UNESCO - Stakeholders

UNESCO is the UN specialized agency with the mandate to promote "the free flow of ideas by word and image", and to nurture freedom of expression, media development, and access to information. It provides governments with technical advice on legal, regulatory, policy and other critical issues, and educates and builds capacities of journalists, media professionals and institutions.

UNESCO has a long-standing experience of promoting freedom of expression and media development in transitional countries, particularly in South East Europe and Turkey. In this respect, UNESCO contributed to the Guidelines for EU support to media freedom and integrity in enlargement countries 2014-2020.

From 2009 until 2011, UNESCO implemented the project "Alignment to International Standards in the Media Sector of South East European countries". From 2013 to 2015, a second project was implemented under the title "Media Accountability in South East Europe". In January 2016, the project "Building Trust in Media in South East Europe and Turkey " was launched, with the aim of supporting media accountability mechanisms, internal governance of media entities and media and information literacy in EU candidate and potential candidate countries with financial support of the European Commission, DG Near. 

Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) - Stakeholders

Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) promotes press freedom worldwide and defends the right of journalists to report the news without fear of reprisal. CPJ ensures the free flow of news and commentary by taking action wherever journalists are attacked, imprisoned, killed, kidnapped, threatened, censored, or harassed.

CPJ’s work is based on its research, which provides a global snapshot of obstructions to a free press worldwide. CPJ’s research staff documents hundreds of attacks on the press each year. CPJ denounces press freedom violations, meets with heads of state and high-ranking officials, spearheads or advises on diplomatic efforts, and works with other organizations to ensure that justice prevails when journalists are imprisoned or killed. CPJ also provides practical support to journalists and media support staff working around the world through up-to-date safety and security information and rapid response assistance.

International Press Institute (IPI) - Stakeholders

The International Press Institute (IPI) is a global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists. The institute is dedicated to the furtherance and safeguarding of press freedom, the protection of freedom of opinion and expression, the promotion of the free flow of news and information, and the improvement of the practices of journalism. 

IPI works by:

• conducting direct advocacy with governments
• raising awareness on violations of media freedom through news coverage, research and analysis
• leading programmes and campaigns to further change
• offering platforms for cooperation, networking and skills exchange among our members
• promoting high-quality, independent journalism through the development of best practices at the global level
• providing opportunities for dialogue among diverse journalistic communities, in line with IPI’s founding principles

IPI runs a project called OnTheLine, that aims at promoting online journalists’ safety and countering threats against press freedom and freedom of expression in the digital sphere.

World trends in freedom of expression and media development: Special digital focus 2015 - Reports

Since 2011, UNESCO increased its activity in monitoring the status of press freedom and safety of journalists, with emphasis on cases of impunity for violence against journalists. This Special Digital Focus 2015 devotes specific attention to selected digital-era trends such as Online hate speech, Digital security and digital rights

Information security. Protecting your story, your source and yourself online - Manuals

This manual is designed by the Center for Investigative Journalism (CIJ) to instruct journalists and media organisations on how to practise information security in the digital age, how to protect their work, your sources, and communication flows which may be endangered by dfferent factors

Eroding Freedoms: Media and Soft Censorship in Montenegro - Reports

This report published by WAN-IFRA, the Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA), and the Montenegrin Centre for Civic Education (CCE) focuses on the impact of soft-censorship in quickening an already serious decline in media independence in Montenegro 

Press freedom in Turkey's inter-election period - Reports

Pressure on journalists operating in Turkey has severely escalated in the period between the two parliamentary elections held on June 7 and November 1st 2015. The report has been produced following an Emergency Press Freedom Mission conducted by 8 organizations in October 2015. It assesses the rising pressures and threats on journalists as a serious obstacle to free and fair elections

Backgrounds, Experiences and Responses to Online Hate Speech: A Comparative Cross-Country Analysis - Reports

With funding from the EU's Fundamental Rights and Citizenship Programme, a recent report by the PRISM project has empirically investigated online hate speech in France, Italy, Romania, Spain and the UK

Front Line Defenders - Support Centres

Front Line Defenders provides rapid and practical support to human rights defenders at risk through:

• international advocacy on behalf of human rights defenders at risk, including emergency support for those in immediate danger (see here );
• grants to pay for the practical security needs of human rights defenders (see here ); 
• trainings and resource materials on security and protection, including digital security (see here );
• rest, respite and other opportunities for human rights defenders dealing with extreme stress (see here );
• opportunities for networking and exchange between human rights defenders, including at the biennial Dublin Platform (see here );
• the annual Front Line Defenders Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk;
• an emergency 24-hour phone line for human rights defenders operating in Arabic, English, French, Russian and Spanish.

In emergency situations Front Line Defenders can facilitate temporary relocation of human rights defenders.

Front Line Defenders is a member of the Journalists in Distress (JID) Network.

Contact information (here ): Emergency Hotline +353 121 00489 - SKYPE: front-line-emergency

Center for the protection of freedom of expression - Centar za zaštitu slobode izražavanja - Support Centres

Inaugurated in July 2015, the Center for the protection of freedom of expression is a service offered by the Association of Croatian Journalists (Hrvatsko Novinarsko Drustvo). The Center is open to collaboration by all interested lawyers, experts and other professionals who want to contribute to this project aiming to protect freedom of expression. Interested professionals may contact the Center at the HND (telephone number 01 4828 333) or by contacting the president of HN, Saša Leković (mob.: 098 484049). The timetable of lawyer available at the Center can be consulted here .