On International Human Rights Day, CFWIJ Calls For An End To Violence Against Women Journalists
Today, on the International Human Rights Day, the Coalition For Women In Journalism would like to highlight a group especially vulnerable to human rights violations around the world - women journalists. Gender minorities active in the press community regularly place themselves in harm’s way in order to ensure that there is a voice holding power to account. In doing so, they do not only find themselves vulnerable to overreaches of the state and various political groups, but also to the weaponization of the misogyny prevalent in their respective societies.
Available in: 🇹🇷. Türkçe
As of December 7, the CFWIJ has recorded 810 cases of violations against women journalists this year. A horrifying 11 women were killed this year. Moreover, at least 169 women journalists were made to confront legal harassment, 130 faced physical assaults and 104 were arbitrarily detained. Hostilities against women journalists were also prevalent in the virtual realm with at least 89 of them being targeted with organized trolling and slander campaigns on social media. In several instances, the personal details of women journalists were also made public online thus exposing them to further attacks in the physical space.
Meanwhile, in 2021, the CFWIJ documented at least 73 cases of women journalists being obstructed in the field, 64 expulsions from work and 50 cases of women journalists facing some form of threat or miscellaneous intimidation tactics. Perpetrators of violence against women journalists aren’t always politically motivated though. Nor are they limited to the state or the powerful. As many as 26 women journalists faced some form of workplace harassment in 2021. At least 27 women journalists were sexually harassed on the job, 17 were subjected to verbal harassment, three had their accredition revoked and three were abducted.
Continued Violations Of Grave Concern
All year round the CFWIJ amplifies the violations faced by women journalists across the globe. In 2021, the CFWIJ intensified its efforts to counteract the ever increasing violations against women journalists around the world. Today, on International Human Rights Day, we highlight select cases and regions of grave concern in 2021. You can find our daily reports of violations recorded from around the world here.
Imprisonments In China - Zhang Zhan On Brink Of Death
After her illuminating coverage of the initial Covid-19 response in Wuhan, citizen journalist Zhang Zhan was arrested in May 2020. Then, on December 8, 2020, the Shanghai Pudong New Area Court conducted a mere three-hour-long trial and sentenced her to four years in prison for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”. The journalist, a former lawyer, has been on a prolonged hunger strike to protest her detention and is being force-fed through a nasal tube. Family sources say Zhang's health has worsened to the extent that she is now in mortal danger.
Last month we reiterated our call for citizen journalist Zhang Zhan’s release from prison in China. Zhang, whose only “crime” was uncovering Beijing’s initial mishandling of the Covid-19 pandemic, has been in jail since May 2020 and is fatally ill. We called on President Xi Jinping to drop all charges against Zhang Zhan and more than 70 individuals and organizations joined our petition.
The journalist has also been mistreated in prison and her family was denied visiting rights. Earlier in August, she was hospitalized for 11 days as her health worsened. In November 2021, the CFWIJ launched a petition to demand Zhang’s release.
The arrest of the journalist was condemnable to begin with. But to continue to keep her in prison even as her life is at risk due to mistreatment by the state is abominable. The CFWIJ insists once again that Zhang committed no offence. China, which ranks 177 out of 180 on the World Press Freedom Index, must recognize that journalism is not a crime and cannot be treated as such. We are cognizant of the more than 115 press freedom defenders in prison in China as well as its multiple efforts to curb independent press in the country.
More than 70 individuals, rights advocates, press freedom groups and related organizations have joined the CFWIJ’s petition to demand that the Chinese authorities immediately release Zhang Zhan from prison. You can read more about violations against women journalists in China here and join our call for Zhang’s release here.
Fall Of Kabul & Plight Of Women Journalists In Afghanistan
Another country of extreme concern for the CFWIJ this year was Afghanistan, where the rise of the Taliban has again put the freedoms of the press community in jeopardy. Over the course of 2021, we witnessed the killings of at least four women journalists in Afghanistan as well as other violations linked to the rise of right wing violence in the country.
In the aftermath of the Taliban takeover, a number of women journalists are stuck at different points, taking shelter in homes, buses, safe houses— wherever they can stay out of danger. Some have toddlers and families to feed, but there is no reprieve from the circumstances they are facing. The escalating security threats have further derailed the already slow process of evacuation. The attack on Kabul airport, which was claimed by ISKP (Islamic State in Khorasan Province), also reportedly singled out the collaborators and translators who worked with the United States of America’s forces. This targeted attack exemplified how women journalists may suffer if they remain in the country under the Taliban's rule.
In response to the situation in Afghanistan, the CFWIJ launched active efforts to evacuate women journalists and other vulnerable individuals. Since August, we have evacuated at least 270 such individuals from the country. Currently, we are in the process of vetting applications by more women journalists and vulnerable individuals seeking to leave the country and prioritizing the cases with the most urgent needs.
We are currently engaged with several countries, including the USA, Canada and Pakistan, besides collaborating with different international organizations to help facilitate safe passage for the most vulnerable journalists, activists and human rights defenders. You can find out more about our evacuation process here.
Turkey - Press Freedom Violations On The Rise
Turkey has routinely flashed red on our risk map of women journalists. In 2021, the CFWIJ documented hundreds of violations against women journalists besides repeated infringements on the rights of the free press and free speech.
