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	For the first time in more than 80 years, the Nobel Peace Prize is being awarded to journalists by Nobel Committee, RSF, CPJ, OHCHR, agencies   For the first time in more than 80 years, the Nobel Peace Prize is being awarded to journalists. (RSF)   The Nobel Peace Prize will be awarded to two journalists in Oslo, Norway on 10 December, the Philippines’ Maria Ressa and Russia’s Dmitri Muratov, who together embody all of the threats to journalism. The worst of which is murder. More than 1,600 journalists have been killed in the past 20 years, 46 of them in 2021 alone, according to data gathered by Reporters Without Borders (RSF).   For the first time in more than 80 years, the Nobel Peace Prize is being awarded to journalists. According to the Nobel Committee, the two laureates represent the “courageous fight for freedom of expression” at a time when democracy and press freedom are facing multiple threats.   These threats are reflected, among other things,in the number of journalists killed. According to RSF’s tally, at least 1,636 journalists have been murdered in connection with their work in the past two decades – 916 of them in the past ten years alone.   “We are honoured by the decision to award this prestigious prize to two journalists at a time when the right to provide news and information is endangered by multiple threats,” RSF secretary general Christophe Deloire said. “We call for a decisive, concerted effort by all parties concerned, starting with the UN but also by countries and citizens".   "The freedom to inform requires many guarantees, but first and foremost is for journalists to be able to stay alive and keep working without a constant threat hanging over them. Some governments’ continuing failure to protect threatened journalists increases the dangers they face. Reporting the news should cease to be a deadly activity.”   The fact that this year’s death toll, 46, is the lowest in 19 years is due mainly to the decline in the intensity of conflicts that were particularly deadly from 2012 to 2016 (in Syria, Iraq and Yemen). It is also the result of intensive campaigning by freedom of the press NGOs, including RSF, for the creation of international and national protection mechanisms, which remain, nonetheless, insufficient.   Finally, the fall is also attributable to the decision by many news organisations to send fewer reporters into the field because of the Covid-19 pandemic and because some parts of the world, such as Libya and the Sahel region, have become too dangerous for reporters, who have become targets there.   Dec. 2021   Media freedoms are a fundamental cornerstone of our universal human rights, by Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights   Everyone has a right to freedom of information, freedom of expression and freedom of opinion. These rights also empower us to demand, and access, our rights in every domain of public and private life – from the right to participate fully and freely in decisions; to the rights to decent work and housing; to the best possible standard of health; to education of quality; and to live free of any form of discrimination.   Sound, independent and diverse media are also crucial to ensuring that government is transparent, accountable and responsive to people's concerns.   At times of crisis – such as the pandemic – they are literally life-saving.   But these past two years have seen media freedom, and journalists all over the world, targeted by crackdowns and attacks.   Media organisations have been subjected to undue restrictions, and even closed down based on vague and arbitrary laws and policies.   Many media workers have been subjected to harassment, intimidation, arbitrary detention and violent attacks – including killings – because of the work they do to inform us all.   Frequently, these crimes have not been adequately investigated. Such impunity not only has a chilling effect on journalism – it fuels further crimes. This impacts all of us.   Independent media of quality are essential to social harmony, sustainable development, justice and peace.   We cannot combat and recover from the pandemic with better systems unless we benefit from the clarity that sound journalism delivers.   This year's Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to the Filipina and Russian journalists Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov, in recognition of this essential work. I congratulate them, and all those who work for freedom of expression. Standing up for human rights means standing up for media freedom – now and in the future. http://bit.ly/3GT4t0u   http://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2021/press-release/ http://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2021/ressa/lecture/ http://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2021/muratov/lecture/ http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/podcast/dispatch/a-conversation-with-nobel-peace-prize-winner-maria-ressa/ http://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2021/12/end-persecution-of-media-as-journalists-collect-momentous-nobel-peace-prize/ http://www.icfj.org/news/press-freedom-icons-accept-nobel-peace-prize-norway http://www.iwpr.net/impact/iwpr-congratulates-nobel-prizewinner-maria-ressa   http://rsf.org/en/news/chinese-journalist-palestinian-journalist-and-pegasus-project-receive-2021-rsf-press-freedom-awards http://ipfa.cpj.org/awardees http://correspondent.afp.com/will-journalism-recover-covid-19 http://gijn.org/2021/06/28/how-local-reporters-in-india-exposed-the-pandemics-true-death-toll/ http://www.coe.int/en/web/commissioner/-/journalists-covering-public-assemblies-need-to-be-protected http://www.ifj.org/media-centre/news.html http://ethicaljournalismnetwork.org/populism-the-pandemic-and-the-media-a-joint-ejn-panel-video-recorded-24-june http://whomakesthenews.org/gmmp-2020-final-reports/   http://cpj.org/reports/2022/01/attacks-on-the-press-the-deadliest-countries-in-2021/ http://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/14/shireen-abu-akleh-un-security-council-unanimously-condemns-killing-of-journalist http://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/31/foreign-journalists-china-intimidation-survey http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/01/23/journalist-censorship-killings-mexico-free-societies-suffer/ http://rsf.org/en/news/2022-begins-bloodbath-journalists-mexico http://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/04/seventh-journalist-killed-mexico   7 Apr. 2022   Dmitry Muratov Russia's Nobel winning editor attacked on train. (BBC News)   Russia's Nobel Peace Prize winning journalist Dmitry Muratov was attacked with red paint laced with the solvent acetone aboard a train.   "My eyes are burning terribly," said the editor of the Novaya Gazeta newspaper, which has halted its operations after a warning from Moscow over its Russia-Ukraine war coverage.   The male attacker shouted, "Muratov, this is for our boys". The incident happened on Thursday on the Moscow-Samara train, Mr Muratov said.   Novaya Gazeta is known for its independent reporting of events in Russia. Last month, it announced it was suspending its print and online operation "until the end of Russia's special military operation" in Ukraine - the official term Russia's media regulator Roskomnadzor says all media outlets in the country must use. Anyone who describes Russia's actions in Ukraine as a "war" faces heavy fines or closures.   Mr Muratov was co-awarded the Nobel peace prize in 2021 in recognition of his fight to defend freedom of expression in Russia.   Since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, restrictions on reporting have been increasingly severe in Russia, and access to almost all independent outlets is blocked or limited - or they censor themselves. Russia has also banned Facebook, Instagram and Twitter in the country.   A number of Russian activists and journalists speaking out against their country's invasion of Ukraine have recently had their homes vandalised by unknown pro-Kremlin figures. Since the war began, life for those who oppose it has become increasingly difficult in Russia. The government has passed a law threatening people who spread "fake" information about the war with 15 years in prison. President Vladimir Putin and other politicians have painted any opposition to the war as a betrayal of the country.   http://globalvoices.org/2022/05/05/for-acclaimed-journalists-maria-ressa-and-dmitry-muratov-winning-a-nobel-peace-prize-offers-no-protection/ http://www.dw.com/en/russia-novaya-gazeta-suspends-operations-until-after-ukraine-war/a-61282975   Mar. 2022   Russia's top radio station and last independent TV station shut amid crackdown on dissent   Russia's top independent radio station and a leading independent TV station have suspended their operations as Russian authorities have moved forcefully to stifle criticism of the country's invasion of Ukraine.   Ekho Moskvy (the Echo of Moscow) has been one of the most influential and respected media outlets in the country ever since it was founded in 1990. With many other independent news outlets shut amid a relentless government crackdown on opposition activists and independent media in recent years, the station was the most visible critical media still standing in Russia.   Dozhd (Rain), a top independent TV station in Russia, announced on Thursday it was suspending operations after receiving a threat of closure from the authorities. Its final broadcast showed Swan Lake, a nod to the fall of the Soviet Union. In 1991 as the Soviet Union fell, state TV showed only looping videos of the ballet.   http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2022/03/russia-un-experts-alarmed-choking-information-clampdown http://www.coe.int/en/web/commissioner/-/russian-authorities-should-stop-the-unprecedented-crackdown-on-freedoms-of-expression-assembly-and-association-in-the-country http://www.coe.int/en/web/commissioner/news http://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/14/russian-tv-employee-interrupts-news-broadcast-marina-ovsyannikova http://www.euractiv.com/section/global-europe/news/letting-state-tv-dominate-russia-chokes-free-media/ http://www.hrw.org/news/2022/02/28/russia-war-censorship-reaches-new-heights http://www.hrw.org/tag/russia-ukraine-war http://bit.ly/3MD5MUG http://www.accessnow.org/digital-rights-ukraine-russia-conflict/ http://www.vice.com/en/article/k7wx4n/hacking-war-and-cyberwar-in-ukraine   http://globalvoices.org/special/russia-invades-ukraine/ http://www.opendemocracy.net/en/tagged/russia/ http://www.icij.org/investigations/russia-archive/ http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/western-sanctions-russia-oligarch-dark-money-by-daron-acemoglu-2022-03/ http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/diplomatic-compromise-ukrainian-neutrality-for-russia-withdrawal-by-jeffrey-d-sachs-2022-03 http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/negotiations-putin-ukraine-us-eu-only-way-forward-by-oscar-arias-2022-03 http://www.commondreams.org/views/2022/03/17/racist-and-dehumanizing-double-standards-war-reporting http://www.eurozine.com/essays/ http://www.eurozine.com/focal-points/ukraine-in-european-dialogue/   http://reliefweb.int/report/ukraine/28-days-war-64-verified-attacks-health-care-and-18-million-people-affected-enruuk http://www.safeguardinghealth.org/whats-new http://www.msf.org/ukraine-bombs-over-mariupol-each-day-losing-your-whole-life http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/interactive/ap-russia-war-crimes-ukraine http://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-mariupol-descends-into-despair-708cb8f4a171ce3f1c1b0b8d090e38e3 http://bit.ly/3ttMg5H Visit the related web page
