WPFD 2016 ENDS WITH FINLANDIA DECLARATION

Access to Information and Fundamental Freedoms - This Is Your Right!

World Press Freedom Day, 3 May 2016

Recalling that the right to information and to press freedom arenintegral parts of the freedom of expression, and are fundamental to democracy and to other rights and freedoms;

Noting the new United Nations (UN) 2030 Development Agenda, and in particular Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16 to promote just, peaceful and inclusive societies, which includes key points relevant to press freedom, access to information, safety of journalists and the
rule of law.

Further noting SDG target 16.10 which is to “ensure public access to information and protect fundamental freedoms, in accordance with national legislation and international agreements”, and recognising
this target as directly relevant to achieving all other SDG goals and in particular SDG 5 on gender equality;

Welcoming the increasing number of countries who enable the right to information in national law, including in their constitutions, while  also noting that legal guarantees for the right still do not exist, or  face significant implementation challenges, in a number of UNESCO’s Member States;

Underscoring that universal access to information and to knowledge is central to the UN’s World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) process, which reaffirmed freedom of expression and universal access
to information as cornerstones for the ambition of achieving inclusive Knowledge Societies.

Recognising that the right to information and its effective implementation can be strongly supported by UNESCO’s concept of Internet Universality and the principles of Rights, Openness,
Accessibility and Multistakeholder participation;

Recalling that as per the 2005 UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, artistic freedom and cultural diversity is closely intertwined with freedom of
expression, which incorporates the right to seek and receive information;

Further recalling the initiative of the African Platform on Access to Information and Freedom of Information Advocates Network recognition of the day in 2002 and UNESCO’s subsequent 2015 Resolution declaring
28 September as International Day for Universal Access to Information;

Recognizing the importance of acknowledging the role of women journalists and the specific threats they face, including sexualized violence and online and offline harassment


Emphasizing that the right to information encompasses access to information held by or on behalf of public authorities, or to which public authorities are entitled by law, as well as to access to information that is held by private bodies in regard to the exercise of public functions.

Understanding that the right to information is critical for informed decision-making, for the right to participation in the conduct of public affairs, for monitoring of public actions and reducing corruption, and for enhancing transparency and accountability;

Recalling the concern in the 2010 Tenth Anniversary Joint Declaration of the UN Special Rapporteurs on Freedom of Expression that historically disadvantaged groups continue to struggle to have their voices heard and to access information of relevance to them;

Recognizing that the right is also vital to developing a free, independent and pluralistic media and essential to strengthening its capacity to counter hate speech, promote intercultural understanding, and fight radicalization and violent extremism;

Acknowledging that violations of the right to press freedom also have an adverse impact on the right to information, including by the arbitrary blocking of access to online information, restricting
expression online, and arbitrarily intruding on digital privacy, as well as the killing, kidnapping, enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention, torture, deportations and other violations of journalists,
associated media personnel, trade unionists and human rights advocates.

Welcoming initiatives to promote safety of journalists such as the 5th February UNESCO conference on safety as well as the call for a Special Representative on Safety in the Office of the UN Secretary General,
and the International Declaration on the Protection of Journalists and the Global Safety Principles and Practices.

Call on each UNESCO Member State

To reaffirm that press freedom and to information are essential for a free, independent and pluralistic media, and crucial to the advancement of human rights and sustainable development;

To reaffirm a commitment to create a legal, policy and institutional environment which ensures that people can receive public information, including by means of a constitutional right to information as well as
through statutory and institutional mechanisms for implementation;

To ensure that exceptions to the right to information, including secrecy rules, are allowed only insofar as they adhere to such principles of international human rights laws as legality, a legitimate purpose and necessity, and to ensure that there is transparency around the operation of such limitations;

To put in place strong systems for proactive disclosure of information, taking full advantage of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and promoting, as far as possible, universal
access to the Internet as well as open data principles;

To direct the necessary attention and political will to ensure full implementation of right to information, including by addressing the culture of secrecy within government institutions;

