Press Freedom
On April 3 2025, JiG hosted an open discussion on press freedom and safety for US-based journalists with Ayla Jean Ackley, journalist based in Turkey, Osama Ahmed, journalist covering Pakistan for Geo news, Catalina Cortes, Interim Emergencies Director for the Committee to Protect Journalists, and Kathleen McLaughlin, journalist and author covering China for 16 plus years.
Ahead of International Women's Day 2025, there is clear evidence of a systematic erasure of the right to freedom of expression of many groups, including women and critical media and civil society leaders. Fear of funding cuts and attacks by emboldened hate groups are forcing many into self-censorship. The Global Alliance on Media and Gender calls individuals, organizations and governments to
- Ensure that women-led civil society organizations have the resources and support they need to continue their work.
- Resist the erasure of diversity, equity, and inclusion language from public discourse and hold media accountable for perpetuating harmful stereotypes.
- Defend media freedom and the rights of journalists, particularly women, to work without fear of retaliation.
- Speak out against policies and decisions that threaten women’s rights and freedom of expression everywhere and across all media.
- Ukraine - Read this piece by Ukranian journalist Victoria Roshchyna, now confirmed dead in Russian custody, on her ordeal in 2022 when she was taken hostage on the way to cover the siege of Mariupol.
- Lebanon - We join the Alternative Press Syndicate in calling for an independent investigation into the Israeli killing of journalist Issam Abdullah in Lebanon, and the wounding of journalists Christina, Dylan, Carmen, Elie, Maher and Thaer.
- For Our Colleagues. We joined a coalition of 800+ journalists, media workers and organizations to demand an end to violence against the press in Gaza. Join the call here.
- Statement by journalists condemning the killing of journalists in Gaza. We joined Reporters Without Borders, the International Federation of Journalists and the Arab and Middle Eastern Journalists Association in demanding an explicit commitment from Israel to end the violence against journalists and other civilians.
- We join the International Journalism Federation in calling for the release of all imprisoned media workers and journalists in Iran, including Niloofar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi who were the first to report on Mahsa Amini's death in police custody.
- The Rory Peck Trust has a new Therapy Fund for freelance journalists in need of psychological care. Link here.
- Read our tip sheet, written in collaboration with UNFPA, for reporting on digital violence here.
The JiG team hosted a virtual Expert Group Meeting (EGM) on violence against women journalists on March 13, 2020. Our advocacy led to the UN Report on violence against women journalists, authored by the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women. In the report, Special Rapporteur Dubravka Šimonović addressed gender-based violence faced by women journalists in their line of work. The report was presented to the UN Human Rights Council's 44th session in the summer of 2020.
The idea to advocate for a UN report on violence against women journalists came about during the Center for Women's Global Leadership's first regional convening of women journalists in July 2018, in Colombo, Sri Lanka. With every subsequent regional meeting, the need for such a report with recommendations to hold governments and media agencies to the account was both visible and compelling.
JIG Expert Group Meeting Report
UN Special Rapporteur report on Combating Violence against Women Journalists