"This report explores the role of national human rights institutions (NHRIs) in South and Southeast Asia – Nepal, the Philippines, Indonesia and Pakistan – and how their engagement in supporting national protection mechanisms for journalists can contribute to upholding their mandate of promoting human rights for all.
Indonesia has an estimated 100,000 journalists in a population of over 271 million people. Its geography represents a challenge for monitoring violations of press freedom and the safety of journalists. In Indonesia, journalists’ and civil society groups have begun to support vulnerable journalists and to collaborate on setting up a national safety mechanism for them. Such a mechanism could involve existing organisations of journalists, the National Human Rights Commission of Indonesia, the Press Council and other state agencies. Preliminary consultations are assessing which institutions might anchor such a mechanism and whether the existing legal framework is appropriate or adequate.
Nepal saw a rise in the persecution and assassinations of journalists during the Maoist government conflict (1996-2006) and the long transition to a new constitution (2006-2015). Some perpetrators were prosecuted successfully, but many cases remain open. Nepal was one of the first countries whose NHRI considered the establishment of a mechanism for journalists’ safety. The Nepal National Human Rights Commission and the Federation of Nepali Journalists began working towards this in 2012, and their efforts culminated in 2019 when the Nepal National Human Rights Commission approved a directive to establish a multi-stakeholder mechanism for upholding the freedom of expression of all citizens, including journalists.
Pakistan has one of the world’s highest rates of impunity for crimes against journalists, despite the formidable efforts of journalists’ and civil society groups. For example, out of over 140 journalist deaths, only three perpetrators have been prosecuted and all three verdicts were overturned on appeal. However, change could be in the air: Pakistan enacted a new national law in 2021 – based on one adopted earlier by a provincial government – to protect journalists’ safety. While this legislation is welcome, those laws do not include a role for the Pakistan National Commission of Human Rights and thus could be more robust, according to journalists’ and civil society groups.
The Philippines is one of the world’s most dangerous countries for journalists, but the government has begun working with its NHRI on a multi-stakeholder mechanism to protect them. Since 1986, 234 journalists and media professionals in the Philippines have been killed, including 19 after President Rodrigo Duterte took charge of the administration in October 2016. According to media and civil society groups, state agencies have allegedly been involved in 114 attacks and threats against journalists and civil society advocates who had first been “red-tagged” by the authorities for their supposed links with armed communist insurgents and/or “terrorism”. In July 2018, the Philippine Commission on Human Rights (CHR) adopted a resolution to form a taskforce with a mandate to monitor and investigate media-related extrajudicial killings. This led to more collaboration between the CHR, media and civil society groups. As a result, the Philippine Action Plan on the Safety of Journalists was launched in ­November 2019, as part of a threeyear European Union project that seeks to establish a national multi-stakeholder mechanism for the safety of journalists." (Executive summary, pages 9-10)