UN Expert Calls For End To Gender-based Violence Against Women Journalists

Women journalists face special dangers while doing their jobs, and governments must do more to protect them against gender-based violence, Dubravka Šimonović, the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, said today in a report to the Human Rights Council in Geneva.

Since 1992, 96 women journalists have been killed while doing their jobs. More male journalists die every year but women journalists face “sexual assault and rape, and particularly the threat of rape, which is used as a tool to undermine their credibility and discourage them from working in the media,” she said.

Šimonović called on governments to make it possible for women journalists to work safely by fully implementing human rights instruments that are specifically aimed at eliminating discrimination against women and gender-based violence.

Popular movements around the world – such as #MeToo and #NiUnaMenos – have highlighted sexual harassment and other forms of gender-based violence and have provided a platform for women journalists to speak up against abuse. However, many are still reluctant to do so, the report says.

The expansion of the Internet and digital platforms is a double-edged sword for women. New social digital spaces are transforming and reshaping society, but also enabling new forms of online violence against women.

“Women journalists have become increasingly targeted as visible and outspoken representatives of women’s rights,” said Šimonović. Journalists face even higher levels of discrimination if they are not only women, but also indigenous, from a minority, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or intersex.

“Despite some progress, much remains to be done” Šimonović said, “particularly in view of the emerging fundamentalist discourse and the global backlash against women’s rights.”

“In view of the alarming increases in gender-based violence against women around the world, including women journalists, during the Covid-19 pandemic, I renew my call to all countries to support the elaboration of a UN system wide coordinated approach or strategy to combat and prevent violence against women and a global implementation plan on violence against women,” she said. “Women have a right to be safe in their own homes. Any measures to combat the pandemic must respect human rights and take into account the needs of women in line with the UN Secretary-General’s appeal for ‘Peace at home’,” she said.

Šimonović also presented two country visit reports on Bulgaria and Ecuador.

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