16 Oct 19 | Campaigns -- Featured, Europe and Central Asia, Malta
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Journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was murdered on 16 October 2017
Two years after the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in Malta, on 16 October 2019, we, the undersigned international free expression, anti-corruption, and journalists’ organisations, once again demand an end to impunity for this heinous attack.
Six of our organisations took part in an international freedom of expression mission to Malta one year ago, where, at the highest levels of government, we raised our profound concerns about this case and the broader worrying free expression environment in Malta – which has fallen 30 places over the past two years and is now ranked 77th out of 180 countries in Reporters Without Borders’ World Press Freedom Index.
A full year after our mission, the Maltese authorities have failed to meaningfully address any of the serious concerns we raised, or fully implement any of the recommendations we outlined in our statement of findings as necessary steps towards ensuring justice for Daphne Caruana Galizia and concretely improving the broader freedom of expression situation in Malta.
Following our mission, one member of our delegation was subjected to verbal abuse by the Maltese delegation before the United Nations (UN), in response to her advocacy for justice in the case, an incident which the UN noted in its report on reprisals. Another member of our delegation faced harassment at the Valletta protest memorial site during a subsequent country visit.
Yet these unacceptable acts pale in comparison to the alarming attacks that have continued – and in some cases, escalated – against Daphne Caruana Galizia’s family, citizen journalists and activists who campaign for justice in the case, and professional journalists who continue to pursue public interest investigative reporting in Malta. We also note with deep concern the many vexatious defamation lawsuits that continue posthumously against Daphne Caruana Galizia, including suits brought by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and other senior officials, and the continued destruction of the Valletta protest memorial in her honour, on a daily basis under government orders.
Although we welcomed the Maltese government’s long-overdue announcement on 20 September 2019 that a public inquiry into Daphne Caruana Galizia’s assassination would finally be established, we emphasise that an inquiry must be fully independent and impartial. We share the concerns of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) with regard to both the terms of reference and the composition of the Board of Inquiry.
While it does not replace the ultimate need for an independent and effective criminal investigation and prosecution, in light of the serious deficiencies of the current investigation, we believe that a public inquiry represents the best hope of achieving justice for Daphne Caruana Galizia and of ensuring the safety of journalists in Malta. We urge the Maltese government to move forward without further delay in establishing a truly independent and impartial public inquiry in line with PACE’s requirements. We further call on the Maltese government to cease ad hominem attacks on PACE Special Rapporteur Pieter Omtzigt and to cooperate with his mandate in accordance with Malta’s obligations as a Council of Europe Member State.
Today, on 16 October 2019, we are gathering in vigils to remember Daphne Caruana Galizia and renew calls for justice in Valletta, London, Brussels, Berlin, and Vienna. We will continue our campaigning and our joint advocacy at international organisations such as PACE until all those involved in every aspect of this heinous attack are brought to justice – including the masterminds.
We urge the Maltese authorities to ensure that this is the very last anniversary that passes without full justice for Daphne Caruana Galizia.
Signed:
Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
Article 19
Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)
European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF)
European Federation for Journalists (EFJ)
IFEX
Index on Censorship
International Press Institute (IPI)
Pen America
Pen International
Scottish Pen
Transparency International[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”4″ element_width=”6″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1571156662446-239de184-0fe4-10″ taxonomies=”18782″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
10 Oct 19 | Campaigns -- Featured, Europe and Central Asia, Statements
Memorial to Daphne Caruana Galizia at the Great Siege Monument in Valletta, Malta. Photo: Ethan Doyle White via Wikimedia Commons
Index on Censorship is deeply concerned that the murder of Maltese investigative journalist Daphne remains unsolved two years later. The brutal assassination on 16 October 2017 shocked Europe, and drew widespread condemnation.
Doubts about the investigations conducted by the Maltese authorities led the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe, in June this year, to call on Malta to establish an independent public inquiry. However, the recently announced inquiry does not meet the expectations of the assembly.
Index is also critical of the continuation of defamation lawsuits against Daphne Caruana Galizia’s family. At the time of the murder she was subject to more than 40 defamation lawsuits. Approximately 30 of these are continuing against her family, as Maltese law allows plaintiffs to pursue cases against the defendant’s estate.
Joy Hyvarinen, head of advocacy at Index on Censorship, said: “It is appalling that Daphne Caruana Galizia’s brutal murder remains unsolved after two years and that the government of Malta has only now established an inquiry, and that it has done so in a way that raises serious questions about the independence of that inquiry. Index urges other European countries to make it clear to Malta that the inquiry must be independent.”
