Italian Coalition for Civil Liberties and Rights (CILD) - Support Centres

Founded in 2014, the Italian Coalition for Civil Liberties and Rights (Coalizione Italiana Libertà e Diritti Civili, CILD) is a network of civil society organizations that protects and expands the rights and liberties of all, through a combination of advocacy, public education and legal action.

CILD also coordinates a Centre for Legal Action that operates as a clearing-house, facilitating the interactions between law firms and non-profit associations in need of legal assistance. 

- Legal information: CILD offers information support, in some remote cases, for anyone who asks for help in the field of civil liberties. A sort of emergency legal aid, for a concrete action orientation of protection.

- Strategic Litigation: When the only communication and lobbying is not enough, CILD supports the judgment actions with strategic litigation, a specific legal action capable of activating a regulatory change, promote awareness and debate around a theme, mobilizing public opinion, to push policy makers to overcome regulations that violate the fundamental rights of individuals.

- Pro bono legal advice: CILD arranges a free legal aid service, as an interface between civil society organizations and lawyers. Requests may concern: legal opinions, statutory acts, comparative research or case law, legal and, in exceptional cases, translations, initiation of litigation.

- Access to information: CILD monitors the implementation of the Italian FOIA

E-mail: legal@cild.eu

Lithuanian Union of Journalists - Support Centres

The Lithuanian Union of Journalists (Lietuvos žurnalistų sąjunga, LŽS) is a union representing journalists based in Lithuania. It defends their interests and provides them with information and assistance. It also carries out advocacy activity, and it organises events and contests. The LŽS is organized in regional branches and in thematic sub-sections, which gather journalists sharing specific features or interests. 

The union's chairman can be contacted at chairas@lzs.lt or +370 85 2122805. 

Russian Union of Journalists - Support Centres

The Russian Union of Journalists (Союз журналистов России) is the union representing journalists and other media workers across Russia. The Russian Union of Journalists, which is affiliated to the International Federation of Journalists, runs a defence hotline to support members who are attacked for doing their jobs. Contacts to get in touch with the union: ruj@ruj.ru and +7 (495) 637-51-01

Estonian Union of Journalists - Support Centres

The Estonian Union of Journalists (Eesti Ajakirjanike Liit, EAL) was first established in 1919; it represents the journalism and media professionals active in Estonia. The union provides members with defense of economic interests and various forms of legal and professional support, as well as with training and scholarship opportunities. It is also active in monitoring and advocating legislative changes in the country. The union can be contacted at eal@eal.ee or at +372 646 3699. 

Norwegian Union of Journalists - Support Centres

The Norwegian Union of Journalists (Norsk Journalistlag) is the union representing the people working in the journalism sector in Norway, and it includes the vast majority of them. Besides acting in order to improve its members' working conditions, the union is active in promoting journalism ethics and freedom and in monitoring the state of journalism in Norway and abroad. It provides its members with legal and professional assistance, as well as with several education and grant opportunities. The union also publishes the online magazine Journalisten , devoted to media issues. Contacts to get in touch with the union are nj@nj.no and +47 22 05 39 50. 

Union of Icelandic Journalists - Support Centres

The Union of Icelandic Journalists (Blaðamannafélag Íslands) is the union representing the journalism professionals in Iceland. Founded in 1897 and counting on some 500 members, the union monitors the state of the media and of media work in the country. It negotiates some working conditions for its members, and it provides them with legal support and educational or professional opportunities. The union can be contacted at bi@press.is or at +354 553-9155. 

National Union of Journalists - UK & Ireland - Support Centres

The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) is the union representing the people employed in the journalism sector in the United Kingdom and in Ireland. Founded in 1907, the NUJ includes quite a broad range of professionals, active in a variety of media outlets and working according to different models. The union provides information, assistance and support to its members, and it promotes campaigns to advance their causes. While the NUJ invites to get in touch with its local representatives, it is also possible to contact its headquarters at +44 020 7843 3700 or at info@nuj.org.uk.

Mass Media Defence Centre - Support Centres

The Mass Media Defence Centre is an NGO working in the field of media rights protection and the promotion of freedom of expression standards in Russia. Its primary purpose is to protect the rights of media outlets and the legal protection of journalists, also helping them to find pro bono lawyers and providing legal advice.

RSF Assistance Desk - Support Centres

The Assistance Desk of Reporters Without Borders (RSF) provides financial and administrative assistance to professional journalists and citizen-journalists who have been the victims of reprisals because of their reporting

ECPMF Alarm Centre for Female Journalists under Threat - Support Centres

On 8 March 2016, the ECPMF has created a special Women’s Reporting Point to address and raise awareness on increasing threats against female journalists.

Threats can be reported via encrypted messaging. The secure emails will only be opened by female staff at ECPMF headquarters and their contents will remain confidential. To provide appropriate legal assistance and solidarity to female journalists or media workers who report their cases, ECPMF is partnering with the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and its Italian branch FNSI.

The rationale of this support measure stems from the consideration that female journalists are not only attacked because of their profession, they are also threatened because they are women, as pointed out also by the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media. Gender-based threats, such as sexual and abusive comments, threats of rape or publishing pictures and phone numbers on sex and dating websites target women more often than men.  

ECPMF encourages all women to report attacks in order to seek help, but also to make the dimension of attacks against journalists visible: the reported cases will be collected in a database – with details of the woman’s identity removed in order to protect her – as basis of an analysis to show the scale of the problem across Europe.