To ensure that legal frameworks are in place to protect the identity of confidential sources of journalism against direct and indirect exposure,and to enact legislation to protect whistleblowers;

To protect in law and in practice the right of individuals to protect the privacy of their digital communications by using encryption technology and tools that facilitate anonymity online;

To ensure that any bans on publication, including blocking of Internet content, are in fully line with international standards in this area which require legality, necessity, proportionality and legitimate
purpose, and to promote net neutrality and universal access to the Internet;

To enhance the information environment by putting in place positive measures to promote media diversity, including the availability of a broad range of cultural expressions through the media, and the
inclusion of minority groups in the media landscape;

To adopt and support gender equality policies and programmes in implementing the right to information, and also utilize the UNESCO Gender Sensitive Indicators for Media in advancing the right to press
freedom;

To put in place effective safety mechanisms to monitor, prevent, investigate and punish attacks against journalists and others exercising their right to freedom of expression, in line with the
universally applicable target of SDG 16,  and the framework of the UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity.

To promote the right to information through Media and Information Literacy programmes to support people to develop their capabilities to use the Internet as informed creators and users of information and
knowledge;

To preserve independence of public service broadcasting as one of the essential pillars of pluralism and access to information;

To co-operate with other actors to ensure annual commemorations of the International Day for Universal Access to Information every 28 September.

Call on civil society, journalistic actors and internet intermediaries:

To raise awareness and build capacity among policy-makers, journalistic actors, citizens at large and vulnerable groups in particular, about the right to information as a fundamental human right and how it can serve democracy and sustainable development;

To contribute to the dissemination of good practices and experiences showcasing the direct link between the right to information, ethical standards, quality journalism, accountable governance, media self
regulation, participation, curbed corruption and sustainable development;

To promote and support investigative journalism, including using data tools, and to raise awareness about the value of journalism in the implementation of the right to information;

To promote the safety of newsrooms and journalists online and offline through training, ICT applications, safety protocols and systems, as well the importance of confidentiality of journalistic sources in the
digital age;

For Internet intermediaries, to strengthen transparency about data retention and access policies;

To advocate monitor the implementation of access to information laws,
policies and practices;

To use the International Day for Universal Access to Information (28 September) to promote the right to information, along with the values of transparency and accountability.

Call on UNESCO:

To promote awareness about the right to information as an important human right, necessary for the enjoyment of other human rights, and essential for transparent and accountable governance and sustainable
development;

To highlight that the right to information can only be effectively exercised and implemented on the basis of laws which regulate this right in accordance with international standards;

To call for a multi stakeholder consultation process with the Member States aimed at strengthening this right through a possible statutory instrument and an implementation mechanism, confirming that access to
public information has been recognized within the framework of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;

To contribute fully to the monitoring of the implementation of SDG 16.10, and to support innovative approaches to facilitate citizen involvement in this;

To report to the UN General Assembly on progress towards SDG 16 in the setting up, worldwide, of mechanisms to monitor, prevent, investigate and punish all attacks on journalism.

To continue highlighting the importance of the right to information for fostering universal, open, affordable and unfettered access to information and knowledge, and narrowing digital and knowledge
divides, including gender gaps;

To advocate for ICT policies guided by governance principles that ensure openness, internet access, transparency, accountability, multilingualism, inclusiveness, gender equality, net neutrality and civil participation including for youth, persons with disabilities, marginalized and vulnerable groups;

To promote the right to information through use of ICTs and open solutions for sustainable development and the understanding amongst cultures, fostering inclusion, tolerance and cooperation amongst societies;

To participate fully in celebrating the International Day for Universal Access to Information (28 September).

Open data movement bolsters press freedom across Africa

TOPIC: 

• DATA JOURNALISM

Stephen Abbott Pugh | May 03, 2016

The spread of mobile phones and connectivity across Africa offers opportunities and challenges for the way citizens discover and use information. If people have the skills and knowledge to harness them, open data and new technologies hold the keys to the media’s future.