	UN rights chief leads call for global COVID-19 vaccine equity by UN News, HRW, agencies   Mar. 2022   UN rights chief leads call for global COVID-19 vaccine equity. (UN News)   The global failure to deliver enough COVID-19 vaccines to developing countries “is prolonging the pandemic” and causing tens of thousands of preventable deaths every week, senior UN figures told the Human Rights Council this week.   To date, more than 10.5 billion vaccine doses have been administered globally, “enough to protect the entire world population from severe symptoms, hospitalization and death,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet.   Despite this achievement, Ms. Bachelet insisted that the “grim reality” was that only around 13 per cent of people in low-income countries have been vaccinated, compared with almost 70 per cent in high-income countries.   ‘60,000 deaths per week’   Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, insisted that inaction is penalizing the planet’s most vulnerable people and countries.   “We are at an inflection point in history”, he said. “We have the tools to end the acute phase of the pandemic, if we use them properly and share them fairly. But profound inequities are undermining that chance.   “Countries with high vaccination rates are reopening while others with low vaccination rates and low testing rates have been left behind. The result is more than 60,000 deaths per week, along with an increased risk of the emergence of new variants.”   “The world has been profoundly fortunate to have had effective COVID-19 vaccines developed at an unprecedented pace,” Ms. Bachelet acknowledged. “Science has saved millions of lives and livelihoods. But we have failed to administer the vaccines in a fair and equitable manner. Right now, this failure is prolonging the pandemic.”   The High Commissioner insisted that the international community needed to ensure timely, predictable and effective access to vaccines to all countries. We no longer have the excuse in the developed world that production constraints limit our generosity, as reports surface of tens of millions of excess vaccines expiring unused.”   The UN rights chief underscored how vaccine nationalism has negatively affected the most fundamental rights of the world’s poorest people, not least their right to development.   “It exacerbates poverty and deepens inequalities”.. “Unless universal and equitable access to vaccines globally can be ensured, stockpiling of COVID-19 vaccines is not consistent with States’ human rights obligations.”   “We stand at a crossroads. Inequality versus the right to development. Nationalism against international solidarity…Delayed vaccination may mean a lost decade for development. We risk losing an entire generation of young people to poor education and unemployment. Countries will become less resilient to fresh crises and shocks.   “And discontent at the human rights consequences of pandemic-related measures, has the potential to escalate societal tensions and violence, which are growing around the world.”   UN-appointed independent rights expert Attiya Waris insisted that taking action to stem illegal tax flows and tax-dodging practices, would be an important step in the right direction on vaccine equity.   “The Coalition of Civil Society Organisations, The Tax Justice Network, in their 2021 report, stated that ‘countries are losing a total of $483 billion in tax a year through abuse by corporations and wealthy individuals’. So, it is very much a collective issue.   “This amount would have been enough to fully vaccinate the global population against COVID more than three times over.”   Ms. Waris, the Independent Expert on the effects of foreign debt and other related international financial obligations of States on the full enjoyment of all human rights, also criticised “delays in lifting intellectual property rights protections, and in the sharing of technology and know-how. This cannot be re-emphasised enough times in this process. And the delays have benefited some but have been at the detriment of most.   She said they had “ensured billions of dollars in profits for a handful of companies and have deterred the development of more localized, effective manufacturing responses that could have reached millions of people much faster.”   “After the successful development of vaccines in some parts of the world a few years ago, much more could have been done to ensure that health care workers and people at risk in developing countries could be swiftly vaccinated. And this was not done. We could have avoided the loss of so many hundreds of thousands of lives and the grave socio-economic impacts and yet we continue to see that this is out of the reach for the majority of the world.” http://www.ohchr.org/en/covid-19   Mar. 2022   Covid-19 Vaccine Access is a Right, Not a Privilege, by Aruna Kashyap and Margaret Wurth.   