Brussels, 21 March 2018 - The IFJ has welcomed calls by United Nations Special Rapporteur Michael Lynk that freedom of the media and the rights of journalists must be respected and that Israel should stop targeting Palestinian journalists.
The call came at a meeting organised by the IFJ during the 37th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva this week, attended by the Ambassador of Palestine to the United Nations Dr. Ibrahim Khreisha and representatives of countries across the world and Arab and international missions, as well as representatives of the media. Nasser Abu Bakker, President of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, detailed the 909 violations of the rights of journalists and media documented in 2017 and demanded an end to the attacks.
The demands were echoed by Hachmi Nouira on behalf of the Federation of Arab Journalists who called for an end to the deliberate targeting of Palestinian journalists by Israeli forces. Speakers at the session condemned the Israeli attacks on journalists and on the Palestinian media, which constitutes grave violations of international laws and conventions. They demanded a special report on the Human Rights Council condemning the attacks and calling on action to be taken against the occupation authorities.
IFJ Deputy General Secretary Jeremy Dear told the meeting: “The attacks detailed in the PJS report represent a systematic attempt to silence the voice of Palestinian journalists, deliberate and calculated actions which are in flagrant breach of the Israeli government’s international obligations. The international community must act to stop these abuses.” The Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, in cooperation with the IFJ and the Federation of Arab Journalists, has launched an international campaign to expose the scale of Israeli attacks against Palestinian journalists. The campaign was launched during a special hearing session held at the European Parliament’s headquarter in Brussels last month.