abandon their tales or exit of enterprise totally.
Reporters Protect will assist to cut back these dangers by coaching and pre-publication overview, in addition to funding authorized illustration to struggle lawsuits and different authorized actions meant to intimidate and financially burden reporters.
So as to maintain this system sustainable, member organizations taking part in Reporters Protect pays affordable annual charges which are primarily based on a variation of things, together with location of the outlet and what number of tales they produce a 12 months.
“To be thought-about for membership in Reporters Protect, a corporation have to be legally registered and focus primarily in information, public curiosity, and/or investigative reporting; publish reporting in print and/or on-line; have non-profit standing or clear possession; be unbiased from political, business, or different undue affect or interference; and have editorial independence and cling to skilled editorial requirements”.
Reporters Protect is accepting functions worldwide and might be reviewing them in a phased strategy, with some areas receiving advantages within the coming months, and others added later this 12 months and in 2024.
organizations can discover extra info and apply for membership by visiting reporters-shield.org.
The event of Reporters Protect has been supported by the beneficiant professional bono authorized assist of the regulation companies of Proskauer, Primmer Piper Eggleston & Cramer PC, and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP.
www.usaid.gov/democracy/reporters-shield.
Mandeep S. Tiwana, Chief Programmes Officer at CIVICUS, a world alliance of civil society organizations (CSOs), advised IPS “these are laborious instances for media freedoms on account of disinformation and assaults on civic area spurred by deepening authoritarianism, denigration of democracy by populism and consolidation of wealth by oligarchs”.
Uncovering severe human rights violations and high-level corruption, he identified, is changing into more and more harmful and dear for investigative journalists and civil society activists.
When few corporations are able to signal the Anti- Strategic Lawsuits In opposition to Public Participation (SLAPP) pledge and artful politicians are busy undermining the independence of judiciaries, this initiative comes at a crucial time,” he declared.
In response to the Anti-SLAPP pledge by International Citizen, a world schooling and advocacy group, strategic lawsuits towards public participation, or SLAPPs, should not a respectable enterprise technique for corporations.
“The personal sector thrives in functioning democratic societies, the place the best to freedom of expression is a revered bedrock precept and the place everybody can categorical their views with out concern of intimidation or reprisal”.
“Lawsuits and authorized ways meant to silence civil organizations and human rights defenders aren’t simply dangerous for societies, they’re additionally damaging to corporations. When corporations stifle free expression, they restrict their potential to handle danger associated to their operations and international provide chains.”
As corporations which are dedicated to working in societies the place individuals are capable of train elementary rights, stated International Citizen, “we pledge to: outline Strategic lawsuits towards public participation, or SLAPPs, as each lawsuits and authorized ways which are designed to silence critics and abridge residents’ potential to train elementary rights.”
— Chorus from partaking in SLAPPs towards human rights and environmental defenders and civil society organizations that assist affected rights-holders.
— Acknowledge the crucial function that civil society organizations and human rights defenders play in making a worthwhile enabling atmosphere for the personal sector.
— Encourage companions and suppliers inside our worth chain to chorus from partaking in SLAPPs to silence respectable activism.
IPS UN Bureau Report
Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
Follow IPS News UN Bureau on Instagram
© Inter Press Service (2023) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service
UNITED NATIONS, Could 12 (IPS) – The world’s information media — each beneath authoritarian regimes and democratic governments– proceed to return beneath relentless assaults and political harassment.
“Freedom of the press is the inspiration of democracy and justice. It provides all of us the details we have to form opinions and converse fact to energy. However in each nook of the world, freedom of the press is beneath assault,” UN Secretary-Common Antonio Guterres said on World Press Freedom Day Could 3.
Journalists and media employees, he stated, are immediately focused on and offline as they perform their important work. They’re routinely harassed, intimidated, detained and imprisoned.
No less than 67 media employees had been killed in 2022 — a 50 per cent enhance over the earlier 12 months. Almost three quarters of girls journalists have skilled violence on-line, and one in 4 have been threatened bodily, in line with the UN.
However there may be additionally a rise in non-physical assaults, together with defamation lawsuits towards media organizations difficult their respectable proper to free expression.
The Washington-based US Company for Worldwide Growth (USAID) final week launched Reporters Shield, a brand new membership program that protects journalists across the world– who report within the public interest– from defamation lawsuits and authorized threats.