Code for Africa is the continent’s largest network of civic technology and open data labs. We work with media partners to create actionable information for citizens that helps them in their daily lives. From checking if their doctor is dodgyto seeing if they are registered to vote, Code for Africa’s tools have been used in dozens of countries to help empower people.

How might technology be used in the coming years to further democratize the use of information and news across Africa? Our experts from Kenya and Nigeria set out their predictions:

Media freedoms in Kenya

by Catherine Gicheru, ICFJ Knight Fellow at Code for Kenya

Computers, the internet and mobile phones continue to change the way the world works, plays and communicates. In Kenya, there has been an exponential growth in ownership of mobile phones, reaching 88.1 percent penetration in September 2015. With 21.6 million internet subscriptions, about 74.2 percent of Kenyans now have access to internet services.

The advance of new media and technology has changed the way journalists work as well as how information is obtained and produced. The business of news is more of a dialogue between news providers and receivers of information. Citizens have much greater control over how and when they receive information. Audience involvement, either through cellphones or social media, has fostered a culture where more people value press freedom more broadly.

These technologies have also introduced new threats to media freedom. Mobile companies are obliged to give up cellphone records when ordered by the courts, presenting journalists with the challenge of keeping their sources secret. The Security Laws Amendment Act 2014 safeguards and widens the powers of police and undefined ‘national security organs’ to surveil and intercept communications, restricting media freedom. It also restricts citizens’ ability to point out and demand action on government failures. That is where whistleblowing platforms like Code for Africa’s AfriLEAKS come into play, as they provide citizens and journalists alike a platform where they can share information on stories and tips.

Digital technologies have provided journalists with opportunities to be innovative, ethical and inclusive, and to collaborate to solve problems and improve people’s lives. An example is GotToVote, which not only provides citizens with information on elections which was previously not easily accessible, but also gives journalists information that adds nuance and depth to their reporting. These tools will become even more crucial in the future, as not many journalists have the skills to analyze, synthesize and interpret the vast array of statistical information being made available on the internet.

Fighting for good healthcare in Nigeria

by Temi Adeoye, ICFJ Knight Fellow at Code for Nigeria

The desperate need for affordable healthcare in Nigeria’s poorly funded, understaffed health sector has driven many — especially the poor and vulnerable — into the hands of persons not qualified to treat them. Quacks. The impact of quackery is very difficult to measure, but nonetheless extremely severe. Its cost is measured in human terms — agonizing disillusionment, temporary or permanent deformation, complication of existing ailments and, in some cases, needless deaths.

Public medical institutions are not insulated from this cancer. The complicity and culpable negligence of recruiters at public health service commissions paves the way for quacks to infiltrate the system. It is a major headache for health regulatory authorities in Nigeria. The MDCN has over 40 cases against accused quacks in several courts across the country, but convictions are rare.

Code for Nigeria has therefore partnered with West Africa’s largest online news outfit, Sahara Reporters, to deploy a data-driven tool called Dodgy Doctors to empower citizens to fight quackery from the comfort of their computers and mobiles.

Dodgy Doctors is one of a set of tools in the SaharaHealth initiative that uses official MDCN data to help citizens quickly and easily check whether their doctor is properly registered. All they need to do is type a doctor’s name and the service cross-checks it with the MDCN’s master register.

Other apps in the suite include Hospital Finder and Medicine Prices. Hospital Finder is a geo-located service that helps citizens reduce the critical time it takes to locate health facilities around them. Medicine Prices helps citizens check how much the government expects them to pay for medicines.

Data-driven tools like SaharaHealth are changing how media affects our lives. It is no longer sufficient to talk about what is wrong in our world: the media should give citizens simple, actionable and easy-to-use tools to solve their own problems.

This article is an adaptation of a piece that originally appeared in the African Free Press, a Media Institute of Southern Africa project, published to mark the 25th anniversary of the adoption of the Windhoek Declaration. It was originally published at whk25.misa.org under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license and is republished on IJNet with permission.

Main image courtesy of African skyCAM.

