High Level Panel of Legal Experts on Media Freedom call for media freedom during Third Global Conference

Thursday 17 February 2022

Left to right: Baroness Helena Kennedy QC; Catherine Amirfar and Professor Can Yeginsu; Catherine Anite

Two years on from its establishment, it is clear that the work of The High Level Panel of Legal Experts on Media Freedom is beginning to have an impact on state practice in the Media Freedom Coalition (MFC). However, the High Level Panel notes that much more work needs to be done and calls for greater promotion of media freedom and protection of journalists by the MFC – a partnership of countries working together to advocate for media freedom and safety of journalists and hold to account those who harm journalists for doing their job.

Deputy Chair of the High Level Panel, Catherine Amirfar, delivered an intervention on behalf of the High Level Panel at the recently held Third Global Conference on Media Freedom 2022.The statement called on the MFC to use ‘its convening power to change the status quo and reverse the deepening democratic recession.’ The Deputy Chair noted that ‘the Panel has identified a concrete body of specific recommendations, representing a range of easily enforceable advice up to long-term aspirational targets, all aimed at working towards sustainable and concrete change.’ She added: ’While some of the Panel’s recommendations may require multilateral action over the course of years, others can be accomplished by individual member States acting on their own or in alliance in a relatively short time frame.’ Various states made reference to their efforts to give effect to the High Level Panel’s work and recommendations.

The MFC met at The Third Global Conference on Media Freedom 2022, which was held last week, on 9-10 February, in Tallinn, Estonia and was hosted by the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Estonian Institute of Human Rights.

The High Level Panel of Legal Experts on Media Freedom participated in the Conference in its capacity as the independent advisory body of the MFC. The High Level Panel’s remit is to provide legal advice and recommendations to the MFC and its partners for the purposes of promoting and protecting a vibrant, free and independent media. The International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute acts as Secretariat to the Panel in these endeavours.

The High Level Panel, chaired by Lord Neuberger, met on 8 February 2022 and was then represented at the Conference by its Deputy Chairs, Can Yeginsu and Catherine Amirfar, and its members Baroness Kennedy QC, Catherine Anite and Nadim Houry. The Panel engaged in several bilateral meetings with states as well as in the open and closed meetings and events at the Conference.

On the first day of the conference, the United Kingdom and the current co-chairs of the MFC, Canada and the Netherlands, co-hosted the closed MFC Ministerial Meeting. Following this meeting, the MFC States issued a Joint Ministerial Communiqué, renewing each state’s commitments to the Global Pledge on Media Freedom. In the Communiqué, the member states welcomed ‘the ongoing work of the independent High Level Panel of Legal Experts on Media Freedom to provide advice to governments to ensure the protection of media freedom in legislation.’ 

Ministerial Meeting, with Panel representatives Catherine Amirfar (pictured far left in red) and Baroness Helena Kennedy QC (pictured centre 2nd row in black and blue).

Also on 9 February, Deputy Chair of the High Level Panel, Can Yeginsu, participated in the roundtable discussion, ‘Is the Global Media Freedom Coalition Working?’. The event presented the findings of an independent academic evaluation of the MFC, reviewing its progress since its inception in 2019. One of the principal recommendations in the report was for MFC States to adopt more of the recommendations in the High Level Panel’s four advisory reports. Dr Mary Myers, lead author of the independent report and a professor at the University of East Anglia, said ‘The High Level Panel has produced fantastic reports and recommendations on how more can be done […] but the actions of the Media Freedom Coalition have not been as rapid, bold or as visible as originally intended.’

On 10 February, the Secretary-General of the Estonian Foreign Ministry moderated a pledging event for States to present their commitments to improving media freedom and the safety of journalists. Commitments and pledges were taken in various forms, including financial, advocacy and policy actions, and included references to the ongoing work of States to give effect to the High Level Panel’s recommendations. The intervention by the Deputy Chair, Can Yeginsu, spoke to the urgent need for solidarity, concrete action, and engagement with the High Level Panel’s work and recommendations.

Panel members also participated in other events during the Conference, with Baroness Helena Kennedy QC participating in the ‘Disinformation and Freedom of Expression’ Panel and Catherine Anite speaking on the Panel ‘Interlinkages between Media Freedom and Internet Freedom | Advanced Technology’. Nadim Houry delivered a remote intervention on the ‘Protection of Journalists’ Panel, where he highlighted the recommendations made in the High Level Panel’s report, ‘Advice on Promoting More Effective Investigations into Abuses against Journalists’.

With support from the IBAHRI Secretariat, the High Level Panel will follow up on the positive steps taken at the Conference to advise MFC States on how to give effect to the recommendations of the Panel’s advisory reports and to continue the move to the Second Phase of its work.

ENDS