Established as a U.S.-based nonprofit group by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Undertaking (OCCRP) and the Cyrus R. Vance Heart for Worldwide Justice, Reporters Protect has been described as “a first-of-its-kind international program that defends investigative reporting around the globe from authorized threats meant to silence crucial voices”.
USAID, which has an extended historical past of fostering the expansion of unbiased media the world over, plans to work with Congress to contribute as much as $9 million in seed funding for this groundbreaking new program to assist media outdoors the USA, in line with a Could 2 press launch.
In a press release launched final week, USAID stated investigative journalists and civil society organizations reporting within the public curiosity are more and more going through lawsuits that purpose to harass and silence them by burdening them with the associated fee and time of a authorized protection till they abandon their tales or exit of enterprise totally.
Reporters Protect will assist to cut back these dangers by coaching and pre-publication overview, in addition to funding authorized illustration to struggle lawsuits and different authorized actions meant to intimidate and financially burden reporters.
So as to maintain this system sustainable, member organizations taking part in Reporters Protect pays affordable annual charges which are primarily based on a variation of things, together with location of the outlet and what number of tales they produce a 12 months.
“To be thought-about for membership in Reporters Protect, a corporation have to be legally registered and focus primarily in information, public curiosity, and/or investigative reporting; publish reporting in print and/or on-line; have non-profit standing or clear possession; be unbiased from political, business, or different undue affect or interference; and have editorial independence and cling to skilled editorial requirements”.
Reporters Protect is accepting functions worldwide and might be reviewing them in a phased strategy, with some areas receiving advantages within the coming months, and others added later this 12 months and in 2024.
organizations can discover extra info and apply for membership by visiting reporters-shield.org.
The event of Reporters Protect has been supported by the beneficiant professional bono authorized assist of the regulation companies of Proskauer, Primmer Piper Eggleston & Cramer PC, and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP.
www.usaid.gov/democracy/reporters-shield.
Mandeep S. Tiwana, Chief Programmes Officer at CIVICUS, a world alliance of civil society organizations (CSOs), advised IPS “these are laborious instances for media freedoms on account of disinformation and assaults on civic area spurred by deepening authoritarianism, denigration of democracy by populism and consolidation of wealth by oligarchs”.
Uncovering severe human rights violations and high-level corruption, he identified, is changing into more and more harmful and dear for investigative journalists and civil society activists.
When few corporations are able to signal the Anti- Strategic Lawsuits In opposition to Public Participation (SLAPP) pledge and artful politicians are busy undermining the independence of judiciaries, this initiative comes at a crucial time,” he declared.
In response to the Anti-SLAPP pledge by International Citizen, a world schooling and advocacy group, strategic lawsuits towards public participation, or SLAPPs, should not a respectable enterprise technique for corporations.
“The personal sector thrives in functioning democratic societies, the place the best to freedom of expression is a revered bedrock precept and the place everybody can categorical their views with out concern of intimidation or reprisal”.
“Lawsuits and authorized ways meant to silence civil organizations and human rights defenders aren’t simply dangerous for societies, they’re additionally damaging to corporations. When corporations stifle free expression, they restrict their potential to handle danger associated to their operations and international provide chains.”
As corporations which are dedicated to working in societies the place individuals are capable of train elementary rights, stated International Citizen, “we pledge to: outline Strategic lawsuits towards public participation, or SLAPPs, as each lawsuits and authorized ways which are designed to silence critics and abridge residents’ potential to train elementary rights.”
— Chorus from partaking in SLAPPs towards human rights and environmental defenders and civil society organizations that assist affected rights-holders.
— Acknowledge the crucial function that civil society organizations and human rights defenders play in making a worthwhile enabling atmosphere for the personal sector.
— Encourage companions and suppliers inside our worth chain to chorus from partaking in SLAPPs to silence respectable activism.
IPS UN Bureau Report
Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
Follow IPS News UN Bureau on Instagram
© Inter Press Service (2023) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service
UNITED NATIONS, Could 12 (IPS) – The world’s information media — each beneath authoritarian regimes and democratic governments– proceed to return beneath relentless assaults and political harassment.
“Freedom of the press is the inspiration of democracy and justice. It provides all of us the details we have to form opinions and converse fact to energy. However in each nook of the world, freedom of the press is beneath assault,” UN Secretary-Common Antonio Guterres said on World Press Freedom Day Could 3.
Journalists and media employees, he stated, are immediately focused on and offline as they perform their important work. They’re routinely harassed, intimidated, detained and imprisoned.