As we enter another year of this wretched pandemic that has killed more than 6 million the divide between the vaccine haves and have-nots is not only huge, it’s growing.   Across the US and Europe, where governments outbid others to procure sufficient supplies of vaccines for their populations, people are starting to gather with friends and family and travel more freely, planning long-awaited vacations to break out of “pandemic fatigue.”   But there are billions of people around the world, including health workers, still waiting to be fully vaccinated and trapped in the cycle of outbreaks, lockdowns, disease, and death. The vaccine have-nots continue to wait, anxious, tired, only dreaming about traveling to reunite with loved ones or unable to attend funerals of those they lost.   This divide was not an inevitable consequence of the pandemic. It can and should be bridged.   For over 17 months, governments of high-income countries like the US, Switzerland, and EU member states have appeared at the World Trade Organization (WTO) assuring that the pharmaceutical industry would deliver on global availability of vaccines, testing, and treatments.   But the rules that make it difficult to expand and diversify production of Covid-19 testing, treatments, and vaccines are still in place and a proposal to temporarily waive these rules, backed by over 100 low-and-middle income governments, remains stalled at the WTO.   Meanwhile, BioNTech, Pfizer, and Moderna refused to share their technology with the World Health Organization (WHO) mRNA technology hub and have yet to undertake more widespread technology transfers even though experts identified over 100 global manufacturers capable of producing mRNA vaccines in a short period. In addition, a complete lack of transparency over vaccine supplies and delivery schedules has impeded governments’ ability to plan vaccine distribution and rollouts.   We need inspired and daring leadership by high-income governments, pharmaceutical companies, and their investors to move past this impasse. Too often, corporate boardrooms and investors measure success solely in terms of profits. The actual and potential human rights harms of delaying universal access to vaccines and treatments are catastrophic.   Governments should swiftly adopt the TRIPS waiver and work with investors to ensure pharmaceutical companies share technology and commit to transparency, at least publishing projected delivery schedules for lifesaving vaccines and treatments. We can’t afford another year of the pandemic with more promises of access in the distant future.   http://www.hrw.org/news/2022/03/10/covid-19-vaccine-access-right-not-privilege http://www.hrw.org/tag/coronavirus http://peoplesvaccine.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Vaccine-Open-Letter-March-2022.pdf   Dec. 2021   Our Shared Humanity, by Tirana Hassan. (HRW)   Human Rights Day – the anniversary of the 1948 adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights – is a day to celebrate our shared humanity. And the common thread to what we’ve learned this year is that every challenge to our health, security and future is grounded on threats to our common humanity.   In turn, any effective response—whether to ensure we live in a pandemic-free world or to address gross violations of human right—depends on collective, collaborative solutions. This is the heart of human rights work.   This Human Rights Day we have the chance to reflect on five areas where we can make rights a reality as we emerge from another period of turmoil.   1. The Wrath of Covid-19   Omicron, the latest “Variant of Concern,” demonstrates the danger of severely unequal access to Covid-19 vaccines. Some of the world’s richest countries including the EU, UK, and Switzerland, and pharmaceutical companies are undermining universal and equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines, testing and treatment by blocking a temporary waiver of global intellectual property and trade rules.   To level the playing field, these governments should agree to the World Trade Organization waiver and transfer the technology needed to meet the urgent need to manufacture vaccines globally.   Improving vaccine availability is critical but not enough. Even where vaccines are available, there can be understandable hesitancy to take them among marginalized and disenfranchised communities. Building trust by making health care—not just vaccines—truly accessible for everyone is a critical step in preventing illness and death from Covid-19.   2. Big Tech’s Heavy Hand   Big Tech’s heavy hand around the world– in some places it is even more powerful and less accountable than governments – is dangerous since its bottom line depends on collecting massive amounts of our data, creating detailed profiles about us, capturing our attention, and selling insights from those profiles to advertisers and other third parties. The inconvenient truth is that tech business models are often at odds with human rights, with high collateral damage.   This year’s attack on the US Capitol was a sobering look at social media’s corrosive potential as a conduit and magnifier of misinformation that can, in some instances, lead to violence. This isn’t news to the rest of the world – from Myanmar’s Rohingya crisis to the anti-Muslim violence in India – but this time it happened in the home of most Big Tech companies.   These platforms’ efforts to tackle the harm stemming from their services have fallen short. To live up to their human rights responsibilities, companies should conduct human rights due diligence for their operations globally. They should invest in moderating content proportionate to their user bases and responsive to human rights risks wherever people use their platforms.   