"In 2011, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders defined stigmatization as the characterization of human rights defenders as “terrorists”, “enemies of the State” or “political opponents” by state authorities and state media and its use to delegitimize their work,
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increasing their vulnerability to human rights abuses and violations. The CDJ has recorded acts of stigmatization against human rights defenders between January 2019 and June 2021 in Venezuela, through public and private media outlets with links to the government. Often these media outlets, which may take the form of web portals, television programmes and blogs, among others, use the spaces to attack, expose and harass people who are perceived as critical of the government of Nicolás Maduro. Upon analysing the database with more than 300 acts of stigmatization between January 2019 and June 2021, the media outlets whose content was most frequently repeated ahead of detentions by Venezuelan security forces were Con el Mazo Dando, Misión Verdad and the web portal Lechuguinos [...] The correlation between politically motivated arbitrary detentions, carried out by all state security agents, and stigmatization, carried out by all sources of stigmatization, was filtered by each year analysed due to the different nature of each period. From this analysis it was shown that while in 2019 the overall correlation between both variables was 29%, in 2020 it increased to 42% and in the first half of 2021 it reached 77%. The annual correlations between arbitrary detentions and stigmatization also varied depending on the different security forces involved in the detention. Thus, there is a closer correlation in 2019 with detentions occurring by intelligence agencies (DGCIM and SEBIN), in 2020 by bodies under the PNB, including the FAES, which rises to 92%, and in 2021 by bodies of a civilian and decentralized nature, such as the FAES, municipal police forces and the Scientific, Penal and Criminal Investigation Corps (CICPC) which also rises to 92% correlation with stigmatization." (Executive summary, page 6-7)
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"La Relatoría Especial para personas defensoras de derechos humanos de Naciones Unidas, en 2011, definió las estigmatizaciones como la caracterización de personas defensoras como “terroristas”, “enemigas del Estado” u “oponentes políticos” por parte de autoridades estatales y medios
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de comunicación estatales y su uso para deslegitimar su trabajo, incrementando su vulnerabilidad a sufrir abusos y violaciones a derechos humanos. El CDJ ha registrado los eventos de estigmatización en contra de personas defensoras a derechos humanos entre enero de 2019 y junio de 2021 en Venezuela, a través de medios de comunicación, públicos y privados, que tienen vínculos con el gobierno. A menudo estos medios de comunicación, que pueden tener forma de portales web, programas de televisión y blogs, entre otros, utilizan los espacios para atacar, exponer y hostigar a personas que son percibidas como críticas al gobierno de Nicolás Maduro. Al analizar la base de datos con más de 300 eventos de estigmatización entre enero 2019 y junio de 2021. Los medios de comunicación que se repitieron con más frecuencia antes de que se produzcan arrestos por parte de las fuerzas de seguridad venezolanas fueron “Con el Mazo Dando”, “Misión Verdad” y el portal web “Lechuguinos” [...] La correlación entre detenciones arbitrarias por motivos políticos, llevadas a cabo por todos los agentes de seguridad estatal, y las estigmatizaciones, realizadas por todas las fuentes de estigmatización, se filtró por cada año que está bajo análisis debido a la distinta naturaleza de cada período. De este análisis se obtuvo que mientras en 2019 la correlación general entre ambas variables era de 29%, en 2020 aumentó al 42% y en el primer semestre de 2021 llegó hasta el 77%. Las correlaciones anuales entre las detenciones arbitrarias y las estigmatizaciones también varían dependiendo de los distintos cuerpos de seguridad involucrados en la detención. Así, hay una correlación más estrecha en 2019 con las detenciones que se producen por los órganos de inteligencia (DGCIM y SEBIN), en 2020 por los órganos dependientes de la PNB, incluyendo las FAES, que sube hasta el 92%, y en 2021 por órganos de naturaleza civil y descentralizados, como las FAES, los cuerpos de policía municipal y el Cuerpo de Investigaciones Científicas, Penales y Criminalísticas (CICPC) que también sube al 92% de correlación con las estigmatizaciones." (Resumen ejecutivo, página 6-8)
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"Bis in die 1990er-Jahre hinein galt der Berliner Kutscher Bruno Lüdke als brutalster Serienmörder Deutschlands - eine "Bestie in Menschengestalt". Nachdem der zwangssterilisierte Mann 1943 des Mordes an einer Frau verdächtigt und festgenommen wurde, lasteten ihm NS-Kriminalpolizisten über 50 we
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itere Sexualmorde an. Während der Ermittlungen entstanden Verhörprotokolle, Fotoalben, ein Handabdruck, eine kolorierte Büste - doch triftige Mordbeweise fehlten. 1944 waren es SS-Männer aus dem Reichssicherheitshauptamt, die Lüdke ermordeten. Die vorliegende Studie legt plastisch dar, dass die Geschichten über den Kutscher perfide sozialrassistische Erfindungen waren, die erst nach Kriegsende medial verstärkt wurden: Jahrzehntelang reproduzierten bundesdeutsche Medien das von den Nazis geprägte Bild des geisteskranken Triebtäters, unter anderem Rudolf Augstein im "Spiegel" oder 1957 Robert Siodmaks Spielfilm "Nachts, wenn der Teufel kam" it Mario Adorf. Die Medienwissenschaftlerin Susanne Regener und der Historiker Axel Doßmann analysieren, mit welchen Strategien ein Opfer zum Täter gemacht wurde und welche gesellschaftlichen Funktionen mit der Konstruktion des "Bösen" und "Anormalen" verbunden sind. Das Buch präsentiert die wichtigsten historischen Quellen zum Kriminalfall: Fotografien, Zeitschriftenartikel, Akten, Filmstills und Plakate." (Klappentext)
