Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) invite you to a panel discussion to raise awareness on the killings of journalists and the #ProtectJournalists campaign to appoint a Special Representative to the UNSG for the Safety of Journalists, endorsed by a large coalition of supporters.
When: September 16, 2016 – 1pm
Where: United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA) press room at the UN Headquarters in New York, NY.
Opening remarks by RSF Secretary General Christophe Deloire and CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon
Panel moderated by Raza Rumi, Pakistani journalist who survived a murder attempt in 2014 by the Taliban-affiliate Lashkar-e-Jhangvi
Panelists will include:
– Yara Bader, Director of the Syrian Center for Media and wife of Mazen Darwish
– Dunja Mijatovic, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media
– Faisal Saleh, Sudanese journalist who heads Teeba Press
– Marcela Turati, Mexican journalist – TBC
The panel will be followed by a Q&A with the audience.
The past five years have been the most deadly on record for journalists, with hundreds of journalists killed and many more attacked simply for doing their jobs. Murder is the ultimate form of censorship: When a journalist is killed the public’s right to information is also imperiled.
The world’s major problems, from environmental issues to extremist violence, cannot be resolved without the work of journalists. The UN Action Plan on Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity was adopted in recognition of this, and the Sustainable Development Goals specifically address the right to access information.
Now, media outlets, journalists, NGOs, and prominent figures on every continent have joined in calling for the appointment of a “journalists’ protector” and urging the UN and its member states to give this position the necessary political weight, capacity for rapid action, and legitimacy to coordinate UN efforts for the safety of journalists.
The goal is to establish a concrete mechanism that enforces international law and thereby finally reduces the number of journalists killed every year in the course of their work. Join us for a discussion with the journalists behind the statistics and hear why this initiative is needed.
More info: https://rsf.org/en/protectjournalists-campaign
RSVP: [email protected]