CFWIJ Calls For Global Attention To End Violence Against Women Journalists Now
Today, on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, the Coalition For Women In Journalism calls on the international community to recognize that for women journalists, job hazards and gender-based violence often amount to the same thing. The CFWIJ joins hands with the United Nations to demand that the global community “Orange the World, End Violence Against Women Now!” and kicks off the annual 16 Days of Activism campaign to call attention to crimes against women journalists.
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In the first 11 months of 2021 alone, the CFWIJ documented more than 790 cases of women journalists across the world. We recorded violations ranging from murder, assault, assault, legal harassment, assault abductions, deeply gendered organized troll campaigns and harassment. Nearly all violations against women journalists carried misogynistic gendered undertones.
Among the 790 cases we reported, at least 11 women journalists were killed, 127 women journalists were physically assaulted in the field, 164 women journalists faced prosecution for their work and at least 88 were subjected to organized slander campaigns, often by politically charged trolls. Moreover, 103 women journalists were detained or arrested, 77 faced various obstructions in the field, including state-backed violence, sexual harassment and assault, 57 women journalists were expelled from their employer news organizations, 49 faced some form of threat or intimidation and 11 were subjected to direct state oppression.
Perpetrators of violence against women journalists aren’t always politically motivated though. Nor are they limited to the state or the powerful. As many as 26 women journalists faced some form of workplace harassment in 2021. At least 24 women journalists were sexually harassed on the job, 17 were subjected to verbal harassment, three had their accredition revoked and three were abducted. Moreover, at least three women journalists faced sexist attacks and eight of them were targeted with racially motivated attacks.
By our estimates, at least two women journalists across the world are targeted every day. Women journalists are forced to overcome not only challenges pervasive in the industry - low pay, long and isolating work days, state oppression, attacks on independent media - but also have to face barriers to entry and equal pay. Once in the newsroom, or in the journalism community, they frequently encounter discrimination. When attacked, obstructed or threatened for their reportage, the violations against women journalists target not just their work but also their gender. This disproportionate and deeply gendered nature of violence against women journalists is not restricted to any one country or region but sexist attitutes span across the world.
In 2021, Canada proved to be the most challenging country for women journalists with increased organized trolling campaigns and police violations against women journalists. The most recent case was the arrest of award-winning journalist Amber Bracken on November 19 when she was reporting from Gidimt'en camp in Wet'suwet'en territory. At CFWIJ we have observed a pattern of such harassment of women journalists at the hands of the police.
Brandi Morin also suffered intimidation from RCMP in February when she visited Unist'ot'en Healing. On May 17, RCMP restricted press access to headwaters in Fairy Creek and sent away concerned journalists under the impression of some bureaucratic formalities. The environment was also highly contentious when Jen Osbourne returned to the injunction on May 19. The CFWIJ reiterates that institutional violations against women journalists, especially police overreaches, are a great threat to the freedom of press in any country. Join us in demanding accountability from the Canadian police here.
Other than police transgression, the country also proved to have intensely hostile online spaces for women journalists. In September, at least 18 women journalists were targeted with vile, hateful email messages after a right-wing politician Maxime Bernier posted a provocative tweet to his followers. Women journalists of color were particularly targeted by the vicious campaign. Bernier deleted his incendiary tweet later but the damage was done. The campaign went as far as to leak the email addresses and personal information of the women journalists targeted. Online violence against women journalists quickly escalates into physical violence and the campaign left the women exposed to threats in both the virtual and physical world.
Meanwhile in Europe, the total number of cases of violence against women journalists increased by 16.7% from January 1 to October 1, compared to the entire year of 2020, espcially in the eastern part of the continent where data suggests women journalists were more vulnerable.
The CFWIJ documented 149 cases of violations against women journalists in Europe during this period. Reported cases included detentions, physical assault, legal harassment, threats of violence and intimidation, organized troll campaigns, verbal harassment, attacks in the field, arrest, sexual harassment, state oppression, sexist attacks, racist attacks, expulsion and workplace harassment, among other violations.
As of October 1, Belarus had the highest number of violations against women journalists in Europe, with at least 46 cases documented since January. Out of 42 arbitrary detentions in Europe, 23 were reported in Belarus.
Journalists associated with the Belarus Belsat media groups were taken into custody. Katsyaryna Andreyeva and Darya Chultsova, for example, were sentenced to two years imprisonment in a minimum-security penal colony for covering a protest demonstration in Minsk. Journalists were called in for lengthy interrogations without charge, with several like Tatsiana Bublikawa, Marina Zolotova, and Larysa Shchyrakova facing unannounced raids at their workplace and homes.
Belarus also had the highest number of legal harassment against journalists. Out of 29 such violations, 16 were recorded in Belarus. One woman journalist was expelled and one case of state oppression was recorded during 2021.
Moving to the global south, we recorded the highest number of killings of women journalists in Afghanistan. Four of the nine murders we documented were carried out by the Taliban. The situation for women journalists in Afghanistan, especially after the Taliban take over, is increasingly precarious. Women journalists are dealt heavy handedly for both - their gender and their profession.
Since Kabul’s fall, the CFWIJ has received hundreds of requests from Afghan journalists and activists at risk, often of mortal danger. On August 28, 2021, at least 10 journalists were detained at the Kabul airport and sent to the United States against their will. The journalists had wanted to stay in Kabul and continue reporting.
Of the thousands clamouring to leave the country now under the Taliban regime, the CFWIJ managed to evacuate 214 at risk journalists, activists, women rights advocates and other vulnerable persons from Afghanistan. There are yet many in the country exposed to grave danger and our efforts to evacuate them continue.
Meanwhile, in Palestine, the CFWIJ documented at least 12 cases of threats to, and harassment of, women journalists. During the eviction of Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah, we saw the Israeli forces quash press freedom and obstruct reportage. We recorded the horrific killing of journalist Reema Saad, who was murdered along with her family via a targeted airstrike. Reema was four months pregnant when she and her family were targeted.
On June 5, CFWIJ registered the arrest of Givara Budeiri, a correspondent for Al Jazeera, based in Jerusalem. A day later, on June 6, Najwan Al-Sumari and Bara'a Abu Romouz were subjected to physical assault and harassment at the hands of the Israeli police while on a reporting assignment.
The month before saw the arrest of Zeina Al-Halawani. Zeina was reporting from a predominantly Palestinian neighbourhood in Jerusalam when she was physically assaulted and arrested by the Israeli forces on May 28, 2021.
The aforementioned cases are only select cases of violence against women journalists that the CFWIJ has recorded in 2021 thus far. We have recorded alarming encroachments on press freedom and the right to information in over 92 countries across the world. The United States, United Kingdom, Poland, China, India, Pakistan and Turkey, and several other countries, grew hotter on the risk map for women journalists with deeply gendered crimes carried out against them, often by state institutions. Read more of our detailed reports on individual violations here.
As we kick off our 16 Days of Activism, the CFWIJ urges you to join our call for journalist Zhang Zhan’s release from jail in China. The citizen journalist, whose only “crime” was uncovering Beijing’s initial mishandling of the Covid-19 pandemic, has been in jail since May 2020 despite being fatally ill. As we demand the elimination of violence against women, we cannot exclude journalists subjected to harsher treatments because of their work and their gender.
The Coalition For Women In Journalism calls on the international community to recognize the gendered nature of violence against women journalists. We stand for the elimination of violence against women and reaffirm our commitment to supporting and advocating for women journalists across the globe. The CFWIJ calls for the revision of the fundamental structure that enables gender-based violence against women journalists and join the UN’s call to Orange the World, Eliminate Violence Against Women Now!
