Report written by, Youssef Salman: UNESCO has completed a specialized field training for journalists and staff of the Human Rights Commission in the Kurdistan Region, funded by the Dutch Embassy in Iraq, as part of the “Breaking the Silence” project to enhance the safety of journalists.
Through this initiative, UNESCO aims to build the capacities of journalists and human rights workers in Kurdistan, leading to the formation of a field team that works to defend journalists in the face of increasing legal prosecutions against freedom of expression, and to help journalists avoid these prosecutions by enhancing awareness and legal knowledge.
The intensive training, which lasted for three days in the city of Erbil, and with the help of five experts who have accompanied this project since its launch in 2021 and have become advisory status from the organization, included the integration of artificial intelligence technology into the training curricula to be a helpful factor for journalists and the work team to rep
ort harassment, threats and attacks targeting the freedom of expression community in Erbil and Baghdad, and to facilitate the task for categories of journalists within the region to report these harassments.
Director of the Information and Communication Sector at UNESCO Iraq, Diaa Sobhi, told the National Iraqi News Agency (NINA) that “the training focuses on establishing a specialized field team to follow up on journalists’ issues in the Kurdistan Region, monitor violations and abuses, and document basic indicators for measuring freedom of expression, in accordance with UNESCO’s internationally approved regulations and guidelines in accordance with its mandate in Iraq.” He explained that “the training included monitoring basic indicators for the sectors of journalism and traditional media, digital journalism, and the challenges of the digital world,” indicating that “UNESCO seeks to develop areas of freedom of expression through monitoring, advocacy, surveillance, and objective reporting patterns, through i
ts international mandate in Iraq.”
In turn, the head of al-Ayn Foundation for Media Development Indicators, Hussein Al-Saray, stressed the importance of training journalists on the laws and legal procedures related to the journalism profession to protect them from legal prosecutions.
Al-Saray said, in an interview with the National Iraqi News Agency /NINA/, that “the journalist’s familiarity with the local and international systems, regulations and laws that regulate the practice of the journalism profession will be more able to avoid committing unintended legal errors,” noting the need to train journalists on the correct ways to deal with news and information sources to distinguish between fake and misleading news and avoid transmitting news that violates the rights of individuals and institutions.
Indicators of freedom of expression and legal safety of journalists in Iraq show an increase in the rates of legal and judicial prosecutions against the press and digital media, according to UNESCO. Iraq has no
t submitted its reports to the international community on this issue for two years, while the Kurdistan Region is more than fourteen years behind Baghdad in submitting its reports, leaving silence as the master of the situation regarding the restrictions on freedom of expression in Kurdistan.
UNESCO is working in clear partnership with the judiciary in Baghdad to ease the pressure on journalists, social media activists and influencers, with the hope that the Kurdistan Regional Government will respond to achieve similar cooperation.
Source: National Iraqi News Agency