High Level Panel of Legal Experts on Media Freedom
The High Level Panel of Legal Experts on Media Freedom is the independent advisory body of the Media Freedom Coalition. The High Level Panel was established in July 2019 at the request of the Coalition’s inaugural Co-Chairs, Canada and the United Kingdom, and is composed of leading experts in the field of international law.
The High Level Panel’s remit is to provide legal advice and recommendations to the Coalition and its partners, including international organisations, for the purposes of promoting and protecting a vibrant, free, and independent media. The High Level Panel also provides individual States with legal advice in the form of legal opinions on draft legislation or legislation already in force, where media freedoms are engaged, as well as amicus curiae opinions at the request of a constitutional court or an international court in a media freedom case of general public importance.
The High Level Panel’s Secretariat is the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute, providing it with operational, technical, and legal assistance. The work of the High Level Panel is supported by the Global Media Defence Fund, administered by UNESCO. The Chair of the High Level Panel is Baroness Helena Kennedy LT KC and its Deputy Chairs are Mr. Can Yeginsu and Ms. Catherine Amirfar.
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'To protect the truth, we must protect the truth tellers'
Contact Details
Zara Iqbal, Programme Lawyer
Zara.Iqbal@int-bar.org
Emily Foale, Project Manager
Emily.Foale@int-bar.org
International Bar Association Human Rights Institute
5 Chancery Lane, London, WC2A 1LG
The High Level Panel’s Secretariat is the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute, providing it with operational, technical, and legal assistance.
The designations employed and the presentation of materials, statements, reports, and publications in this website do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNESCO concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The ideas and opinions expressed in this website (including its materials, statements and other publications) are those of the authors; they are not necessarily those of UNESCO and do not commit the Organization. The same disclaimer applies to any research commissioned as part of the work of IBAHRI and the High Level Panel of Legal Experts on Media Freedom.