The UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity follows two days of discussions by UN agencies, independent experts, governments, media houses, and civil society organizations on the most pressing issues facing freedom of expression, during the 2nd UN Inter-Agency Meeting on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity.

More than 100 journalists have been killed so far this year, making 2012 the deadliest year for media since the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) began keeping records on the issue.

The new action plan outlines more than 100 areas of work that different UN agencies and civil society groups intend to contribute to securing the safety of journalists, and will operate at the national and global level.

Activities that will be implemented as a result of the plan include: helping governments develop laws on safeguarding journalists, raising awareness so that citizens understand the damage done when a journalist’s rights to freedom of expression is curtailed, providing training courses for journalists in safety and safety online, establishing real-time emergency response mechanisms and strengthening the safety of journalists in conflict zones, among others.

The plan also calls for enhancing protection for women journalists in response to the increasing incidence of sexual harassment and rape, decriminalizing defamation offences and encouraging adequate remuneration for full-time and freelance employees.

The Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, Peter Launsky-Tieffenthal, emphasized that attacks on media workers have a far-reaching effect on society, threatening to silence all citizens.

“These attacks – not only the many murders and physical assaults, but also the countless abductions, the acts of harassment, the illegal arrests, the arbitrary detentions – have an impact that reaches well beyond the personal suffering of the person involved,” he said.

“They aim to silence the journalist and, by extension, all of us.”

Civil society delegates issued a statement during the UNESCO-organized meeting welcoming and endorsing the new plan. They also recommended that it be implemented in a comprehensive manner in Iraq, Nepal, Pakistan, South Sudan and Latin America.

The action plan is the result of a process that began in 2010, on the request of the Intergovernmental Council of UNESCO’s International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC). It was endorsed by the UN Chief Executives Board on 12 April 2012.

ND’s 12 steps, as described by protothema.gr are:

- Change the law to arrest and convict an offender to introduce laws in effect in Europe. There are currently masked individuals caught and released and they are released due to doubts, and caught again, carrying Molotov cocktails, claiming that police officers planted them. Photography and filming during such episodes should be allowed, even to protect citizens.

- Policing methods that do not endanger human lives. Dealing with violent people like the black block is completely different from everyone else who is protesting.

- Use of water-carrying vehicles during protests.

- Bring back police officers in neighborhoods 1) to release police from bureaucratic procedures, 2) unify mechanized police forces, and 3) have helicopters for filming events.

- Consolidate and reinforce the headquarters against organized crime, which usually has many faces. There is an issue here with the involvement of police officers.

- Change the whole way of dealing with crime. Clemency has led to impunity. Those found guilty should stay in prison long enough.

- Relieve the pressure on prisons.

- Illegal alien convicts should be deported.

- Put already prepared prison facilities in operation immediately.

- Change the whole prison code, break up illegal organizations.

- Combat so-called low-level crime, which is the forerunner of major crime. Remove drug users from places in cities which they have occupied.

- There should be a national security doctrine which begins with threats against public safety and reach preventive mechanisms in the long-term.

Regarding illegal immigration, the ND president stated that it is not only economic immigrants, but also people who have committed crimes and enter the country illegally.

- Better guarding of borders with physical barriers such as the fences in Evros and use of technology like infrared cameras, which notify authorities. Better cooperation with FRONTEX is a must.

- Creation of accommodation centers where those crossing the borders and arrested for crimes will be channeled through.

- Europe-wide initiative by the European south for a single asylum policy and a single policy of repatriation of illegal immigrants. The EU should clarify things with Turkey. Set it as a term in the negotiations between Turkey and the EU.

- Strike against illegal trade, which is the main way that illegal immigrants make their living. We declare a war against black markets, which daily kill the legal trade even more.

- Asylum procedures will be expedited but accommodation centers will have better conditions.

“Occupational safety and health is embedded in the goal of decent work and decent work for all is central to the social pillar of sustainable development,” said the Director-General of the International Labour Organization, Juan Somavia, in his message marking the World Day for Safety and Health at Work (April 28).

According to ILO, two million people die every year from work-related accidents and diseases, 160 million people suffer from work-related diseases, 270 million fatal and non-fatal work-related accidents occur every year, and four per cent of the world’s annual gross domestic product (GDP) is lost as a consequence of occupational diseases and accidents.

ILO chief emphasized that the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) in June will provide countries an opportunity to focus on the promotion of safer workplaces as part of an inclusive approach to development that takes into account the needs of people as well as the planet.

“Experience has already shown that some substances while being more environmentally friendly could be more hazardous to workers’ health. Consequently, renewable energies, waste management and recycling, as well as the greening of traditional industries must be approached from the outset with an eye on the occupational safety and health challenges with the aim of eliminating old hazards and risks and preventing new ones from emerging,” Somavia said.

To mark the Day, ILO also launched a report that looks at different green industries from an occupational safety and health perspective and stresses that green jobs must be accompanied by appropriate measures to protect all workers.

“Moving towards a green economy implies setting higher standards for environmental protection while, at the same time, incorporating workers’ safety and health as an integral part of the strategy,” said the Director of the ILO Programme on Safety and Health at Work and the Environment, Seiji Machida. “Only then will we be contributing to an environmentally sustainable and socially inclusive outcome.”

Meanwhile, UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights obligations related to environmentally sound management and disposal of hazardous substances and waste Cali Georgescu warned that millions of workers around the world are still exposed to disease and injury in their places of work, and called on countries to pay attention to promote and create a safe working environment to reduce the number of work-related deaths each year.

“For millions of workers, safety and protection from disease and injury arising from their employment is not yet a reality,” Georgescu said. “I am particularly concerned about the exposure to these hazardous substances of children and pregnant women, and call for protection measures to be strictly enforced,” he added.