{"id":66056,"date":"2015-05-01T12:05:17","date_gmt":"2015-05-01T11:05:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/?p=66056"},"modified":"2016-11-08T16:10:49","modified_gmt":"2016-11-08T16:10:49","slug":"world-press-freedom-day-call-to-protect-freedom-of-expression","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/?p=66056","title":{"rendered":"World Press Freedom Day: Call to protect freedom of expression"},"content":{"rendered":"

On World Press Freedom Day, 116 days after the attack at the office of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo<\/a> that left 11 dead and 12 wounded, we, the undersigned, reaffirm our commitment to defending the right to freedom of expression, even when that right is being used to express views that we and others may find difficult, or even offensive.<\/p>\n

The Charlie Hebdo attack \u2013 a horrific reminder of the violence many journalists around the world face daily in the course of their work \u2013 provoked a series of worrying reactions across the globe.<\/p>\n

In January, the office of the German daily Hamburger Morgenpost<\/a> was firebombed following the paper\u2019s publishing of several Charlie Hebdo images. In Turkey, journalists reported receiving death threats following their re-publishing of images taken from Charlie Hebdo. In February, a gunman apparently inspired by the attack in Paris, opened fire at a free expression event<\/a> in Copenhagen; his target was a controversial Swedish cartoonist who had depicted the prophet Muhammad in his drawings.<\/p>\n

A Turkish court blocked web pages that had carried images of Charlie Hebdo\u2019s front cover; Russia\u2019s communications watchdog warned six media outlets that publishing religious-themed cartoons \u201ccould be viewed as a violation of the laws on mass media and extremism\u201d; Egypt\u2019s president Abdel Fatah al-Sisi empowered the prime minister to ban any foreign publication deemed offensive to religion; the editor of the Kenyan newspaper The Star was summoned by the government\u2019s media council, asked to explain his \u201cunprofessional conduct\u201d in publishing images of Charlie Hebdo, and his newspaper had to issue a public apology; Senegal banned Charlie Hebdo and other publications that re-printed its images; in India, Mumbai police used laws covering threats to public order and offensive content to block access to websites carrying Charlie Hebdo images. This list is far from exhaustive.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the most long-reaching threats to freedom of expression have come from governments ostensibly motivated by security concerns. Following the attack on Charlie Hebdo, 11 interior ministers from European Union countries, including France, Britain and Germany, issued a statement in which they called on internet service providers to identify and remove online content \u201cthat aims to incite hatred and terror\u201d. In the UK, despite the already gross intrusion of the British intelligence services into private data, Prime Minister David Cameron suggested that the country should go a step further and ban internet services that did not give the government the ability to monitor all encrypted chats and calls.<\/p>\n

\"Index<\/a>

Index report:<\/strong> Europe\u2019s journalists face growing climate of fear<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

This kind of governmental response is chilling because a particularly insidious threat to our right to free expression is self-censorship. In order to fully exercise the right to freedom of expression, individuals must be able to communicate without fear of intrusion by the state. Under international law, the right to freedom of expression also protects speech that some may find shocking, offensive or disturbing. Importantly, the right to freedom of expression means that those who feel offended also have the right to challenge others through free debate and open discussion, or through peaceful protest.<\/p>\n

On World Press Freedom Day, we, the undersigned, call on all governments to:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Uphold their international obligations to protect the rights of freedom of expression and information for all, especially journalists, writers, artists and human rights defenders to publish, write and speak freely;
\n\u2022 Promote a safe and enabling environment for those who exercise their right to freedom of expression, especially for journalists, artists and human rights defenders to perform their work without interference;
\n\u2022 Combat impunity for threats and violations aimed at journalists and others threatened for exercising their right to freedom of expression and ensure impartial, speedy, thorough, independent and effective investigations that bring masterminds behind attacks on journalists to justice, and ensure victims and their families have speedy access to appropriate remedies;
\n\u2022 Repeal legislation which restricts the right to legitimate freedom of expression, especially such as vague and overbroad national security, sedition, blasphemy and criminal defamation laws and other legislation used to imprison, harass and silence journalists and others exercising free expression;
\n\u2022 Promote voluntary self-regulation mechanisms, completely independent of governments, for print media;
\n\u2022 Ensure that the respect of human rights is at the heart of communication surveillance policy. Laws and legal standards governing communication surveillance must therefore be updated, strengthened and brought under legislative and judicial control. Any interference can only be justified if it is clearly defined by law, pursues a legitimate aim and is strictly necessary to the aim pursued.<\/p>\n

PEN International
\nAdil Soz \u2013 International Foundation for Protection of Freedom of Speech
\nAfrica Freedom of Information Centre
\nAlbanian Media Institute
\nArticle19
\nAssociation of European Journalists
\nBahrain Center for Human Rights
\nBelarusian PEN
\nBrazilian Association for Investigative Journalism
\nCambodian Center for Human Rights
\nCanadian Journalists for Free Expression
\nCenter for Media Freedom and Responsibility
\nCentre for Independent Journalism – Malaysia
\nDanish PEN
\nDerechos Digitales
\nEgyptian Organization for Human Rights
\nEnglish PEN
\nEthical Journalism Initiative
\nFinnish PEN
\nForo de Periodismo Argentino
\nFundamedios – Andean Foundation for Media Observation and Study
\nGlobe International Center
\nGuardian News Media Limited
\nIcelandic PEN
\nIndex on Censorship
\nInstitute for the Studies on Free Flow of Information
\nInternational Federation of Journalists
\nInternational Press Institute
\nInternational Publishers Association
\nMalawi PEN
\nMedia, Entertainment and Arts Alliance
\nMedia Institute of Southern Africa
\nMedia Rights Agenda
\nMedia Watch
\nMexico PEN
\nNorwegian PEN
\nObservatorio Latinoamericano para la Libertad de Expresi\u00f3n – OLA
\nPacific Islands News Association
\nPEN Afrikaans
\nPEN American Center
\nPEN Catalan
\nPEN Lithuania
\nPEN Quebec
\nRussian PEN
\nSan Miguel Allende PEN
\nPEN South Africa
\nSoutheast Asian Press Alliance
\nSwedish PEN
\nTurkish PEN
\nWales PEN Cymru
\nWest African Journalists Association
\nWorld Press Freedom Committee<\/p>\n

World Press Freedom Day 2015<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2022 Media freedom in Europe needs action more than words<\/a>
\n\u2022 Dunja Mijatovi\u0107: The good fight must continue<\/a>
\n\u2022 Mass surveillance: Journalists confront the moment of hesitation<\/a>
\n\u2022 The women challenging Bosnia\u2019s divided media<\/a>
\n\u2022 World Press Freedom Day: Call to protect freedom of expression<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On World Press Freedom Day, 116 days after the attack at the office of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo that left 11 dead and 12 wounded, we, the undersigned, reaffirm our commitment to defending the right to freedom of expression, even when that right is being used to express views that we and others may find difficult, or even offensive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[366,6903,6534],"tags":[7059],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66056"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=66056"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66056\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81439,"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66056\/revisions\/81439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=66056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=66056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=66056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}