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Here is how journalists can engage UN on their safety
Author: Johnson Mayamba. PHOTO/COURTESY
What you need to know:
- The Force’s decision to apologise and suspend their own came after journalists threatened to organise a naked but peaceful demonstration at police headquarters. Such is the plight of journalists and other media workers, who are always attacked in their line of duty. The work done by journalists’ organisations such as Human Rights Network for Journalists – Uganda in defending media freedom is commendable.
Some weeks back, Cpl Ogwal Yeeko was filmed pepper-spraying journalists, Isano Francis and Thomas Kitimbo, after police were deployed to disperse a group of pre-medical interns who had planned to march to Parliament over delayed commencement of medical internship for the year 2023/2024. Two days later, police spokesperson Fred Enanga announced that Ogwal had been suspended from the force. The Force’s decision to apologise and suspend their own came after journalists threatened to organise a naked but peaceful demonstration at police headquarters. Such is the plight of journalists and other media workers, who are always attacked in their line of duty. The work done by journalists’ organisations such as Human Rights Network for Journalists – Uganda in defending media freedom is commendable. The challenge at hand is that the perpetrators have become unbothered by these attacks; beat, later apologise and life goes on until the next time. It is, therefore, necessary that media freedom defenders deploy other strategies and tactics to further guarantee safety of journalists and other media practitioners. These include using regional and global avenues such as the African human rights system and the United Nations special mechanisms to seek their support. Specifically, I will discuss three ways through which journalists can utilise the UN human rights system to champion their rights.
Firstly, by utilising the UN Human Rights Council’s Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Opinion, journalists can improve their safety. They can reach out to the special rapporteur to report any violations of their right in line of duty, including threats, harassment, and physical attacks. This can be done though monitoring, documenting and reporting the violations like that which happened last week. The reporting can be done by way of sending a communication, backed by evidence, to the Special Rapporteur’s office.
In response, the special rapporteur can advocate for the journalists’ safety and raise their case with relevant authorities at the global level. Other UN experts that journalists can go through include the special rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders; special rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; and special rapporteur on violence against women and girls (for female journalists). However, the main point of contact for journalists is the special rapporteur on freedom of expression, who has the mandate to investigate, document and intervene in cases of human rights violations against journalists.
Secondly, journalists can report any violations of their human rights to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), which can provide assistance in the form of legal support, advocacy, and any other protection. The OHCHR provides protection and support to journalists at risk and can also monitor and report on human rights violations. Journalists can refer to relevant treaties and UN resolutions that recognise the importance of protecting journalists and promoting freedom of expression such as the UN General Assembly resolution on safety of journalists and the issue of impunity.
The third avenue is through the Universal Periodic Review (UPR). Established in 2006 by the UN General Assembly, it is a unique process through which all UN member states are provided the opportunity to review the human rights records of all other member states on the same terms. The main objective is to improve the human rights situation on the ground and share best practices among stakeholders. The state under review is primarily responsible for implementing the recommendations as per the final report.
On January 27, 2022, Uganda presented its national report under the 3rd cycle to the UN Human Rights Council Working Group. Uganda received 273 recommendations and it supported 139 of them at the adoption of its UPR outcome at the 50th session of the Human Rights Council in July 2022. It supported a recommendation “to reinforce measures that guarantee the rights of citizens to peaceful demonstration and freedom of expression.” Other recommendations were to ensure the respect of the right to freedom of expression, the press, association and peaceful assembly, respect to freedom of expression online, ending the intimidation and harassment of domestic and international journalists, and removal of all obstacles to the right to freedom of expression and media freedom, Uganda noted.
Mr Mayamba is a human rights journalist. [email protected]
