CPJ: 69 Journalists Died on Job in 2015

Photograph: Marco Ugarte/AP


Sixty-nine journalists were killed around the world on the job in 2015. Twenty-eight of them were slain by Islamic militant groups, including al-Qaeda and ISIS, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

The New York-based organization says Syria again was the deadliest place for journalists, though the number of deaths there in 2015 — 13 — was lower than in previous years of the conflict.

“These journalists are the most vulnerable,” Joel Simon, the committee’s executive director said of reporters and broadcasters working in Syria and other areas inundated with Islamic extremists. “This is, clearly based on the data, an incredible risk for journalists.”

Those killed by Islamic extremist groups this year included eight journalists killed in an attack in Paris in January at the office of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, which had published caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad. The group al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula claimed responsibility for the attack in which two gunmen massacred 12 people. They said it was in “revenge for the prophet.”

In October, two Syrian journalists, Fares Hamadi and Ibrahim Abd al-Qader were killed by ISIS militants.

While some of the deaths were among reporters covering conflict zones, journalists in several countries also were killed after reporting on sensitive subjects. At least 28 of the reporters who were killed had received threats before their deaths, the Committee to Protect Journalists said.

In Brazil, Gleydson Carvalho, a radio broadcaster who often criticized local police and politicians for purported wrongdoing, was shot and killed while presenting his afternoon radio show in August. The committee tracked six killings in Brazil this year — the highest it has recorded there.

Among the 69 journalists killed were reporter Alison Parker and videojournalist Adam Ward, of Roanoke, Virginia, TV station WDBJ, who were fatally shot in August by former co-worker Vester Lee Flanagan II during a live broadcast. Their interview subject, Vicki Gardner, was wounded. Flanagan fatally shot himself five hours later after a police chase.

“Journalists are a target and this just confirms it,” Simon said of the data the committee compiled. “This is a global threat.”

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Excerpt, read TIME article
Associated Press writer Michael Balsamo contributed to this report.
Original source: Committee to Protect Journalists

ABA SIL Fall Meeting 2014: Record Number Attend IHRC's Panel Discussions

The American Bar Association, Section of International Law's 2014 Fall Meeting was held at the Buenos Aires Hilton, in Argentina. The International Human Rights Committee sponsored or co-sponsored four panel discussions. The IHRC's 2-part panel discussion on Freedom of the Press and the Law were the highest attended panels of the week! A short description of IHRC's Fall 2014 Programs is included below. Additional information on each panel, including the names of moderators and speakers, is located under the Programs' tab above.

Special Thanks to IHRC CO-CHAIRS Elizabeth "Liz" Turchi and Joseph "Joe" Federici; IHRC VICE CHAIRS Gregory MacKenzie (Moderator) and Catherine "Cathy" Vernon (Speaker); OTHER SPEAKERS & MODERATORS Marissa Farsi, Kevin Fandl, Anamaria Dutceac Segesten, Gonzalo Smith, Thomas A. Valenti, Robert Cox, Andres D'Alessandro, Daniel Seckman, John Folks, Muria Gonzalez, Leila Mooney, Gerardo Noto, and William Black; and everyone else who help coordinate and/or participate in the ABA SIL Fall Meeting 2014. Without you, none of it would have been possible.


ABA SIL IHRC FALL 2014 PROGRAMS
Buenos Aires Hilton, Argentina (Oct 21- 25) 

Being the Good Global Corporate Citizen: Dealing with the Current Business Guidelines and Standards of Conduct for Multinational Corporations

Thursday, October 23 at 9:00 am – 10:30 am

HUMAN RIGHTS; PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL LAW / RULE OF LAW

With the recent development and adoption of guidelines and standards of conduct regulating business conduct with respect to human trafficking, labor rights, privacy, etc., including UN Guidelines, it is clear that the rules are changing for multinational corporations operating in disparate jurisdictions. The panel will present and clarify this new order of business responsibility and conduct, the risks and the best practices for dealing with the current business and regulatory environment.


