Online violence against female journalists increases

Safety of Female Journalists Online (SOFJO) Conference 2019 under the theme ‘Expanding Opportunities for Freedom of Expression and Media Plurality’ has been organised by the Organization for Security and Co-operation (OSCE) in Europe. OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media (RFoM), Mr Harlem Désir, and Council of Europe (CoE) Commissioner for Human Rights and former OSCE FRoM, Ms Dunja Mijatović, addressed the audience. In his opening speech, Désir noted that with the increase of threats against the press, female journalists face specific type of gender-based violence online. It includes sexually explicit and misogynistic abuse, death threats, surveillance, imprisonment, and other types of intimidation against female journalists and their families. It is aimed at silencing their voices and removing them from work. He called for ‘meaningful and systematic response and holistic approach’, which needs to include Internet platforms, media companies, and political will at the highest level. Last December, OSCE participating states unanimously adopted an OSCE Ministerial Decision on Safety of Journalists. Désir underlined the courage of journalists who have shared their challenging experiences, which resulted with a documentary ‘A Dark Place’. Mijatović launched ‘Safety of Female Journalists Online’ project in 2014 in order to highlight the issue and call for greater action against the trend which attacks both media freedom and human rights. She reminded about the importance of adopting gender sensitive approaches to policy developments in order to have the full participation of women in online spaces. ‘States must step up the implementation of the human rights standards they have adopted on the safety of journalists and on combating violence against women. They have the duty to adopt protective measures for female journalists and to encourage the private sector and the media to fight gender-based violence online.’