'Amman Declaration' lists recommendations to empower Arab media

AMMAN — Participants in the third Forum for Media Freedom Defenders in the Arab world held this week called for empowering the judiciary in Arab countries when looking into cases related to violations against journalists.

At the conclusion of the event — which gathered more than 350 journalists, media and law experts, and civil society representatives — participants issued the “Amman Declaration” in which they called for speeding up the process of looking into violations against media personnel and ensuring that violators are penalised.

The recommendations, which were sent to governments, decision makers, media outlets and civil society organisations across the Arab world, called for referring perpetrators to court without any exceptions and removing obstacles that prevent media personnel from filing complaints against those committing violations.

The declaration also highlighted the importance of media outlets revealing the source of their finances in implementation of the principle of transparency.

At the conclusion of the forum, held by the Centre for Defending the Freedom of Journalists in cooperation with the Norwegian embassy, EREM News and Foundation for the Future, participants called for annulling all laws that hamper journalists from practising their profession, such as imposing high fees for licensing media outlets.

They also called for enforcing international standards when it comes to combating hate speech, which significantly increased among media outlets in the Arab world in the aftermath of the Arab Spring, according to the declaration.

The recommendations included unblocking news websites across the Arab world, with participants urging the UN secretariat general to approve ensuring freedom of the press and expression, as well as access to information, in the post-2015 development agenda.

In addition, the declaration called for drafting a code of conduct for Arab journalists and urged the international community to support media personnel that are under pressure.

Recommendations included calls for the immediate release of detained media personnel and not involving them in political conflicts.

Participants said the UN should adopt mechanisms to ensure the protection of journalists in conflict zones to enable them to do their job.