Dodgy Doctors tool claims new successes in Kenya

Sierra Leone’s Open Data Festival expands data literacy in West Africa

CPJ panel explores intersections of gender and media freedom

TOPIC: 

• JOURNALISTS' SAFETY

Sam Berkhead | May 04, 2016

It’s no secret that journalists face more hindrances to their work than they have in decades. In the last year alone, press freedom has fallen nearly four percent worldwide.

The problem becomes even more acute when viewed through a gendered lens. Women journalists, in particular, are harassed, abused and attacked — both online and physically — as a means of silencing them and discouraging others from covering certain topics.

That was what happened to Khadija Ismayilova, an investigative reporter from Azerbaijan who reported on corruption within her country’s ruling establishment. After years of harassment, gender-related attacks and arrests, Ismayilova was sentenced to prison for alleged crimes widely viewed to be trumped up.

Ismayilova is one of the more high-profile examples of a journalist facing gender-related attacks in an attempt to silence her. Human rights attorney Amal Clooney counts her among her clients. But her case is indicative of a wider trend in which gender is increasingly wielded as a weapon against journalists everywhere. It’s a trend that goes far beyond internet comment boards.

A panel hosted by the Newseum Institute and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) discussed this trend and examined possible means of combatting it.

Molly McCluskey, a freelance foreign correspondent, explained that being aware of one’s surroundings and safety is a must, even while working in countries and locations that are often perceived to be safe for journalists.

“I think anywhere we go, there is always a potential for everything, even in places in the world that I thought I would be the most safe,” she said. “I have been surprised, when I've let my guard down a little bit, at some of the attention, reactions and threats that I've unexpectedly had to deal with.”

Step two? Understand that ending gender-based violence against journalists is a complex, intersectional issue that encompasses many cultures — and as such demands an equally varied solution, Courtney C. Radsch, CPJ's advocacy director, pointed out in the CPJ’s new book, “Attacks on the Press: Gender and Media Freedom Worldwide.”

"Efforts to combat and address online abuse and gender-based violence often emanate from the developed world and also tend to reflect conditions, cultural perceptions and expectations in developed countries," a study by the Best Practices Forum on Online Abuse and Gender-Based Violence Against Women and Girls at the 2015 Internet Governance Forum concluded.

And in an era when it's unrealistic to expect journalists to stay off social media, both law enforcement and the social platforms themselves have a responsibility to shut down online harassment, said Michelle Ferrier, a former journalist and founder of Trollbusters, an organization that provides women journalists with support when they're targeted by cyberharassment.

"This is really a much more insidious kind of activity than what we've seen in the past," said Ferrier. "So we need better laws that actually deal with the complexity of the kind of online activity that we're seeing with these smart mobs."

Nor is gender-based violence and abuse strictly a problem for women journalists, with LGBT journalists facing similar attacks. The CPJ book outlines the unique challenges faced by Katherine O’Donnell, a transgender journalist in Scotland, as well as transgender journalists in less-tolerant Uganda. Even men aren’t immune to gender-based harassment. As a result, efforts to combat gender-based attacks against journalists must keep all genders in mind.

Ultimately, the CPJ’s panel discussion and book bring a mere fraction of voices and experiences into the discussion surrounding harassment and violence toward women journalists. It’s something Joel Simon, CPJ executive director, highlighted in his introduction.

“Clearly, vital voices are being suppressed and, as a result, some of the information we need to make sense of a complex world is missing,” he wrote.

As more journalists — of all genders and cultures — come forward with their stories, the stigmas surrounding gender-based violence will continue to fade, Simon wrote, bringing more representation to the table.

And while talking openly about the problem won’t necessarily solve it, doing so is a vital first step in breaking the so-called “code of silence,” said Lara Logan, a 60 Minutes correspondent, at the panel.

“It wasn't hard for me to speak out about [my assault],” she said. “I think what is harder for victims of sexual violence, rape and sexual assault is that people like to bury it very quickly and they want you to show it. ... I've had young journalists from Egypt and other places come and see me for things that happened to them, and you realize that the first step is not having to carry that burden on your own.”