No less than 67 media employees had been killed in 2022 — a 50 per cent enhance over the earlier 12 months. Almost three quarters of girls journalists have skilled violence on-line, and one in 4 have been threatened bodily, in line with the UN.
However there may be additionally a rise in non-physical assaults, together with defamation lawsuits towards media organizations difficult their respectable proper to free expression.
The Washington-based US Company for Worldwide Growth (USAID) final week launched Reporters Shield, a brand new membership program that protects journalists across the world– who report within the public interest– from defamation lawsuits and authorized threats.
Established as a U.S.-based nonprofit group by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Undertaking (OCCRP) and the Cyrus R. Vance Heart for Worldwide Justice, Reporters Protect has been described as “a first-of-its-kind international program that defends investigative reporting around the globe from authorized threats meant to silence crucial voices”.
USAID, which has an extended historical past of fostering the expansion of unbiased media the world over, plans to work with Congress to contribute as much as $9 million in seed funding for this groundbreaking new program to assist media outdoors the USA, in line with a Could 2 press launch.
In a press release launched final week, USAID stated investigative journalists and civil society organizations reporting within the public curiosity are more and more going through lawsuits that purpose to harass and silence them by burdening them with the associated fee and time of a authorized protection till they abandon their tales or exit of enterprise totally.
Reporters Protect will assist to cut back these dangers by coaching and pre-publication overview, in addition to funding authorized illustration to struggle lawsuits and different authorized actions meant to intimidate and financially burden reporters.
So as to maintain this system sustainable, member organizations taking part in Reporters Protect pays affordable annual charges which are primarily based on a variation of things, together with location of the outlet and what number of tales they produce a 12 months.
“To be thought-about for membership in Reporters Protect, a corporation have to be legally registered and focus primarily in information, public curiosity, and/or investigative reporting; publish reporting in print and/or on-line; have non-profit standing or clear possession; be unbiased from political, business, or different undue affect or interference; and have editorial independence and cling to skilled editorial requirements”.
Reporters Protect is accepting functions worldwide and might be reviewing them in a phased strategy, with some areas receiving advantages within the coming months, and others added later this 12 months and in 2024.
organizations can discover extra info and apply for membership by visiting reporters-shield.org.
The event of Reporters Protect has been supported by the beneficiant professional bono authorized assist of the regulation companies of Proskauer, Primmer Piper Eggleston & Cramer PC, and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP.
www.usaid.gov/democracy/reporters-shield.
Mandeep S. Tiwana, Chief Programmes Officer at CIVICUS, a world alliance of civil society organizations (CSOs), advised IPS “these are laborious instances for media freedoms on account of disinformation and assaults on civic area spurred by deepening authoritarianism, denigration of democracy by populism and consolidation of wealth by oligarchs”.
Uncovering severe human rights violations and high-level corruption, he identified, is changing into more and more harmful and dear for investigative journalists and civil society activists.
When few corporations are able to signal the Anti- Strategic Lawsuits In opposition to Public Participation (SLAPP) pledge and artful politicians are busy undermining the independence of judiciaries, this initiative comes at a crucial time,” he declared.
In response to the Anti-SLAPP pledge by International Citizen, a world schooling and advocacy group, strategic lawsuits towards public participation, or SLAPPs, should not a respectable enterprise technique for corporations.
“The personal sector thrives in functioning democratic societies, the place the best to freedom of expression is a revered bedrock precept and the place everybody can categorical their views with out concern of intimidation or reprisal”.
“Lawsuits and authorized ways meant to silence civil organizations and human rights defenders aren’t simply dangerous for societies, they’re additionally damaging to corporations. When corporations stifle free expression, they restrict their potential to handle danger associated to their operations and international provide chains.”
As corporations which are dedicated to working in societies the place individuals are capable of train elementary rights, stated International Citizen, “we pledge to: outline Strategic lawsuits towards public participation, or SLAPPs, as each lawsuits and authorized ways which are designed to silence critics and abridge residents’ potential to train elementary rights.”
— Chorus from partaking in SLAPPs towards human rights and environmental defenders and civil society organizations that assist affected rights-holders.
— Acknowledge the crucial function that civil society organizations and human rights defenders play in making a worthwhile enabling atmosphere for the personal sector.
— Encourage companions and suppliers inside our worth chain to chorus from partaking in SLAPPs to silence respectable activism.
IPS UN Bureau Report
Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
Follow IPS News UN Bureau on Instagram
© Inter Press Service (2023) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service