18 Sep 19 | Campaigns -- Featured, Media Freedom, Statements
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]To: Marija Pejčinović Burić
Secretary-General
Council of Europe
Dear Secretary-General,
On behalf of the undersigned organisations, we warmly congratulate you on your appointment as the new Secretary-General of the Council of Europe. We are motivated by our experience and understanding of the worsening of the environment for journalists and free expression across Europe to ask you to make sure that your commitment to democracy, the rule of law and human rights will be reflected in enhanced efforts for the effective protection of freedom of expression, press freedom and the safety of journalists, backed up by robust measures and strong and consistent statements and actions by yourself as Secretary-General.
Media freedom and media pluralism must be given a clear and consistent priority across the Council of Europe area, as they enable the public to make informed choices about their government and society, and are thus prerequisites for the full enjoyment of all other rights.
Renewed and determined efforts to achieve Member States’ compliance with the Council of Europe’s conventions, recommendations and other texts, as well as the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) are vital in these times of rising threats against journalists and press freedom throughout Europe. The environment for media freedom has worsened significantly, as was documented in the Annual Report published by the partner organisations of the Council of Europe Platform for the Protection of Journalism and Safety of Journalists. We see extremely worrying developments in Azerbaijan, Poland, Hungary, Italy, Turkey, Russia and elsewhere.
Regarding the Platform for the Protection of Journalism and Safety of Journalists, we urge you to provide all necessary means and support available to ensure that Member States respond concretely to alerts, intensify the dialogue and follow-up moves to provide redress, and to do everything possible to gain the active cooperation of those Member States which have failed to reply to alerts that highlight shortcomings or abuses on the part of state authorities. We ask you to establish a monthly exchange at the level of the Committee of Ministers to allow for a meaningful discussion on the progress of Member States in dealing with the alerts and persistent and serious threats to media freedom and the safety of journalists and other media actors.
In view of the well-documented increase in attacks on the media and backsliding in some states’ fulfilment of their commitments, we request you to prioritise actions and policies to implement Recommendation CM/Rec(2016)4 of the Committee of Ministers on the protection of journalism and safety of journalists and other media actors – including specific measures to comply with Council of Europe standards on Protection; Prevention of attacks; and Prosecution of crimes against journalists.
We hope that the concerns and recommendations outlined in the Platform partners’ latest report will be given priority by the Secretariat under your leadership, and through the projects and activities foreseen in the bi-annual Council of Europe programme and budget. To address these concerns, we request you to make available the resources and support needed to give it greater visibility, recognition and impact – both internally and externally to the Council of Europe.
We are convinced that strong and concerted political action from Member States and the Council of Europe is now essential. We request your energetic support against the ongoing impunity for attacks including murders of journalists within Europe, and against widespread attempts to adopt severely restrictive legislation on media regulation, defamation, anti-terrorism that are increasingly used to criminalise journalists.
Anti-media rhetoric is creating a toxic atmosphere for journalists amongst the general public and must be countered. The spread of online disinformation intensifies this effect. We welcome the recent PACE resolution on the rule of law in Malta, which points to the urgent need for effective actions against the politicisation of state institutions, media capture by political forces, and a climate of impunity related to attacks against members of the media.
We call on you to provide your full political support, and necessary resources, to ensure the successful implementation of Recommendation CM/Rec(2016)4, as is specified in the 2018 Steering Committee on Media and Information Society (CDMSI) strategy 2018. It is especially important to us that robust and frank debate on the subject of implementation (including securing firm commitments to national action plans) takes place at the Conference of Ministers responsible for media and information society in Cyprus in May 2020, with the full participation of civil society to pave the way for meaningful actions to reverse the recent negative trends.
We call on you to use your influence on Member States to reform their domestic laws and practices so that they comply with their obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights and CM Recommendation (2016)4, and do everything in your power to improve the safety of journalists through the establishment of effective safeguards.
We thank Thorbjørn Jagland for his efforts in the past years and we are happy to continue to support the Council of Europe with our research and our international networks.
We request a meeting with you soon to discuss these matters in person and to share our knowledge and experience with you as you begin your term of office.
We look forward to your positive response.