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"The authors engage with a range of cross-disciplinary perspectives in order to explore the actions of a vigilant digital audience — denunciation, shaming, doxing — and to consider the role of the press and other public figures in supporting or contesting these activities. In turn, the volume il
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luminates several tensions underlying these justice seeking activities — from their capacity to reproduce categorical forms of discrimination, to the diverse motivations of the wider audiences who participate in vigilant denunciations. This timely volume presents thoughtful case studies drawn both from high-profile Anglo-American contexts, and from developments in regions that have received less coverage in English-language scholarship [China, Morocco, Russia and Slovenia]. It is distinctive in its focus on the contested boundary between policing and entertainment, and on the various contexts in which the desire to seek retribution converges with the desire to consume entertainment." (Back cover)
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"Over the past few years, Lebanon has witnessed an alarming increase in attacks on peaceful speech and expression. The country’s criminal defamation laws, which authorize imprisonment up to three years for peaceful speech, have been used against citizens who have written about pressing social issu
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es, including corruption. Government data indicates a 325% increase in defamation cases for online speech between 2015 and 2018. Based on research conducted over the course of a year and extensive interviews with defendants in criminal defamation cases, lawyers, government officials, and civil society, Human Rights Watch found that the prosecution, security agencies, and judiciary behaved in ways that suggested bias in favour of the complainants. These patterns illustrate the potential for public officials, religious groups, and security agencies to misuse criminal defamation laws as a tool for retaliation and repression. Individuals who had been sued faced a number of serious consequences as a result of the criminal process, including physical abuse and privacy violations during interrogations, pretrial detention, family separation, and considerable mental and financial stress. The increasing use of criminal defamation laws has had a chilling effect on free speech in Lebanon." (Back cover)
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"This manual has been produced to accompany a training workshop on defamation for lawyers and journalists in Europe. It contains resources and background material to help trainers prepare and participants to understand the issues being discussed. Participants in the workshops will be both journalist
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s and media personnel – for whom the workshop will be an opportunity to learn about the general principles behind defamation law – and lawyers, who will also practice developing litigation strategies in the event of defamation suits against their clients." (Introduction)
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"Somalia is often described as ‘lawless’ or ‘the world’s most failed state’, a characterization that overlooks the way law and governance actually works in the absence of a capable central government. This article will explore the role of xeer law, or customary law, in regulating media, in
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cluding both older media, such as poetry, and newer media, such as mobile phones, in Somalia’s complex legal environment. While Somalia remains one of the most dangerous regions of the world for journalists, dozens of radio stations are broadcasting in South-Central Somalia and there is a competitive newspaper industry in Somaliland. In addition, the telecoms industry is booming with some of the best connections and lowest rates on the continent for the internet and mobile phones. Various authorities govern media and resolve conflicts across the Somali territories. To understand media ‘law’ in this region we must look beyond the formal state structures." (Abstract)
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"This handbook is intended to be a desk reference for small, independent and community media organisations, equipping journalists with the following tools: enable small independent and community media to counter growing media censorship in South Africa, and to ensure that these media are aware of th
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eir rights and how to protect and enforce them; provide user-friendly information about the current state of the law of defamation, and to provide checklists to see whether particular reports are defamatory; provide useful information about what to do if particular reports do attract threats or legal action; ensure that a working knowledge of media freedom issues is also built up at paralegal and advice office level, so that legal capacity is built to support grassroots media; inform such media about the other laws in existence that affect their ability to report; ensure that journalists are appraised of their rights around source protection, so that they are not pressurized to reveal confidential sources; appraise these media of the complexity of the questions around the use of journalists as witnesses; encourage these media to become freedom of expression advocates, and to appraise them of the avenues available to lobby on specific freedom of expression issues." (Summary)
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