Special Rapporteur’s Report on Combating Violence Against Women Journalists

On July 8, 2020, the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, Dubravka Šimonović, presented a new report on combating violence against women journalists (VAWJ) at the 44th session of the UN Human Rights Council. This report, the first to examine VAWJ in depth, documents the different forms of violence against women journalists, including femicide, sexual violence, discrimination, and online violence. “Women journalists have become increasingly targeted as visible and outspoken representatives of women’s rights,” Šimonović said in a UN Special Procedures news release. “Much remains to be done, particularly in view of the emerging fundamentalist discourse and the global backlash against women’s rights.” To read more about the report, check out our blog post on the Global 16 Days website.

In preparation for the report, on March 13, 2020, the Center for Women’s Global Leadership (CWGL), through its Journalism Initiative on Gender-Based Violence (JiG), hosted an Expert Group Meeting (EGM) in partnership with the Office of the UN Special Rapporteur, the United Nations Population Fund, and the International Association of Women in Radio and Television. The EGM served as a knowledge-sharing session between women journalists, experts on GBV reporting, heads of UN mechanisms, and executives of media entities around the world. The full EGM report is now available to read here.On July 29, 2020, the CWGL hosted a webinar to launch the Special Rapporteur’s report. The webinar featured high profile panelists, including Jafar Irshaidat (UNFPA Syria-Hub), Lagipoiva Cherelle Jackson (JiG Chief Editor), Melissa Upreti (UN WGDAWG), Aimee Vega Montiel (GAMAR), Liz Ford (The Guardian), Tasneem Ahmar (a prominent journalist from Pakistan), and the Special Rapporteur Dubravka Šimonović on VAW, who discussed the content and significance of the report, as well as key recommendations that should be implemented to combat VAWJ.
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