Platforms should also be more transparent about the algorithms that shape what people see on their sites. They should address the role the algorithms play in directing users toward harmful misinformation and give users more agency to shape their online experiences. It seems unlikely that companies will depart from their abusive business models voluntarily, which is why strong data protection regulations are necessary.   3. Backlash Against Women’s Rights   Despite important achievements by a global women’s movement that is more connected than ever before, women’s rights are facing a powerful backlash in an alarming number of countries. In Afghanistan, after the Taliban returned to power on August 15, women and girls are being denied access to education, paid employment, political representation, and even the ability to walk down the street alone.   In the United States, 65 million women are at risk of losing the right to access abortion. Activists in Poland have been threatened due to their work for or perceived support of women’s rights issues. In Iran and China, the authorities are using new laws and policies to limit women’s reproductive health choices.   It is not all bad news, though. From Argentina to Mexico to South Korea and Thailand, women have been gaining recognition of their human rights to access reproductive health care.   Pregnant girls in Tanzania regained their right to stay in school. While 2021 taught us that these hard-won rights victories need to be protected, advanced, and secured, 2022 is a chance to put pressure on governments to pass laws to protect women’s rights and enhance their safety, to provide adequate resources for services, and to make sure they are accessible to all women.   4. The Power of Solidarity   Beijing’s “strike hard” policies in China’s Xinjiang region, President Rodrigo Duterte’s nefarious “drug war” in the Philippines, the Myanmar junta’s brutal crackdown on peaceful anti-coup protesters, atrocities in Ethiopia's expanding Tigray conflict. These situations show that the authorities are adept at using instruments at their disposal – whether laws on the books, security forces, or both – to commit serious human rights violations against the population, including crimes against humanity.   Each of these situations, and the responses to them, offer lessons for 2022. First, ignoring abuses only makes them worse. The generals behind Myanmar’s coup had already unleashed their brutality on the Rohingya in 2017 and other ethnic minorities over decades, and faced few consequences, emboldening them to use force to maintain their grip on power.   Second, as the flawed domestic justice efforts in the Philippines and Ethiopia have shown, governments cannot be trusted to hold themselves to account, which is why it’s critical to establish credible UN mechanisms to collect and preserve violations of grave crimes so that victims can one day see justice realized.   5. Confronting the Climate Crisis   The climate crisis is taking a mounting toll on the lives, health, and livelihoods of people around the globe. And, as we’ve seen this past year with devastating floods in Germany and the United States and deadly heat waves in Canada and Pakistan, governments are failing to protect at-risk populations from the foreseeable harm of climate change. Their recent pledges of more ambitious action to reducing greenhouse gas emissions still fall well short of what’s needed to avert the most catastrophic outcomes of global warming.   Fortunately, there have been some victories this year, thanks largely to concerted pressure by environmental and human rights groups around the globe. In October, the UN Human Rights Council recognized the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment and created a special rapporteur on human rights and climate change. These positive steps will help increase attention on calls for accountability for the insufficient government action to address the climate crisis.   Governments need to recognize and learn from the extensive know-how of local communities and civil society groups to address the impacts of climate change with equity. And, above all, they need to heed the calls of climate activists to drastically ramp up efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions before it’s too late.   Human Rights Day 2021 isn’t a day to lament the losses or fear what may come – it is a call to action. It is a reminder that the hard-won fights of the past need to be protected and that human rights for all requires action from governments and international bodies. But it also highlights that protecting our human rights is driven by human rights activists and defenders in every corner of globe. http://www.hrw.org/   Dec. 2021   The global pandemic has brought to the forefront the human rights issues that millions of us struggle with each day, from economic inequality and racial discrimination to the rise of authoritarianism and the threat of new technology and rampant disinformation. In this publication from the Carr Center Human Rights Policy, commentators discuss their priorities in 2022.   http://www.hrw.org/news/2021/12/15/experts-identify-100-plus-firms-make-covid-19-mrna-vaccines http://carrcenter.hks.harvard.edu/publications/looking-ahead-human-rights-priorities-2022 http://inequality.org/great-divide/against-plutocrats-platitudes-about-democracy-will-always-be-pitiful/ http://wir2022.wid.world/
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