Yours sincerely,
Lutz Kinkel, Managing Director, European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF)
Sarah Clarke, Head of Europe and Central Asia, ARTICLE 19
William Horsley, Special Representative for Media Freedom, Association of European Journalists (AEJ)
Gulnoza Said, Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)
Daniel Gorman, Director, English PEN
Ricardo Gutiérrez, General Secretary, European Federation of Journalists (EFJ)
Leon Willems, Director of Policy and Programmes, Free Press Unlimited (FPU)
Ralf Nestmeyer, Vice-President, German PEN
Bertrand Pecquerie, CEO, Global Editors Network (GEN)
Annie Game, Executive Director, IFEX
Joy Hyvarinen, Head of Advocacy, Index on Censorship
Anthony Bellanger, General Secretary, International Federation of Journalists (IFJ)
Ravi R. Prasad, Director of Advocacy, International Press Institute (IPI)
Ides Debruyne, Managing Director, Journalismfund.eu vzw
Hege Newth, Secretary General, Norwegian PEN
Chiara Sighele, Programme Director, Osservatorio Balcani Caucaso Transeuropa (OBCT/CCI)
Alberto Spampinato, Director, Ossigeno per l’informazione
Aaliya Ahmed, International Programmes Director, PEN International
Christophe Deloire, Secretary General, Reporters without Borders (RSF)
Oliver Vujovic, Secretary General, South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO)
Clothilde Redfern, Director, The Rory Peck Trust
Andrew Heslop, Director, World Association of News Publishers (WAN-IFRA)[/vc_column_text][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”4″ element_width=”6″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1568796322393-650d0cd0-526d-5″ taxonomies=”6534″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
19 Jun 19 | Press Releases
Judged: How governments use power to undermine justice and freedom. The summer 2019 edition of Index on Censorship magazine
In a world when journalists are operating in increasingly harsh and difficult conditions, and are hit by lawsuits to stop them doing that, they need lawyers independent enough to stand up with them in court. This is an issue that the latest edition of Index on Censorship magazine looks at in detail.
“While at a conference, I spoke to journalists under extreme pressure. They told me: ‘When the independence of the justice system is gone then that is it. It’s all over.” We need to make a wider public argument about the importance of the judiciary. It’s something we should all be talking about in the local cafe. The average citizen needs to be vigilant to make sure the line between those making the laws and those sitting in judgement is not blurred. Our fundamental rights depend on it,” Rachael Jolley, editor of Index on Censorship, said.
In the latest magazine we look at a global phenomena where powerful governments are trying to unpick the independence of legal systems, to bring them under more direct influence, and the implications for global freedom of expression and freedom of the media.
With contributions from Kaya Genc in Turkey; Stephen Woodman on the Mexican government’s promises to rebuild the pillars of democracy and what hasn’t happen; Jan Fox on Donald Trump’s trampling of democratic norms; Karoline Kan on China’s retaliation against lawyers who argue for human rights, Caroline Muscat on independent news in Malta, Melanio Escobar and Stefano Pozzeban on Venezuela’s abuse of judicial power, Viktoria Serdult on how the Hungarian prime minister is pressurising independence in all its forms, Silvia Nortes on the power of the Catholic church in increasingly secular Spain.
In China, hundreds of human rights lawyers are in prison; in England and Wales, it has become more of a financial risk for ordinary people to go to court; in Brazil, the new president has appointed a judge who was very much part of the election campaign to a super-ministerial role. In Turkey, the Erdogan government is challenging the opposition candidate’s win in Istanbul’s mayoral elections. Hungary’s Orban has been set out plans to introduce new types of courts under the nose of the EU (although there appears to have been a U-turn).
We have an exclusive interview with imprisoned author and journalist Ahmet Altan, who was accused of inserting subliminal messages in support of the attempted July 2016 coup into a television broadcast and was sentenced to life in prison, told us: “I came out against the unlawful practices of both the era of military tutelage and that of the AKP [the ruling Justice and Development Party]: I believe I am a target of their anger.” The issue also includes the first English translation of an extract from his 2005 novel The Longest Night.
“Ahmet’s case is a perfect illustration of what can happen when the rule of law and courts are aligned with the political will of an increasingly authoritarian government,” Jolley commented.
About Index on Censorship Magazine
Since its establishment in 1972, Index on Censorship magazine has published some of the greatest names in literature including Samuel Beckett, Nadine Gordimer, Mario Vargas Llosa, Hilary Mantel and Kurt Vonnegut. It also has published some of the greatest campaigning writers of our age from Vaclav Havel to Amartya Sen and Ariel Dorfman plus journalism from Mexico, Argentina, South Africa, China, India, Turkey and more. Editor Rachael Jolley was named British Society of Editors’ editor of the year in the specialist publication category (2016) and the magazine has received numerous awards including the APEX Award for Excellence and the Hermann Kesten prize.
With each new issue of the magazine, an archival issue will become available for students, researchers and supporters of free expression. The four latest issues of the magazine are available for purchase in print or digital formats via SAGE Publishing, bookshops and Exact Editions.
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