Primary Sponsoring Committee: International Corporate Counsel Forum

Co-Sponsoring Committees: Corporate Social Responsibility Committee, International Ethics Committee, International Human Rights Committee, International Trade Committee, Latin American and Caribbean Committee, Transnational Legal Practice Committee, UN & International Organizations Committee

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Undoing Business in Latin America: Rule of Law and the Informal Economy

Friday, October 24 at 9:00 am – 10:30 am

BUSINESS / REGULATION / COMPLIANCE; PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL LAW / RULE OF LAW

Rule of law programs aimed at strengthening legal institutions in developing countries capture only one segment of the business community—the formal segment. The informal economy—often referred to as the gray market—is often left behind. New ‘formalization’ programs have attempted to bring informal enterprises into the legal fold but have thus far been unsuccessful. The panelists will present their research on rule of law and the informal economy in Latin America using case studies of the Colombian gray market, including an analysis of the newly enacted formalization law in Colombia.

Primary Sponsoring Committee: International Human Rights Committee

Co-Sponsoring Committees: Africa Committee, NGO and Not-for-Profit Organizations Committee

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Freedom of the Press and the Law, Part I: The Prosecution of Journalists

Friday, October 24 at 2:30 pm – 4:00 pm

HUMAN RIGHTS: PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL LAW / RULE OF LAW

The killing and prosecution of journalists and human rights defenders has reached alarming proportions. The problem threatens freedom everywhere. The world has seen journalists murdered while covering the Syrian conflict; threatened and killed while covering Mexican drug cartels; and imprisoned in Sub-Saharan Africa for exposing corrupt government activities. Our experts will address the dangers journalists encounter in these regions. In particular, our experts will discuss the prosecution of journalists in Argentina during the “dirty war” and the prosecution and harassment of journalists in South America and the Middle East, among other regions. Through a moderator question and answer format, these case studies will allow the audience to develop an understanding of the legal rights and protections afforded to journalists under domestic, regional and international law.

Primary Sponsoring Committee: International Human Rights Committee

Co-Sponsoring Committees: Middle East Committee

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Freedom of the Press and the Law, Part II: Freedom of Expression in a Post-9/11 World 

Friday, October 24 at 4:30 pm – 6:00 pm

HUMAN RIGHTS: PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL LAW / RULE OF LAW

This panel of experts will explore the protections afforded to journalists under law. In particular, our experts will discuss foundational international instruments securing the Freedom of Expression and other relevant rights, the scope of those freedoms and a State’s ability to derogate therefrom. Our panel will discuss the impact of 9/11 on the Freedom of Expression and recommend what measures the legal community must take to ensure that journalists are able to function without illegal constraint. This panel will look at the freedoms of speech and press and the precarious balance struck by different legal systems when looking at government claims of national security, and will discuss the importance of a free and robust press to democratic societies and how, in the 21st century, that freedom-and the freedom of speech-have become increasingly vulnerable to manipulation, influence and censorship without the heavy-handed repression associated with totalitarian regimes of the past. The program will be presented in a moderated question and answer format.

Primary Sponsoring Committee: U.S. Lawyers Practicing Abroad

Co-Sponsoring Committees: International Courts Committee, International Human Rights Committee, International Judicial Affairs Committee, Latin American and Caribbean Committee, Women’s Interest Network (WIN), Young Lawyers Interest Network (YIN)


❃ ABA SIL Fall 2014 Meeting (Complete Program Guide). 

❃Visit our Programs page for more information.

Arbitrary Detention in Azerbaijan 2014

With the rise of the Arab Spring in 2011, authoritarian governments around the world responded by rolling-back civic space; in Azerbaijan, a country situated at the crossroads of Eurasia, the government has continued to silence independent voices instead of addressing the legitimate concerns of peaceful protesters and dissidents. Now, the government in Baku has ensnared the very human rights defenders and lawyers who seek to protect the rights of others.

