Italy: wiretapping of journalists reporting on migration must be investigated - Article

The Media Freedom Rapid Response and partner organisations welcome the launch of an investigation into the wiretapping of journalists and their sources in Sicily. However, a robust, swift and systematic investigation will be essential for rebuilding trust and ensuring that all journalists, sources and legal professionals in Italy are protected

Thematic factsheet: SLAPP in Italy, a democratic emergency - Article

by Paola Rosà

A limited selection of cases from an ocean of lawsuits. A paper sent to the INI rapporteurs of the Draft Report on the strengthening democracy and media freedom and pluralism in the EU: the undue use of actions under civil and criminal law to silence journalists, NGOs and civil society

GiULia (GIornaliste Unite LIbere Autonome) - Stakeholders

Born in 2011, GiULia (United Free Autonomous Women Journalists) is an Italian association that unites women professional journalists and freelancers who have signed the democratic, antifascist and solidaristic manifesto.

It has two main goals:

• to change the information imbalance about women, also using a language without stereotypes;
• and to fight for equal job opportunities for women without discriminations

Letter: Increasing Concerns for Media Freedom in Slovenia - Article

We co-signed a letter to the Commission and to the media working group of the European Parliament

EU 2020: DEMANDING ON DEMOCRACY - Reports

Country & Trend Reports on Democratic Records by Civil Liberties Organisations Across the European Union

Combating gender-based violence: Cyber violence - Reports

A study by the EPRS, European Parliamentary Research Service, that confirms the estimate that 4 to 7 % of women in the EU-27 have experienced cyber harassment during the past 12 months, while between 1 and 3 % have experienced cyber stalking

Media and artistic freedom under attack: Europe has to act - Article

The General Secretary of the European Federation of Journalists Ricardo Gutiérrez gave the keynote speech today at the Socialists & Democrats online event on media freedom and artistic freedom. He called on MEPs to push member state governments to adopt concrete measures to protect journalists

Whistleblower protections: a letter to Ukraine - Article

We co-signed the letter to President Zelensky to support the  efforts of civil society in Ukraine to block the dangerous amendments to the whistleblower protections

Shelter City - Support Centres

Shelter City is a nationwide initiative of Justice and Peace Netherlands to protect human rights defenders, in cooperation with a growing number of Dutch cities and local organizations.

Human rights defenders defend the rights of themselves and of others. Through their work they play an important role in the promotion of democratic values, political freedoms, and civil rights. This is a challenging and dangerous fight: they are often silenced, threatened, arrested, tortured and sometimes they disappear.

Justice and Peace established Shelter City in 2012 on the request of their network of international human rights defenders. After the first Shelter City in The Hague, Middelburg joined in 2014, followed by Nijmegen, Maastricht, Utrecht, and Amsterdam in 2015, Tilburg and Groningen in 2016 and Zwolle and Haarlem in 2017. In 2018 Deventer also joined the Shelter City network. Rotterdam followed in 2020. Tbilisi & Batumi (Georgia), Dar Es Salaam (Tanzania), Cotonou (Benin) and San José (Costa Rica) have joined the network as International Shelter City Hubs. The expectation is that other cities (in or outside the Netherlands) will join in the future as well. The growing number of applications from Human Rights Defenders under threat shows that new Shelter Cities are strongly needed.

In every Shelter City the municipality, local organizations, universities, and Justice and Peace provide the shelter and take care of the program for the human rights defender. Together with the human rights defenders they organize meetings and workshops that contribute to the raising of awareness about human rights issues among the inhabitants of the Shelter Cities.

Shelter City is affiliated with the EU Human Rights Defenders Relocation Platform

Mapping Fake News and Disinformation in the Western Balkans and Identifying Ways to Effectively Counter Them - Reports

A study requested by the European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs, concluding that the European Union should focus on the role that it can play in bolstering the quality of democracy and governance in the Western Balkans, as the most powerful potential bulwark against disinformation