CPJ raises concerns over UN agenda on preventing violent extremism

Courtney C. Radsch/CPJ Advocacy Director

Preventing and countering violent extremism has been a major issue on the international agenda in the past year, prompting the United Nations Secretary-General to launch a Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism in December and the UN Human Rights Council to adopt a resolution last fall.

While CPJ recognizes the dangers posed by radicalization and violent extremism, this new agenda poses threats to press freedom, and journalists specifically, which have not been sufficiently addressed. That is why CPJ is one of 58 organizations calling on Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, the head of the Human Rights Council, to address these concerns as he prepares his contribution to the debate on this issue in the March council session.

You can read the joint letter to High Commissioner Al Hussein here.

Courtney C. Radsch, PhD, is the advocacy director at the Committee to Protect Journalists and the author of Cyberactivism and Citizen Journalism in Egypt: Digital Dissidence and Political Change. As a veteran journalist, researcher, and free expression advocate she writes and speaks frequently about the intersection of media, technology, and human rights. Follow her on Twitter @courtneyr.

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