Ref:
18/2015

On the
occasion of the World Press Freedom Day, on Monday, 04 May 2015, the
Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) held a closing ceremony for two
campaigns regarding the promotion of the journalistic work freedom in the
Lighthouse Restaurant’s hall in Gaza City. 
PCHR organized these campaigns in conjunction with publishing two
special reports on the freedom of press titled “Silencing the Press”
and “the Freedom of Opinion and Expression”.  In his opening speech at the ceremony, Dr.
Riad al-Zanoun, Chairman of PCHR’s Board of Directors, talked about PCHR’s role
in exposing the Israeli and Palestinian flagrant violations against journalists.  Al-Zanoun said that PCHR makes efforts to
monitor and document all the violations to improve the general human rights
situation in the Palestine.  He also called
for investing Palestine’s accession to the International Criminal Court (ICC)
to hold the Israeli forces accountable for their crimes, which amount to war
crimes against the Palestinian journalists.

Al-Zanoun
said that PCHR has been different with regard to the nature of activities
organized by human rights and media organizations on the International Press
Freedom Day as PCHR stayed away from the protocol events and joined the world
of dialogue and promotion of the culture of freedom of opinion and expression
through holding various panel discussions that explain the Israeli and
Palestinian violations and their patterns.

During
the opening, a short documentary titled as “Silencing the Press” funded
by the European Union (EU) and produced by PCHR in cooperation with “Ein
Media” Company for Media Production was displayed.  The documentary shed the light on the
challenges faced by journalists in the West Bank and Gaza due to the Israeli
systematic policies to hide the truth, including direct attacks and suppression
of demonstrations and protests in addition to willful killings and destruction
of media organizations.  The documentary
was concluded with accurate statistics and figures published by PCHR in the
aforementioned reports.

The
event also included an intense brief of the “Silencing the Press”
report which covers the Israeli violations against journalists in the
Palestinian territory in the period between April 2014 and March 2015.  Nafez al-Khaldi, a researcher at PCHR’s Democratic
Development Unit (DDU),
reviewed the most significant topics addressed in the report.  He talked about the series of Israeli
violations that affected the lives of journalists, including 21 killings, 550
shooting incidents and 306 beating and insulting incidents and other attacks.

In
the same context, PCHR concluded recommendations in “Silencing the
Press” report.  The most important
of which were as follows: PCHR calls upon the High Contracting Parties to the
Fourth Geneva Convention and immediately intervene to fulfill its obligations
and offer protection for the Palestinian people and their property.  Al-Khaledi also called upon all the
international press organizations to continue to follow up the violations
against the journalists in the oPt and make every effort to pressurize the
Israeli government in order to stop their crimes against the Palestinian
civilians and their property in general and against journalists in particular.

To
comment on the report, PCHR held a panel discussion titled as “UN Role in the
Protection of journalists”.  PCHR
hosted in this discussion Tariq al-Hanafi from the UN Office of the High
Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) as he was interviewed by Palestinian
journalist Nedaa’ Mudoukh.  Al-Hanafi
talked about the legal and institutional mechanisms regulating the freedom of
journalistic work, especially the international human rights law.  He also addressed the relevant international
instruments, including Article (79) of the First Protocol Additional to the
Geneva Conventions that offer a protective environment for journalists
especially in the times of armed conflicts. Al-Hanafi pointed out that OHCHR
has observed and followed up violations against journalists, pointing to the
United Nations bodies that promote the freedom of press; the most prominent of
which are the Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right
to Freedom of Opinion and Expression, Human Rights Committee and Security
Council Resolution 1738/2006. Al-Hanafi appreciated also efforts made on the
international level generally and Palestinian one particularly in that context.

Concerning
the Palestinian violations against journalists in the West Bank and Gaza Strip,
Mohammed Abu Hashem, a researcher at PCHR Democratic Development Unit, reviewed
the most significant topics in the “Freedom of Opinion and
Expression” report issued by PCHR. He urged the Palestinian Authority in
the Gaza Strip and West Bank to take the necessary measures to protect
journalists and opinion makers from violations, to take these violations into
consideration and bring the perpetrators to justice. Moreover, Abu Hashem
called for the amendment of laws relating to the freedom of opinion and
expression in a way that guarantees the freedom of expression and promotes the
role of free media. He also called upon the Palestinian Authority to issue
strict instructions for security officers to refrain from attacking, summoning
or threating journalists.

During
the ceremony, PCHR held a second discussion session addressing the Palestinian
violations against journalists, including beating, detention and maltreatment.
PCHR hosted Emad al-Efranji, Director of the Palestinian Journalists’ Forum,
and Tahseen al-Astal, Deputy Director of the Journalists’ Syndicate. Journalist
Adel al-Za’noun had a discussion with the two guests and there was an
interactive discussion between the two guests and the audience. The guests
emphasized their rejection to the policy of muzzling and terror adopted by the
authorities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip that use the security grip on media
away from laws and legislations. Al-Efranji explained that the form not number
of violations determine to what extent the authority institutions ignore media.
He pointed to the importance of creating an umbrella for journalists away from
political and factional standards. Al-Astal considered that the current problem
on the reality of the freedom of journalists is derived from the absence of the
journalists themselves and their voices not from the Syndicate. He highlighted
the Syndicate has a unified position towards all violations committed by the
authorities in Gaza and the West Bank. Discussion was allowed between the
audience and guests. It was about the role of the Syndicate in protecting
journalists aside from their political affiliation and the mechanisms to
legislate new press laws allowing journalists to work freely.

It
should be mentioned that the two sessions were followed up on social media in
cooperation with Social Media Club, PCHR bloggers and friends. This activity
coincided with the “Press Day” campaign launched by PCHR on social
media in English and Arabic. This e-campaign was a big success, as the number
followers of hashtag “#Press Day” exceeded 3 million, while hashtag
“#“يوم الصحافة reached 3.4 million followers and hashtag “#PCHR”
reached about 400,000 followers.