International Women’s Day: ARTICLE 19 Affirms the Rights of Women with the Right to Free Expression
ARTICLE 19 joins the global community on International Women’s Day to celebrate the leadership and contribution of thousands of women around the world who strive for women’s equality and empowerment through their daily work.
ARTICLE 19 reaffirms the importance of gender equality as a key component of the right to freedom of expression. As ARTICLE 19 Executive Director, Dr Agnes Callamard, states: “Women’s voices are all too often silent in the media and other public spaces. Women must be heard and must be able to receive information on issues that affect them. Women journalists, activists, community leaders and others must be allowed and encouraged to articulate their views and tell their stores. They must be able to engage freely in their work, without fear of censorship, harassment or violence.”
ARTICLE 19 here reflects the experiences of just a few women who have stood up for freedom of expression in some of the countries in which we work.
We’ve all done it. Turned our icons green or pink or red. Or added a Twitter avatar. Retweeted a good cause. Posted something to a profile. Joined a fan page.
Social media makes it easy to support a cause, but to what effect?
Take Twitter. Things aren’t right in Iran, but somehow Iran is yesterday’s tweet. Haiti was so last month. Support is big, powerful and turns it’s glare on an issue, but it’s as fleeting as an article in yesterday’s paper.
Social media support for human rights can amount to little more than ‘slacktivism’ (coined by Kevin Anderson, the Guardian) or ‘mousey activism’ (coined by Annabelle Sreberny, Professor of Global Media and Communication, School of Oriental and African Studies).
So for any PR who gives a damn, how about a meetup to talk about how we clean up our act? If at least 10 people care enough, I’ll organise the space and speakers: http://www.meetup.com/thupr2010/ideas/
Mexico: New Special Prosecutor Must Focus Political Will in One of World’s Deadliest Places for Journalists
ARTICLE 19 calls on Gustavo Salas Chávez, newly appointed Special Prosecutor for Crimes Against the Media, to promote and guarantee effective investigation of aggression against journalists and combat Mexico’s prevailing culture of impunity.
Chávez replaces Octavio Orellana, who was widely regarded as ineffective at stemming the number of attacks and murders of media workers in Mexico. Orellana claimed that the frequent murders of journalists, eleven in 2009, were not related to their work.
Article19 | claireatwaves | 
March 8, 2010 2:22 pm | 
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