In July and August 2014, the Azerbaijani government arrested some of the country’s most prominent human rights defenders, including the renowned human rights lawyer Intigam Aliyev and activists Rasul Jafarov and Leyla Yunus. They are now being held in pretrial detention on a barrage of criminal charges from tax evasion to treason. As the head of the Legal Education Society, a human rights organization that provides legal support to NGOs and low-income individuals, Intigam Aliyev has submitted more than 200 applications to the European Court of Human Rights in cases of election rigging, abuses of free speech, and fair trial violations.

The Court has begun addressing some of the complaints submitted by him, and he recently made a speech at the at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe openly criticizing the Azerbaijani authorities for human rights abuses and cracking down on independent NGOs. It was following these activities that Intigam was arrested on August 8th on charges of tax evasion, illegal business activities, and abuse of official power—crimes he denies ever committing. Aliyev was then sent to pre-trial detention. If the court finds Aliyev guilty of the charges, he faces up to seven years in prison.

This treatment of the human rights defenders violates a number of international treaties to which Azerbaijan is a party, as well as UN General Assembly resolutions which affirm the right of human rights defenders to undertake their important work unhindered. Azerbaijan is party to three of the major international human rights treaties: the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and the Convention Against Torture (CAT). All three treaties ban the use of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, and the ECHR and ICCPR stipulate the right to a fair and public trial by an impartial tribunal.

The ECHR also prohibits the use of arbitrary detention, stating that a person may not be deprived of his liberty except through the reasons and procedures provided by established law. The ECHR authorizes pretrial detention of a suspect only on reasonable suspicion of having committed an offense, to prevent an offense, or to prevent escape after having committed an offense. Domestic Azerbaijani law complements this prohibition, providing strict guidelines for when a pretrial detention may be imposed, and requiring the consideration of less restrictive measures such as house arrest or bail.

Complementing theses international treaties, the UN General Assembly passed a Declaration on Human Rights Defenders in 1998. The General Assembly reiterated its concerns and stances as stated in the Declaration in at least five subsequent resolutions, the most recent of which was in 2013. The Declaration was adopted by consensus in the General Assembly and therefore represents a strong commitment by States to its implementation. States are increasingly considering adopting the Declaration as a binding national legislation. The Declaration addresses the protections accorded to human rights defenders (including to develop and discuss new human rights ideas and principles and to advocate their acceptance and to form associations and NGOs), and the duties of states. Such duties include ensuring the protection of everyone against violence, threats, retaliation, adverse criminality, pressure, or other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the Declaration; promoting and facilitating the teaching of human rights; and providing an effective remedy for persons who claim to have been victims of a human rights violations.

It is not fully known the scope of political imprisonment in Azerbaijan. The most recent list compiled by local activists contains 98 individual cases. The number of recent detainees, the categorical variety of individuals, and the severity of the charges and length of prison terms are alarming. The trend began around the time of the Arab Spring movements in 2011 and continued through Baku’s hosting of the 2012 Eurovision contest, the presidential elections of 2013, and Azerbaijan’s leadership of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers this year. At each step, the Azerbaijani government has had the opportunity to embrace openness and its obligations under international law – concepts to which it claims to aspire and adhere. Instead, the government of President Ilham Aliyev has ushered in legislation aimed at closing down civil society in the country; harassed journalists, activists, and opposition leaders; and imprisoned those that call attention to this betrayal of its obligations and responsibilities.

We urge lawyers in all nations who enjoy freedom of expression to speak out against such violations. We cannot allow these prisoners of conscience to struggle alone. The UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders addresses the responsibilities of not just governments, but also of us, of everyone: our duty to promote human rights and to safeguard democracy and its institutions. We must let the Azerbaijani government know that the illegal detention of prisoners of conscience is unacceptable.

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Asma Peracha, Kexin Zheng, and Janelle Pelli are law students at New York University and members of Law Students for Human Rights. They have partnered with the legal advocacy organization Freedom Now to raise awareness about the imprisonment of human rights defenders in Azerbaijan.