Routledge Handbook of Conflict and Peace Communication Seminar Series
16 October
17:00 UK Time
Manizja Aziz and Leon Willems from Free Press Unlimited (FPU) will draw on their soon to be published chapter in the Routledge Handbook of Conflict and Peace Communication, edited by Stacey Connaughton and Stef Pukallus (released 29 October 2024).
In this presentation, Leon Willems and Manizja Aziz from Free Press Unlimited will delve into the practice of monitoring violations against journalist safety, the crucial role of in-country civil society organizations and the challenges they face in their work. The safety of journalists is a prerequisite for the provision of access to reliable information to the public, but journalists worldwide face risks as a result of their work. Monitoring violations helps to gain insight into these risks and to create effective intervention strategies and policies accordingly. However, comprehensive, harmonized data about violations beyond the number of killed journalists is missing, making it difficult to make analyses and compare data across countries. Furthermore, state institutions often lack the willingness to collect data on threats to journalists or to adequately respond to these threats. This results in an alarming statistic of impunity for crimes committed against journalists showing a failure of states to protect journalists. In-country civil society organizations play a crucial role in this regard, as they have the potential to hold nation-states accountable through monitoring and the collection of data that can supplement or even replace the data provided by nation-states
Leon Willems is a Senior Advisor at Free Press Unlimited, an international press freedom organization working in over 50 countries globally on the survival of journalism and the safety of journalists. He initiated an International Civil Society Coalition, a consultation group for the UN Plan of Action for the Safety of Journalists and the issue of Impunity.
Manizja Aziz works as a Senior Project Officer at Free Press Unlimited, where she has specialized in the safety of journalists. Her expertise relates to knowledge management, M&E, emergency support, and the coordination of international networks. She holds an LLM in International and European Law and an MA in International Relations.