Call for digital entries for Amnesty media awards

Amnesty International UK is looking for entries for its digital media awards which show new and creative ways to bring human rights issues to growing online audiences.

There is more information on how to enter here.

The digital award forms part of the 2012 Amnesty International Media Awards which also has categories for documentary; Gaby Rado Memorial Award; international tv and radio; magazines; national newspapers; nations and regions; photojournalism; radio; television news and student award.

Last year's digital winner at the Amnesty awards was the Bureau Of Investigative Journalism: Iraq War Logs.

Amnesty says FT pulled 'shaming Shell' advert

Amnesty International UK claimed today that the Financial Times’ has pulled a hard-hitting advertisement which the human rights organisation wanted to appear today to shame Shell as the oil company held its London AGM.
The advertisement focused on what Amnesty says is "the appalling human rights record of Shell in Nigeria. It compared the company’s $9.8bn profits with the consequences of pollution caused by the oil giant for the people of the Niger Delta."
Tim Hancock, Amnesty International UK’s campaigns director, said: “The decision by the Financial Times is extremely disappointing. We gave them written reassurances that we would take full responsibility for the comments and opinions stated in the advertisement. Both The Metro and The Evening Standard had no problems with running the ad.”

Amnesty International: Massacre of journalists in Philippines should not be seen as a 'one-off''

The massacre of of 32 journalists and media staff in Maguindanao in the Philippines last year should not be seen as an isolated incident, a meeting at Amnesty International headquarters in London was told last night.
The meeting marked 100 days since 63 people, including the journalists and media staff, who were part of an election convoy were ambushed and murdered in the Southern Philippines last November.
Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific director, said the attack in Maguindanao was the worst ever on journalists and a "shocking event for the whole world".
He added: "Amnesty International's analysis is that it is important that it is not seen as a one-off" but a result of policies and politics.

International Federation of Journalists president Jim Boumelha told the meeting the Philippines was one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists - with 136 killed  since 1986.

He said there was "a culture of impunity" with  the murderers of journalists very rarely brought to account.

Boumelha said that the type of militias and warlords believed to have been responsible for the massacre had been used to fight insurgents.

The IFJ has called on the Philippines government to:

• Address the massacre and culture of impunity
• Support the families of the murdered journalists
• Give security to the journalists still working in the Philippines.

The IFJ is also calling for protection of witnesses and the judiciary when those accused of the massacre come to trial.

100 days: Remembering the 32 journalists and media staff massacred in Philippines attack

Journalists and human rights campaigners will join forces on Wednesday to mark 100 days since 32 journalists and other media staff were killed in the southern province of Maguindanao in the Philippines - believed to be the worst single massacre of journalists in history.
A forum - “The Massacre in Maguindanao: Impunity and Political Killings in the Philippines” on Wednesday March 3 - is being organised jointly in London by the NUJ, the International Federation of Journalists, Amnesty International and the Campaign for Human Rights in the Philippines.
The forum will hear first-hand accounts by investigators who went to the crime scene following the massacre as well as a detailed report of an investigative mission by the International Federation of Journalists, and its affiliate the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, which visited Maguindanao and met with families of the victims and government officials.
The event is at 6.00 p.m. on Wednesday, 3 March, at Human Rights Action Centre, 17-25 New Inn Yard, London EC2A 3EA. Places can be booked at www.amnesty.org.uk/events.
Via the NUJ website

Amnesty International makes all journalists held in Iran 'prisoners of conscience'

Amnesty International has called on the Iranian authorities to release dozens of journalists arrested since 12 June - who it says are at risk of torture in detention - and has adopted all of them as prisoners of conscience.
Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, deputy director of Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa Programme, said: "It is shocking that journalists - whose job it is to provide information to others - are being detained, on top of all the other draconian measures the authorities have taken to restrict the free flow of information about what is really happening in Iran. Rather than trying to investigate alleged abuses, the only message the authorities are sending is that they are seeking to hide the truth, both from their own citizens and the rest of the world."
AI says dozens of journalists have been detained in the past fortnight with their whereabouts restrictions on freedom of expression. Access to the Internet has been blocked or significantly interrupted. Iranian publications have been banned from publishing information about the unrest. Foreign news journalists have mostly unknown.
Since the announcement on 13 June that President Ahmadinejad had won the election, the Iranian authorities have imposed severe been banned from the streets, and some foreign reporters have been expelled from the country.
Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui said: "If nothing else, the authorities must immediately disclose the whereabouts of these journalists, ensure that they are not tortured or otherwise ill-treated and allow their families and lawyers access to them."

Suzanne Breen: Amnesty speaks out

Amnesty International has written to Shaun Woodward, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, outlining the human rights' organisation's serious concerns about the case of Suzanne Breen, northern editor for the Sunday Tribune.

A judgment in the case where Breen is facing a court order, issued under the Terrorism Act 2000, to hand over to the Police Service of Northern Ireland source material related to stories she has written about the Real IRA, is expected next week.

The Amnesty letter points out threats to Breen's right to a fair trial and highlights the risk to the freedom of the press, and investigative journalism.

Patrick Corrigan, Northern Ireland programme director of Amnesty International said: "There are real concerns here about possible violations of Suzanne Breen's human rights. By using anti-terrorism legislation and the use of secret evidence, the Government has deprived her of the right to challenge the evidence used against her. That is an affront to natural justice and international human rights standards."

Colm O'Gorman, executive director of Amnesty International Ireland, said: "We have reminded the Secretary of State that freedom of the press is a vital part of the right to freedom of expression, guaranteed by international human rights law. The failure to defend the right of journalists to protect their sources undermines investigative journalism and the public interest.

"The UN has recommended that journalists should only be obliged to reveal sources in exceptional circumstances, where there is no other way to obtain the information, and where the public interest clearly over-rides the importance of protecting sources. It is doubtful that this test has been satisfied in this case.

"Simply put, journalists should not be used as an alternative to proper policing and intelligence gathering."

Via Amnesty's website