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Consultations on UN Plan of Action: Urgent need to address gendered violence against journalists

A broad group of stakeholders committed to the implementation of the UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity has specifically stressed the need to adopt an intersectional perspective, looking at how different aspects of identity, including gender, affect the safety and protection of journalists.
UN Plan of Action

This was one of the main conclusions of consultations held in Bangkok, Thailand on 3 October, organized by UNESCO and the Association for Progressive Communications (APC)

The participants, comprising journalists, union representatives, researchers, civil society organizations and representatives of Member States, acknowledged that while the UN Plan calls for a gender-sensitive approach in the safety of journalists, societal understanding and knowledge about the different ways that gender impacts journalists鈥 safety has evolved in the past ten years. This highlights the need for a renewed and amplified commitment to combat gender-based violence.

This meeting was the final consultation in a series of multistakeholder events organized by UNESCO, including five regional consultations and three thematic consultations. The results of the consultations will inform the conference 鈥溾, to be hosted by the government of Austria on 3-4 November in Vienna to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the .

The event was opened jointly by UNESCO and APC and included a contribution by the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression, Irene Khan, who highlighted the threat to freedom of expression posed by gendered violence.

The consultation participants formulated concrete recommendations based upon a mapping exercise looking at the impact and potential responses in the three thematic areas: 鈥淥nline gender-based violence against journalists鈥, 鈥淰iolence during coverages鈥 and 鈥淗arassment in the workplace鈥.

Selected recommendations include:

  • Referring to gender-based violence in journalism instead of violence against women journalists, as a step to ensure that diversity and intersectionality are better taken into consideration.
  • Incentivizing actions aimed at strengthening capacity for implementation of measures that could promote the safety of women journalists. These could include:
    • Trainings offered to women journalists on holistic security;
    • More transparency and communication / dissemination by tech companies in relation to the tools they have developed to improve women鈥檚 ability to protect themselves on their respective internet platforms;
    • Training for law enforcement and judicial actors on how to investigate and process complaints relating to online gender-based violence.
  • The UN and its Member States should promote and support the creation of gender-responsive newsroom policies, including through the promotion of ratification of the 190 ILO Convention.

for the conference 鈥淪afety of Journalists: Protecting media to protect democracy鈥 3-4 November in Vienna, Austria.