According to our data, the state has repeatedly weaponized its institutions to intimidate and silence women journalists reporting on state violence and overreaches by those in power in the country. The most frequent tactics employed against women journalists this year were legal harassment, police brutality in the field and unjustified detentions.
We recorded at least 94 cases of women journalists subjected to legal harassment for their reportage this year. Moreover, at least 82 women journalists were attacked in the field (the number includes physical assaults as well as other miscellaneous attempts to restrict press access in the field) and 18 women journalists were detained in the country.
The number of violations in 2021 increased by a horrifying 244.11% compared to the cases we reported from Turkey last year. For this very reason, CFWIJ has remained on top of the events unfolding in the country and has reported on the issues extensively as they developed. Our multifaceted coverage of Turkey includes issue-based reports, timeline of events, in-depth cases of specific journalists as well as regular updates on the ongoing court cases.
One glaring example of the violence underway against women journalists in Turkey is CFWIJ team member Ceren İskit, who was deliberately impeded by the police while monitoring women journalists’ safety on the Women’s March after the withdrawal from the İstanbul Convention.
Ceren was physically and verbally harassed by the police while filming the incident at the very end of the demonstration. As the women were leaving the protest area, a man came and verbally abused a group of women. Ceren, a research coordinator for the CFWIJ, was filming the incident when the women tried to defend themselves. It was then that a group of policemen pushed Ceren, demanding that she stop filming and stay away.
Eastern Europe - Red Hot On Risk Map For Women Journalists
The Eastern European region also proved to be a particularly dangerous landscape for women journalists to navigate, especially Belarus. Of the 149 cases of violations against women journalists in Europe from January 1 to October 1, 2021, 46 cases took place in Belarus, making it the most violent country for women journalists on the continent. The law was routinely weaponized against women journalists, and half of the violations reported were categorized as instances of “arbitrary detention”.
Journalists associated with the Belarus Belsat media groups were taken into custody. Katsyaryna Andreyeva and Darya Chultsova, for example, were sentenced to two years imprisonment in a minimum-security penal colony for covering a protest demonstration in Minsk. Journalists were called in for lengthy interrogations without charge, with several like Tatsiana Bublikawa, Marina Zolotova, and Larysa Shchyrakova facing unannounced raids at their workplace and homes.
Right-Wing Populism Threatens Press Freedom In India
This year India continued to show worrying signs of deteriorating press freedoms for women journalists, registering 33 cases of violations, making it among the most dangerous countries for the press in Asia. The dangers women journalists face in the country arise regularly from right wing political groups that appear to have state-backing. The CFWIJ has observed that women belonging to minority communities or those covering issues that concern minority groups in the country are particularly vulnerable to hostile attacks digitally and physically.
A threatening and hateful video was posted on a YouTube channel on February 11, calling for the hanging of some notable journalists in India including columnist Rana Ayyub, independent journalist Faye D’Souza, acclaimed host and head of the MOJO Story, Barkha Dutt, and the senior editor of The Wire, Afra Khanum Sherwani. The video was viewed by almost half a million people before it was taken down for violating YouTube’s policy on hate speech. The video accused journalists critical of government policies of having vested interests and financial incentives and it was endorsed by many right-wing politicians, despite the claims in the video being unsubstantiated.
Then in July this year, a website targeting Muslim women, including those in the news media industry, was discovered and was eventually taken down after public outrage. The website, titled “Sulli Deals” consisted of profiles of at least 90 different women who were “on sale”. Men would subsequently “bid” on these profiles to harass the women. Although a comprehensive list of all women on the site has not been made public in order to ensure the privacy of those targeted, several women have come out in condemnation.
Adding to this, in November 2021, the Tripura Police persistently harassed HW News for covering the communally charged violence in the state. HW News reporters Samriddhi Sakunia and Swarna Jha were detained by the Assam Police in relation to their coverage of the Tripura violence on November 14, 2021. A First Information Report (FIR) was registered against the two, accusing them of “maligning” the Tripura government by covering communal tensions in the region. Their arrest received widespread condemnation from press freedom support networks in the country before they were granted bail on November 15, 2021. However state authorities refused to relent on the charges against them. The following week Associate Editor of HW News Arti Ghargi was called in for questioning by the Tripura Police in relation to the same issue, making it apparent that the police would rather use their resources to silence journalists instead of arresting right wing political groups attacking religious minorities in the country.
The Coalition For Women In Journalism is committed to the freedom of women journalists in the news fraternity and is actively working to ensure their rights are protected. On a daily basis, women journalists do not only have to confront violence perpetrated by state institutions attempting to intimidate them into silence, but also have to face deeply gendered attacks as a result of the misogynistic social set-ups they normally operate within. Please keep in mind, this report only highlights issues of grave concern to the CFWIJ and is not an exhaustive list of the threats faced by women and the regions they are vulnerable in. Today, on International Human Rights Day, the CFWIJ ends its 16 days of activism campaign by reiterating that women in the press community are taking on great risks to hold power accountable, and their rights need to be sincerely protected in order to ensure a thriving press worldwide.
