Introduction and background
The year 2022 marks a milestone as the UN Plan of Action (UNPA) on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity marks its 10th year anniversary. This year’s commemorations of International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists (IDEI), coincide with the review of the UN Plan of Action, making these commemorations doubly important.
This year’s commemorations come at a time when the issue of impunity for crimes against journalists is increasingly under the spotlight, as violations against media workers continue to escalate across the continent.
This is illustrated by the presumed death of Azory Gwanda in Tanzania, the enforced disappearance of Ibrahimo Mbaruco in Mozambique and the death of Samuel Wazizi in Cameroon, among many other cases.
Attacks on media workers continue to escalate across the world, with countries that were normally considered bastions of democracy sliding down on the world press freedom indexes. In most cases, those who perpetrate crimes against journalists go unpunished.
As clearly stated by Article 19 in their report: Ending Impunity – Acting on UN Standards on the Safety of Journalists:
“A prevailing culture of impunity for threats to the safety of journalists fuels their repetition. A failure of justice emboldens perpetrators and undermines journalists’ trust in the political will to guarantee their effective protection.”
This year’s celebrations will focus on four key areas, also known as the 4Ps – Prevention, Prosecution, Protection and Partnership Building – as building blocks towards ending the culture of impunity.
The commemorations will also take note of the recommendations of the Windhoek +30 Declaration, as they will contribute towards the safety and independence of journalists to further enable the nurturing of media viability. In addition, the role of investigative journalism in uncovering these threats, informing prosecutors of their findings, as well as keeping them accountable.
This year’s commemorations will also emphasise the importance of a multi-stakeholder approach in ending impunity for crimes against journalists.
Furthermore, the 2022 IDEI commemorations will witness the inaugural launch of the State of Press Freedom in Africa Report.
MISA proposes to hold the African IDEI commemorations on 10 and 11 November 2022 in Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. This year’s commemorations will deliberately be held a week after the 2 November High-Level Multi-Stakeholder Conference on the Safety of Journalists which will be held in Vienna, Austria. This is meant to give African delegates time to distil, deliberate and localise the recommendations that would have been adopted in Austria. Following the Vienna meeting, MISA will circulate a draft work plan and recommendations on the way forward, which will be used as discussion points at the Africa commemorations. Media stakeholders, civil society organisations, governments and inter-governmental organisations would be expected to pick up action points – based on the UN Plan of Action – that they would work on in the following 12 months. They will be expected to provide a report back at the next IDEI commemorations in 2023.
Objectives:
- To contextualise, adopt UNPA recommendations and agree on their implementations for Africa and utilizing to improve the safety of journalists and bring an end to impunity
- To discuss and validate African media organisations roles in implementing UNPA recommendations
- To come up with a reporting mechanism on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity that will be used as an advocacy tool.
Action plan
MISA proposes to host a high-level hybrid event with 150 in-person guests in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. The event will be spread over two days with the first day being on 10 November and the second on 11 November. Interested organisations will also be invited to exhibit their work at the commemorations. MISA plans to collaborate with Breeze FM, the local radio station and will also livestream the event on social media.
The meeting will follow up on recommendations made from the Africa regional consultations on the review of the UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists. It will also adopt the recommendations made at the High-Level Multi-Stakeholder Conference on the Safety of Journalists that will take place on 2 November in Vienna, Austria.
The meeting will also provide an opportunity to assign roles to ensure the following up and the implementation of resolutions.
In implementing this project, MISA will collaborate with Media Monitors, with the two organisations taking the lead in coordinating stakeholders through the Media Alliance of Zimbabwe. Media Monitors that handles finances for a number of media organisations in Zimbabwe through the Media Alliance of Zimbabwe will be responsible for the financial management of the conference to enable disbursements to various media organisations. Media Monitors will seek collaboration and technical support from MISA Regional, in all aspects of the organisation and coordination of the workshop taking into consideration that MISA Regional led the UN Plan of Action consultations in Southern Africa (August 2022) as well as the research and publishing of the State of Pres Freedom Reports for Southern Africa for 2021 and 2022.
The media organisations that will be coordinated through Media Monitors are:
- Media Alliance of Zimbabwe
- Zimbabwe National Editors’ Forum
- Zimbabwe Union of Journalists
- Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe